Thomas Spring Rice,1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon,PC,FRS,FGS (8 February 1790–7 February 1866) was a British Whig politician,who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839.
Spring Rice was educated at Trinity College,Cambridge,and later studied law at Lincoln's Inn,but was not called to the Bar.[5] His family was politically well-connected,both in Ireland and Great Britain,and he was encouraged to stand for Parliament by his father-in-law,Lord Limerick.
Political career
Spring Rice first stood for election in Limerick City in 1818 but was defeated by the Tory incumbent,John Vereker,by 300 votes. He won the seat in 1820 and entered the House of Commons. He positioned himself as a moderate unionist reformer who opposed the radical nationalist politics of Daniel O'Connell,and became known for his expertise on Irish and economic affairs. In 1824 he led the committee which established the Ordnance Survey in Ireland.[6]
In a six-hour speech in the House of Commons on 23 April 1834,he suggested that Ireland should be renamed 'West Britain'.[10] In the Commons,he championed causes such as the worldwide abolition of slavery and the introduction of state-supported education. The Whig government fell in November 1834,after which Spring Rice attempted to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons in early 1835.
When the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835,Spring Rice was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. As Chancellor,Spring Rice had to deal with crop failures,a depression and rebellion in North America,all of which created large deficits and put considerable strain on the government. His Church Rate Bill of 1837 was quickly abandoned and his attempt to revise the charter of the Bank of Ireland ended in humiliation. Spring Rice,unhappy as Chancellor,again tried to be elected as Speaker,but failed. He was a dogmatic figure,described by Lord Melbourne as "too much given to details and possessed of no broad views".[11]
Upon his departure from office in 1839,Spring Rice had become a scapegoat for the government's many problems. That same year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Monteagle of Brandon,in the County of Kerry,a title intended earlier for his ancestor,Sir Stephen Rice. Lord Monteagle of Brandon was also Comptroller General of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1865,despite Lord Howick's initial opposition to the maintenance of the office. Monteagle differed from the government regarding the exchequer control over the treasury,and the abolition of the old exchequer was already determined upon when he died.[3]
From 1839,he largely retired from public life,although he occasionally spoke in the House of Lords on matters generally relating to government finance and Ireland.[10] He vehemently opposed Lord John Russell's policy regarding the Irish famine,giving a speech in the Lords in which he said the government had "degraded our people,and you,English,now shrink from your responsibilities."[7]
Spring Rice was well regarded in Limerick,where he was seen as a compassionate landlord and a good politician. An advocate of traditional Whiggism,he strongly believed in ensuring society was protected from conflict between the upper and lower classes.[12] Although a pious Anglican,his support for Catholic emancipation won him the favour of many Irishmen,most of whom were Roman Catholic. He led the campaign for better county government in Ireland at a time when many Irish nationalists were indifferent to the cause.[13]
During the Great Famine of the 1840s,Spring Rice responded to the plight of his tenants with benevolence. The ameliorative measures he implemented on his estates almost bankrupted the family and only the dowry from his second marriage saved his financial situation. A monument in honour of him still stands in the People's Park in Limerick.[14]
Even so,Spring Rice's reputation in Ireland is not entirely favourable. In a book regarding assisted emigration from Ireland (a process in which a landlord paid for their tenants' passage to the United States or Australia),writer Gerard Moran has suggested that Spring Rice was engaged in the practice. In 1838,he is recorded as having 'helped' a boat load of his tenants depart for North America,thereby allowing himself the use of their land.[15] However,Spring Rice is also recorded as having been in support of state-assisted emigration across the British Isles,suggesting that Moran's interpretation of Spring Rice's actions is not fully accurate.[16]
Lord Monteagle of Brandon was married twice. He married firstly Lady Theodosia Pery,daughter of Edmund Pery,1st Earl of Limerick,in 1811. He was just 21 at the time,and this marriage prematurely ended his university career. It produced five sons and three daughters:
Hon. Theodosia Alicia Ellen Frances Charlotte Spring Rice (died 2 January 1891),married Sir Henry Taylor in 1839.
Hon. Edmund Henry Francis Louis Spring Rice (31 Mar 1821–16 January 1887),married Margaret Little in 1870.
Hon. Aubrey Richard Spring Rice (15 Aug 1822–29 November 1897),married Anne John-Mildmay in 1852.
Hon. William Cecil Spring Rice (1 Nov 1823–11 August 1880),died unmarried.
After his first wife's death in 1839,Monteagle married secondly Marianne,daughter of the Leeds industrialist John Marshall,in 1841. This union brought much needed money into the family,allowing Spring Rice to maintain his Mount Trenchard estate in Ireland and a London house. Upon Lord Monteagle of Brandon's death in February 1866,aged 75,he was succeeded in the barony by his grandson Thomas Spring Rice,the son of his eldest son Hon. Stephen Edmund Spring Rice.[3] Lord Monteagle of Brandon's great-granddaughter was the Irish nationalist,Mary Spring Rice. His second son,Hon. Charles William Thomas Rice,was the father of the diplomat Sir Cecil Spring Rice,British Ambassador to the United States from 1912 to 1918.
Coat of arms of Thomas Spring Rice,1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon
Crest
A leopard's face Gules ducally crowned Or.
Escutcheon
Quarterly 1st &4th per pale indented Argent and Gules (Rice) 2nd Azure a lion rampant Or (Meredyth) 3rd Argent on a chevron between three mascles Gules as many cinquefoils Argent (Spring).
↑ Dictionary of National Biography – Profile: Thomas Spring Rice.
↑ R. Brent, 'Liberal Anglican politics: whiggery, religion, and reform, 1830–1841' (1987)
↑ Mark Callanan, Justin F. Keogan, Local Government in Ireland: Inside Out (Institute of Public Administration, 1 January 2003), p. 16.
↑ "People's Park, Limerick". buildingsofireland.ie. National Inventory of Architectural Heritage. Retrieved 28 August 2023. Freestanding limestone Greek Doric column surmounted by Portland stone sculpture of Thomas Spring Rice, erected in 1829, on a raised mound at the centre of the People's Park, formally Pery Square.
↑ Moran, Gerard (2004). Sending out Ireland's Poor, assisted emigration to North America in the nineteenth century. Dublin. p.30.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
↑ Spring Rice, Thomas (1790–1866), of Mount Trenchard, nr. Foynes, co. Limerick, from History of Parliament online
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