Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby

Last updated • 9 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Maria Liddell
(m. 1818)
The Marquess of Normanby
Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby by John Jackson.jpg
Portrait by John Jackson
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
In office
29 April 1835 13 March 1839
Alma mater Trinity College, Cambridge
Quartered arms of Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby, KG, GCB, GCH, PC Shield of arms of Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby, KG, GCB, GCH, PC.png
Quartered arms of Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby, KG, GCB, GCH, PC

Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby, KG , GCB , GCH , PC (15 May 1797 – 28 July 1863), styled Viscount Normanby between 1812 and 1831 and known as The Earl of Mulgrave between 1831 and 1838, was a British Whig politician and author. He notably served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from 1835 to 1839 and as Home Secretary from 1839 to 1841 and was British Ambassador to France between 1846 and 1852.

Contents

Early life and education

Normanby was the son of Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave and Martha Sophia, daughter of Christopher Thompson Maling. His great-grandfather William Phipps had married Lady Catherine Annesley, who was the daughter and heiress of James Annesley, 3rd Earl of Anglesey and his wife Lady Catherine Darnley (an illegitimate daughter of King James II by his mistress Catherine Sedley, Countess of Dorchester). Lady Catherine Darnley had later married John Sheffield, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby, and hence Constantine Phipps, 2nd Earl of Mulgrave and later 1st Marquess of Normanby was the step-great-great-grandson of the 1st Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, [1] where he was the second President of the Cambridge Union Society. [2]

Lt.-Gen. Sir Henry Warre was his first cousin, born to his mother's youngest sister, who married Sir William Warre. [3]

Political career

Lord Melbourne and the Marquess of Normanby prepare to shoot two pheasants with the heads of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, with Windsor Castle in the background. Coloured lithograph by John Doyle, c. 1840 Lord Melbourne and the Marquess of Normanby prepare to shoot Wellcome V0050275.jpg
Lord Melbourne and the Marquess of Normanby prepare to shoot two pheasants with the heads of the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, with Windsor Castle in the background. Coloured lithograph by John Doyle, c.1840

After attaining his majority, he was returned on his father's interest for Scarborough in 1818. However, in the summer of 1819, he began to break with his family's Tory politics, and signalised his conversion to the Whigs by joining Brooks' Club on 3 December. [4] When Parliament was dissolved in 1820, Normanby was in Florence, Italy, to which he was a regular visitor. His brother Charles kept up the family interest with the Scarborough corporation, and Normanby was returned in absentia in March, despite being politically at odds with his father. This state of affairs was not to last long: in May, Normanby was compelled to take the Chiltern Hundreds by Lord Mulgrave, to vacate the seat for Mulgrave's brother Edmund. [5]

His standing as a former Tory minister's son made Normanby valuable to the Whigs, and they hoped to return him to Parliament in another seat. An attempt was made to have him put in at St Ives at a by-election in 1821, but support proved to be lacking, and Normanby withdrew without contesting the seat. The illness and death of William Plumer in the beginning of 1822 allowed him to take his seat in February for Higham Ferrers, a pocket borough of the Whig grandee Earl Fitzwilliam. [5] He made a considerable reputation by political pamphlets and by his speeches in the house. He was returned for Malton at the general election of 1826, [1] another one of Fitzwilliam's boroughs. [5] He was already known as a writer of romantic tales, The English in Italy (1825); in the same year he made his appearance as a novelist with Matilda , and in 1828 he produced another novel, Yes and No . [1] He declined to be nominated again for Malton in 1830, anticipating the imminent death of his father, and was thus out of Parliament when Lord Grey formed a government in November 1830. Normanby hoped for employment by the foreign office, but none was forthcoming. Through Lord Durham, Normanby solicited a writ in acceleration from Grey in early 1831, which would have brought him up to the House of Lords before his father's death; but Normanby succeeded to the Earldom of Mulgrave on his father's death in April, rendering it moot. [5]

Photograph by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, c. 1860-63 Constantine Phipps, 1st Marquess of Normanby.jpg
Photograph by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, c.1860-63

In 1832, Mulgrave was sent out as Governor of Jamaica and was afterwards appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1835–1839). [1] On his visit to Wexford in 1836 he heard a Congratulatory Address in the ancient Forth and Bargy dialect, then already on the point of becoming extinct. He was created Marquess of Normanby on 25 June 1838, and held successively the offices of colonial secretary and home secretary in the last years of Lord Melbourne's ministry. [1] While Colonial Secretary, he wrote a letter of instructions to William Hobson, in which the government's policy for the sovereignty of New Zealand was set out.

