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The Right Honourable
The Lord Taunton
PC
The Right Honourable The Lord Taunton PC
	Lord Taunton (1855) by Charles Baugniet.
President of the Board of Trade
	In office; 29 August 1838 – 30 August 1841
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	Charles Poulett Thomson
Succeeded by	The Earl of Ripon
	In office; 22 July 1847 – 21 February 1852
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Lord John Russell
Preceded by	The Earl of Clarendon
Succeeded by	J. W. Henley
Secretary of State for the Colonies
	In office; 21 November 1855 – 21 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	Sir William Molesworth, Bt
Succeeded by	Lord Stanley
Chief Secretary for Ireland
	In office; 1846 – 22 July 1847
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Lord John Russell
Preceded by	The Earl of Lincoln
Succeeded by	Sir William Somerville
Personal details
Born	15 August 1798; Marylebone, London, England
Died	13 July 1869 (aged 70); Belgrave Square, London, England
Resting place	Over Stowey, Somerset, England
Political party	Whig ; Liberal Party
Spouse(s)	(1) Frances Baring ; (1813–1850) ; (2) Lady Mary Howard ; (d. 1892)
Alma mater	University of Oxford

Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton, PC (/læbuːˈʃɛər/; 15 August 1798 – 13 July 1869) was a British Whig and Liberal Party politician of the mid-19th century.

Background and education

Labouchere was born in London into a prominent family,^[1] the son of Peter Cesar Labouchere of Hylands, a Dutch-born banker of French Huguenot ancestry who had settled in England, and his wife Dorothy Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Francis Baring. He was educated at Winchester College and Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his B.A. (1821) and his M.A. (1828).^[1]

Political career

In 1826, Labouchere became MP for St Michael, as a Whig.^[1] In 1830, he moved to the Taunton seat, which he held until 1859. In 1835 he was opposed by Benjamin Disraeli for the Taunton seat; Labouchere won by 452 votes to 282. He was first appointed to office by Lord Grey in 1832, serving as Civil Lord of the Admiralty .^[1] After beginning the second Melbourne ministry as Master of the Mint, Privy Counsellor, and Vice-President of the Board of Trade (and, later, Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies), Labouchere was raised to a cabinet post, President of the Board of Trade, which he held from 1839 until the Melbourne government fell in 1841.^[1]

When the Whigs, now led by Lord John Russell, returned to office in 1846, Labouchere returned to the cabinet, this time as Chief Secretary for Ireland. Under his administration the worst effects of the Great Irish Famine began to be felt in Ireland. The following year, he once again became President of the Board of Trade, and stayed in that post until Russell's government fell in 1852.^[1] From 1853 to 1854 he sat on the Royal Commission on the City of London.^[2] Labouchere's final cabinet posting came during the first Palmerston ministry, for which he served as Secretary of State for the Colonies from 1855 to 1858.^[1] In 1859, Labouchere was raised to the peerage as Baron Taunton, of Taunton in the County of Somerset.^[3]^[4] Between 1864 and 1868 the then Lord Taunton chaired the Schools Enquiry Commission.

Family

In 1840 Labouchere married his first cousin Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Baring. They had three daughters:

Emily (1844–1933) who married Henry Eliot, 5th Earl of St Germans
Mina Francis, who married Sir Arthur Ellis
Mary Dorothy who married Edward James Stanley MP

Frances Labouchere died in May 1850, aged 36, in premature childbirth.^[5]

In 1852 Labouchere married Lady Mary Howard (1823–1892), a daughter of the Earl of Carlisle. There were no children from this marriage.^[1] Lady Mary was buried at St Mary's Church, Charlynch, Somerset where a reredos was erected in 1893 in her memory.^[6]

Taunton died in July 1869, aged 70, at his London house in Belgrave Square.^[1] He was buried near his country house Quantock Lodge at Over Stowey. As he had no sons the barony became extinct on his death.^[1] His nephew, also Henry Labouchere, inherited part of Labouchere's fortune, and was later to become a well-known newspaper editor and politician.^[1]

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry Labouchere, 1st Baron Taunton
	Crest A stork Argent holding in the beak a lotus-flower Proper. Escutcheon Quarterly Ermine and Azure in the 2nd and 3rd quarters a cross patonce Or. Supporters On either side a stork Argent holding in the beak a lotus-flower Proper. Motto Passibus Citis Sed Æquis^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e ^f ^g ^h ⁱ ^j ^k Barke, G. F. R. "Labouchere, Henry, Baron Taunton (1798–1869)", rev. H. C. G. Matthew, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, Oct 2008, accessed 9 March 2012
^ "List of commissions and officials: 1850-1859 (nos. 53-94)". Office-Holders in Modern Britain: Volume 9. 1984. Retrieved 10 March 2008.
^ "No. 22298". The London Gazette. 16 August 1859. p. 3108.
^ Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Taunton, Henry Labouchere, Baron" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 26 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 453.
^ "SUDDEN DEATH OF MRS. LABOUCHERE", Bucks Herald, 1 June 1850, page 6
^ "Charlinch: Church Pages 95-97 A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 6, andersfield, Cannington, and North Petherton Hundreds (Bridgwater and Neighbouring Parishes). Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1992". British History Online. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
^ Burke's Peerage. 1868.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Labouchere
"Labouchere, Henry, Baron Taunton" . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir George Staunton, Bt William Taylor Money	Member of Parliament for Mitchell 1826–1830 With: William Leake	Succeeded by Hon. Lloyd Kenyon John Heywood Hawkins
Preceded by Henry Seymour William Peachey	Member of Parliament for Taunton 1830–1859 With: Edward Thomas Bainbridge, 1830–1842 Sir Thomas Colebrooke, Bt, 1842–1852 Arthur Mills, 1852–1853 Sir John William Ramsden, 1853–1857 Arthur Mills, 1857–1859	Succeeded by Arthur Mills George Cavendish-Bentinck
Political offices
Preceded by Viscount Lowther	Vice-President of the Board of Trade 1835–1839	Succeeded by Richard Lalor Sheil
Preceded by Charles Thomson	President of the Board of Trade 1839–1841	Succeeded by The Earl of Ripon
Preceded by The Earl of Lincoln	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1846–1847	Succeeded by Sir William Somerville, Bt
Preceded by The Earl of Clarendon	President of the Board of Trade 1847–1852	Succeeded by Joseph Warner Henley
Preceded by Sir William Molesworth, Bt	Secretary of State for the Colonies 1855–1858	Succeeded by Lord Stanley
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Baron Taunton 1859–1869	Title extinct