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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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Lord Castlereagh
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(Robert Stewart, 1769–1822, 2nd marquess of Londonderry 1821)
Tory politician and long-serving foreign secretary (1812–22), known for most of his adult life as viscount Castlereagh, his *courtesy title. He made his political reputation as chief secretary in the Irish parliament (1798–1801), securing the passage of the Act of *Union against considerable opposition. In 1805 he became secretary of state for war in Pitt's government. There then developed a bitter rivalry with *Canning, the foreign secretary, whose secret schemes for the removal of Castlereagh after military reverses in 1809 led to a duel between the two men and their joint resignation.
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In 1812 it was Castlereagh who returned to office as foreign secretary, and it was he who represented Britain in the peace settlement at the end of the *Napoleonic Wars. In foreign policy he was against re-establishment of the old European order, but at home his name was increasingly linked with repression and he became profoundly unpopular with the public. He was leader of the House of Commons when the *Peterloo massacre occurred, provoking Shelley's couplet in The Mask of Anarchy: I met Murder on the way –
He had a mask like Castlereagh. In the last months of his life he was unstable and depressed, to the extent that his doctor removed his razors. He committed suicide by cutting his throat with a pen knife.
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