Henry Temple, 1st Viscount Palmerston

Family and Education b. c.1673, 2nd but 1st surv. s. of Sir John Temple of East Sheen, Speaker of the Irish House of Commons (yr. bro. of Sir William Temple, 1st Bt.), by Jane, da. of Sir Abraham Yarner, muster-master gen. [I]. educ. Eton c.1689-93; King’s, Camb. 1693. m. (1) 10 June 1703, Anne (d. 8 Dec. 1735), da. of Abraham Houblon of Langley, Bucks., gov. of Bank of England, sis. of Sir Richard Houblon, 3s. 2da.; (2) 11 May 1738, Isabella, da. of Sir Francis Gerard, 2nd Bt., wid. of Sir John Fryer, 1st Bt., of Wherwell, Hants, s.p. suc. fa. 1705; cr. Baron Temple and Visct. Palmerston [I] 12 Mar. 1723.

Offices Held

Jt. chief remembrancer of the court of Exchequer [I] 1715, sole from 1740-d.

Biography ‘Little Broadbottom Palmerston’, as Sir Charles Hanbury Williams called him,1 came of a distinguished Anglo-Irish family, to whose merits, apparently, rather than to his own, he owed the Irish peerage which was given him at the age of 50.2 A placeman, who had been granted the reversion of his office when a boy in 1680, provided with seats in different parts of the country, he voted for successive Administrations in all recorded divisions. As a member of the Irish lobby in the House, he took part in discussions on a proposal to remove the duty on Irish yarn in 1731.3

He died 10 June 1757, aged 84.

Ref Volumes: 1715-1754 Author: R. S. Lea