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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 Palmerston
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(Henry John Temple, 1784–1865, 3rd viscount Palmerston 1802)
Politician who as foreign secretary (1830–4, 1835–41, 1846–51) and as prime minister (1855–8, 1859–65) came to represent the blunt sabre-rattling assertion of British interests abroad, to the great benefit of his popularity at home. He entered parliament as a *Tory in 1807 (his viscountcy was in the Irish peerage and did not prevent his sitting in the House of Commons).
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He remained from 1809 to 1828 in the relatively obscure position of secretary-at-war, responsible for the financial administration of the army. In 1830 he became foreign secretary in the coalition cabinet headed by Lord *Grey, a *Whig. He subsequently held the same position under two later Whig prime ministers, Lord Melbourne and Lord John Russell, and thus gradually transferred his own allegiance to the group emerging as the *Liberal party. He became prime minister in 1855 after Lord Aberdeen lost a vote of confidence in the House of Commons on his conduct of the Crimean War.
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If there was no conflict with British interests, Palmerston was a firm supporter of *Liberal causes in the original meaning of the word (the liberation of people and nations from control by others); he assisted the independence of *Belgium in 1831, was on the side of constitutional movements in *Spain and *Portugal in 1834, and supported insurgents in several countries in the unrest after 1848. But it was his *gunboat diplomacy that appealed rather more to the electorate. The most extreme example was the Don *Pacifico incident, but he was also involved in both the *Opium Wars. As prime minister he successfully coped with two conflicts not of his own making, the *Crimean War and the *Indian Mutiny. The final words attributed to him have often been quoted for the aptness of their wit: 'Die, my dear doctor, that's the last thing I shall do!'
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