James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe
Encyclopedia
Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe PC (6 October 1776 – 19 December 1845), was a British soldier and politician. A grandson of Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...

, he held office under Sir Robert Peel as Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

 between 1834 and 1835 and as Lord President of the Council
Lord President of the Council
The Lord President of the Council is the fourth of the Great Officers of State of the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord High Treasurer and above the Lord Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends each meeting of the Privy Council, presenting business for the monarch's approval...

 between 1841 and 1845.

Background and education

Stuart-Wortley was the son of Colonel James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
James Archibald Stuart, later Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie , British politician and soldier, was the second son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his wife Mary Stuart, Countess of Bute....

, son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...

 and his wife Mary Wortley-Montagu, Baroness Mountstuart in her own right
Mary Stuart, Countess of Bute
Mary Stuart, Countess of Bute and 1st Baroness Mount Stuart was the daughter of Edward Wortley-Montagu and Lady Mary Pierrepont ....

, daughter of Edward Wortley Montagu and Lady Mary Pierrepont
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...

. His father had assumed the additional surname of Wortley as heir to his mother, taking later also that of Mackenzie (which his son in later life discarded) as heir to his great-uncle James Stuart-Mackenzie
James Stuart-Mackenzie
James Stuart-Mackenzie was a Scottish politician.Born James Stuart, he was a younger son of James Stuart, 2nd Earl of Bute, and his wife Lady Anne, daughter of Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll. Prime Minister John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, was his elder brother...

 of Rosehaugh. Stuart-Wortley's mother was Margaret, daughter of Lieutenant-General Sir David Cunynghame, 3rd Baronet. He was educated at Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

.

Military career

Stuart-Wortley was commissioned into the 48th Foot in 1790, transferred to the 7th Foot in 1791, and purchased a Captaincy in the 72nd Foot in 1793. He was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel in 1797 and became Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 of the 12th Foot six months later. In 1797 he transferred to the Grenadier Guards
Grenadier Guards
The Grenadier Guards is an infantry regiment of the British Army. It is the most senior regiment of the Guards Division and, as such, is the most senior regiment of infantry. It is not, however, the most senior regiment of the Army, this position being attributed to the Life Guards...

, but resigned his commission in 1801.

Political career

Stuart-Wortley sat as Tory Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for the rotten borough of Bossiney
Bossiney (UK Parliament constituency)
Bossiney was a parliamentary constituency in Cornwall, one of a number of Cornish rotten boroughs, and returned two Members of Parliament to the British House of Commons from 1552 until 1832, when it was abolished by the Great Reform Act.-History:...

 in Cornwall
Cornwall
Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 between 1797 and 1818, when he was returned for Yorkshire
Yorkshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Yorkshire was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England from 1290, then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1832...

. His attitude on various questions became gradually more Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

, and his support of Catholic emancipation
Catholic Emancipation
Catholic emancipation or Catholic relief was a process in Great Britain and Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century which involved reducing and removing many of the restrictions on Roman Catholics which had been introduced by the Act of Uniformity, the Test Acts and the penal laws...

 lost him his seat in 1826. He was then raised to the peerage as Baron Wharncliffe, of Wortley in the County of York, a recognition both of his previous parliamentary activity and of his high position among the country gentlemen.

At first opposing the 1832 Reform Bill
Reform Act 1832
The Representation of the People Act 1832 was an Act of Parliament that introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales...

, he gradually came to see the undesirability of a popular conflict, and he separated himself from the Tories and took an important part in modifying the attitude of the peers and helping to pass the bill, though his attempts at amendment only resulted in his pleasing neither party. He became Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

 in Sir Robert Peel's short 1834 to 1835 ministry, and again joined him in 1841 as Lord President of the Council
Lord President of the Council
The Lord President of the Council is the fourth of the Great Officers of State of the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord High Treasurer and above the Lord Privy Seal. The Lord President usually attends each meeting of the Privy Council, presenting business for the monarch's approval...

, a post he held until 1845. In 1834 he was sworn of the Privy Council.

In 1837 Lord Wharncliffe brought out an edition of the writings of his ancestress, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
The Lady Mary Wortley Montagu was an English aristocrat and writer. Montagu is today chiefly remembered for her letters, particularly her letters from Turkey, as wife to the British ambassador, which have been described by Billie Melman as “the very first example of a secular work by a woman about...

.

Family

Lord Wharncliffe married Lady Elizabeth Caroline Mary Crichton (1779–1856), daughter of John Crichton, 1st Earl Erne, on 30 March 1799. They had four children:
  • John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe
    John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe
    John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe FRS , was a British Tory politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between December 1834 and January 1835.-Background:...

     (1801–1855)
  • Hon. Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
    Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie
    Charles James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie was a British politician, the second son of James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe.He was an observer at the French siege of Antwerp in 1832, and wrote an account of the affair....

     (1802–1844)
  • Hon. James Archibald Stuart-Wortley (1805–1881), Solicitor-General
    Solicitor General for England and Wales
    Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...

  • Hon. Caroline Jane Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (d. 12 June 1876), married on 30 August 1830 Hon. John Chetwynd-Talbot (1806–1852)


Lord Wharncliffe died in December 1845, aged 69, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son, John
John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe
John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe FRS , was a British Tory politician. He served briefly as Under-Secretary of State for War and the Colonies between December 1834 and January 1835.-Background:...

, whose son Edward, 3rd Baron
Edward Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe
Edward Montagu Stuart Granville Montagu-Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Earl of Wharncliffe , was a British peer and railway executive....

was created Earl of Wharncliffe in 1876. Lady Wharncliffe died in April 1856.

External links

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