Diplomatic career

From 1846 to 1852 he was ambassador at Paris, and from 1854 to 1858 minister at Florence. The publication in 1857 of a journal kept in Paris during the stormy times of 1848 (A Year of Revolution), brought him into violent controversy with Louis Blanc, and he came into conflict with Lord Palmerston and William Ewart Gladstone, after his retirement from the public service, on questions of French and Italian policy. [1]

Marriage and children

Lord Normanby married Maria Liddell (1798–1882), daughter of Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, in 1818. They had one son: [6]

Death

Normanby died in London on 28 July 1863, aged 66, and was succeeded in his titles by his son George. The Marchioness of Normanby died in October 1882, aged 84.

Writings

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Normanby, Constantine Henry Phipps, 1st Marquess of"  . Encyclopædia Britannica . Vol. 19 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 748–749.
  2. "Phipps, Constantine Henry (Viscount Normanby) (PHPS814CH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1898. p. 1702. Retrieved 5 June 2019.
  4. Thorne, R. G. (1986). "PHIPPS, Constantine Henry, Visct. Normanby (1797–1863).". In Thorne, R. G. (ed.). The House of Commons 1790–1820. The History of Parliament Trust.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Casey, Martin (2009). "PHIPPS, Constantine Henry, Visct. Normanby (1797–1863), of 19 Grosvenor Street, Mdx.". In Fisher, David (ed.). The House of Commons 1820–1832. The History of Parliament Trust.
  6. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marquess of Normanby</span> Title in England

Marquess of Normanby is a title that has been created twice, once in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first creation came in 1694 in the Peerage of England in favour of John Sheffield, 3rd Earl of Mulgrave. He was a notable Tory politician of the late Stuart period, who served under Queen Anne as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council. In 1703 this first Marquess of Normanby was further honoured when he was made Duke of Buckingham and Normanby. These titles became extinct on the death of the 2nd Duke in 1735.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby</span> British Liberal politician and colonial governor

George Augustus Constantine Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby, styled Viscount Normanby between 1831 and 1838 and Earl of Mulgrave between 1838 and 1863, was a British Liberal politician and colonial governor of Nova Scotia, Queensland, New Zealand and Victoria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Duke of Buckingham and Normanby</span> Hereditary British Title

Duke of Buckingham and Normanby is a title in the Peerage of England. The full title was Duke of the County of Buckingham and of Normanby but in practice only Duke of Buckingham and Normanby was used. The dukedom was created in 1703 for John Sheffield, 1st Marquess of Normanby KG, a notable Tory politician of the late Stuart period, who served under Queen Anne as Lord Privy Seal and Lord President of the Council. He had succeeded his father as 3rd Earl of Mulgrave in 1658 and been made Marquess of Normanby in 1694.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave</span> British Army officer, politician and peer

General Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave,, styled The Honourable Henry Phipps until 1792 and known as The Lord Mulgrave from 1792 to 1812, was a British Army officer, politician and peer. He notably served as Foreign Secretary under William Pitt the Younger from 1805 to 1806.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Earl of Mulgrave</span> Earldom in the Peerage of the United Kingdom

The title Earl of Mulgrave has been created twice. The first time as a title in the Peerage of England and the second time as a Peerage of the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Robert Plumer Ward</span> British politician

Robert Ward, or from 1828 Robert Plumer Ward, was an English barrister, politician, and novelist. George Canning said that his law books were as pleasant as novels, and his novels as dull as law books.

