Rt. Hon. Spencer Perceval, MP

https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1604-1629/member/p...

Although resident in Ireland, Percival returned to England several times over the next few years: in 1617 he assigned several of his leases of English wards’ lands to William Cecil*, 2nd earl of Salisbury, and Sir Anthony Forest*; while in the following year he reported on proposals for reform in the administration of Irish wardships.50 He apparently licensed his sons to deputize in his absence, but failed to secure a reversion of his post for them; Anderson ascribed this setback to ‘the endeavours of a great Scotch favourite’, perhaps James, Lord Hay.51 He did secure his own discharge from debts of £118 owed to the English Court of Wards, a fee of £40 a year during his tenure as clerk, and a letter from the Privy Council ordering ‘that there be no advantage taken against him ... by reason of his absence’.52 Percival died in Dublin, apparently intestate, on 4 Sept. 1620, and was buried in St. Audoen’s church.53 His descendants secured an Irish barony in 1715 and the earldom of Egmont in 1733, but the most famous was Spencer Perceval†, chief minister during the Napoleonic wars, who was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons in 1812.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Perceval

Spencer Perceval, KC (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated. He is the only Solicitor General or Attorney General, and one of very few lawyers, to have been Prime Minister. The younger son of an Irish earl, Perceval was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied law at Lincoln’s Inn, practised as a barrister on the Midland Circuit and became a King’s Counsel, before entering politics at the age of 33 as a Member of Parliament for Northampton. A follower of William Pitt, Perceval always described himself as a ‘friend of Mr Pitt’ rather than a Tory. Perceval was opposed to Catholic emancipation and reform of Parliament; he supported the war against Napoleon and the abolition of the slave trade. He was opposed to hunting, gambling and adultery, did not drink as much as most Members of Parliament, gave generously to charity, and enjoyed spending time with his twelve children.

After a late entry into politics his rise to power was rapid; he was Solicitor and then Attorney General in the Addington Ministry, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Leader of the House of Commons in the Portland Ministry, and became Prime Minister in October 1809. At the head of a weak ministry, Perceval faced a number of crises during his term in office including an inquiry into the disastrous Walcheren expedition, the madness of King George III, economic depression and Luddite riots. He survived these crises, successfully pursued the Peninsular War in the face of opposition defeatism, and won the support of the Prince Regent. His position was looking stronger by the spring of 1812, when a man with a grievance against the Government shot him dead in the lobby of the House of Commons.

Although Perceval was a seventh son and had four older brothers who survived to adulthood, the Earldom of Egmont reverted to one of his great-grandsons in the early twentieth century and remains in the hands of his descendants.

• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 4 2023, 19:00:45 UTC