Constantine Edmund Walter Phipps, 5th Marquess of Normanby, is a British peer, novelist, poet, and entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective</span> Irish politician and peer (1724–1795)

Thomas Taylour, 1st Earl of Bective, KP, PC (Ire) was an Irish peer and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oswald Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby</span> British peer and philanthropist

Oswald Constantine John Phipps, 4th Marquess of Normanby,, styled Earl of Mulgrave until 1932, was a British peer and philanthropist for blind people.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon</span> 18th and 19th-century Irish viscount

Charles Dillon-Lee, 12th Viscount Dillon, KP, PC (Ire) (1745–1813) conformed to the established religion in 1767 and inherited Ditchley in England from his mother.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Dillon, 13th Viscount Dillon</span> Irish writer (1777–1832)

Henry Augustus Dillon-Lee, 13th Viscount Dillon (1777–1832), was an Irish politician, soldier and writer. Despite being a Protestant, he supported Catholic emancipation in Ireland and wrote on the topic. He sat as MP for Harwich in England in the last parliament of Great Britain and the first parliament of the United Kingdom. In the second parliament of the United Kingdom he sat for County Mayo in Ireland. Through his daughter Henrietta, he was ancestor to Clementine Hozier and to the Mitford sisters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fashionable novel</span> 19th-century genre of English literature

Fashionable novels, also called silver-fork novels, were a 19th-century genre of English literature that depicted the lives of the upper class and the aristocracy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Beaumont Phipps</span> British Army officer and courtier

Colonel Sir Charles Beaumont Phipps, was a British soldier and courtier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mulgrave Castle</span> Country house in North Yorkshire, England

Mulgrave Castle refers to one of three structures on the same property in Lythe, near Whitby, North Yorkshire, England. One of these, known as the "old" or "ancient" castle, was by legend founded by Wada, a 6th-century ruler of Hälsingland. The second castle, caput of the feudal barony of Mulgrave, was of Norman construction and remained active until destroyed by order of Parliament in 1647. The third is a country house which was constructed by Lady Catherine Darnley and passed in 1718 by marriage into the Phipps family, when her daughter Lady Catherine Annesley married William Phipps. The Phipps family later held the titles of Baron Mulgrave, Earl of Mulgrave and Marquess of Normanby.

Constantine Phipps, 1st Baron Mulgrave was an Irish peer. In 1767 he was created Baron Mulgrave, of New Ross in the County of Wexford, in the Peerage of Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constantine Phipps (Lord Chancellor of Ireland)</span> Lord Chancellor of Ireland

Sir Constantine Henry Phipps (1656–1723) was an English-born lawyer who held the office of Lord Chancellor of Ireland. His term of office was marked by bitter political faction-fighting and he faced repeated calls for his removal. His descendants held the titles Earl of Mulgrave and Marquess of Normanby. Sir William Phips, the Governor of Massachusetts 1692–94, was his first cousin.

Constantine Charles Henry Phipps, 3rd Marquess of Normanby DL was a British hereditary peer and Church of England clergyman who was a Canon of Windsor from 1891 to 1907.

Nicola Shulman Phipps, Marchioness of Normanby , is a British biographer, former model, and aristocrat. After her marriage in 1990 she initially became Countess of Mulgrave and since 1994 she has been known as Nicola Phipps, Marchioness of Normanby.

Phipps is a surname derived from the given name Philip.

Catherine Sheffield, Duchess of Buckingham and Normanby was an illegitimate daughter of King James II of England, and was married to two English noblemen in succession.

References

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Scarborough
18181820
With: Charles Manners-Sutton
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Higham Ferrers
1822–1826
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Malton
18261830
With: John Charles Ramsden
Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by Governor of Jamaica
1832–1834
Succeeded by
Amos Norcott, acting
Political offices
Preceded by Lord Privy Seal
1834
Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
1835–1839
Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
1839
Succeeded by
Preceded by Home Secretary
1839–1841
Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by British Ambassador to France
1846–1852
Succeeded by
Preceded by British Minister to Tuscany
1854–1858
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Marquess of Normanby
1838–1863
Succeeded by
Preceded by Earl of Mulgrave
1831–1863