Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Jenkinson was born on 7 June 1770, the son of politician Charles Jenkinson (who was later created the first Earl of Liverpool) and his first wife, Amelia Watts. Jenkinson's 19-year-old mother, who was the daughter of senior East India Company official William Watts and his wife Frances Croke, died one month after his birth. Through his mother's maternal grandmother, Isabella Beizor, Jenkinson was descended from Portuguese settlers in India, and he may also have had Indian ancestors. He was baptised on 29 June 1770 at St. Margaret's, Westminster. Charles Jenkinson did not remarry until 1782, and as a small child Robert was looked after by his widowed paternal grandmother, Amarantha Jenkinson, in Winchester. Robert's maternal aunt, Sophia Watts, and his paternal aunt Elizabeth, wife of Charles Wolfran Cornwall, were also involved in his early years. He briefly attended schools in Winchester and Chelsea before starting, aged nine, at Albion House preparatory school in Parsons Green. When he was thirteen, Jenkinson became a boarder at his father's old school, Charterhouse School, under the headmaster Samuel Berdmore. His father had ambitions of high office for him and exhorted him in letters to apply himself not just to his studies, but also to his appearance and personal habits. From Charterhouse, he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, in April 1787. At university he was a sober and hardworking student. He formed what was to be a lifelong friendship with George Canning, although at times they would be political rivals. Together with a few other students, including Lord Henry Spencer, they set up a debating society in which Jenkinson would present the Tory and Canning the Whig point of view. Having spent a summer in Paris, where he witnessed the Storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, Jenkinson was created a Master of Arts at Oxford in May 1790. '' by Lawrence, 1796 == Early career (1790–1812)==

Member of Parliament Jenkinson's political career began when he was elected to two seats in the 1790 general election, Rye and Appleby. He chose to represent the former, and never sat for Appleby. Still under age when he was elected, he spent several months touring continental Europe and did not take up his seat for Rye until after his twenty-first birthday, near the end of the 1791 session. Cabinet Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary Hawkesbury, as he now was, obtained his first Cabinet position in 1801 when he became Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in Henry Addington's administration and was responsible for negotiating the Treaty of Amiens with France. In 1803 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Hawkesbury in order to support the government against Lord Grenville's attacks. As a result of Portland's weakness, the departments were left to themselves while the government was without a higher authority to smooth down differences between departments and arbitrate disagreements between ministers. The real figures of importance were a foursome of Pittites, consisting of Viscount Castlereagh, George Canning, Spencer Perceval and Lord Hawkesbury. The government was soon torn apart from inner disputes and rivalries. After the duel between Castlereagh and Canning, the government collapsed. War Secretary Liverpool accepted the position of Secretary of State for War and the Colonies when Spencer Perceval formed a ministry in November 1809. During his time in office, he ensured that the Cabinet gave sufficient support to the Peninsular War. In 1810, he was made a colonel of militia. ==Prime Minister (1812–1827)==

Appointment '' by Thomas Lawrence. Castlereagh served as Liverpool's Foreign Secretary from 1812 until 1822, playing a major role in assembling the coalition against Napoleon and the postwar Concert of Europe Following the assassination of Spencer Perceval on 11 May 1812, the Cabinet proposed Liverpool as his successor, but James Stuart-Wortley moved a vote of no confidence in the House of Commons. The resolution was passed by four votes and Liverpool resigned, only to be reinstated when George, the Prince Regent, failed in his attempts to find an alternative. Liverpool was confirmed as prime minister on 8 June 1812. After poor harvests led to rising bread prices, riots broke out in East Anglia in 1816. In Littleport a rioter was killed when troops opened fire and five rioters were subsequently executed. There was also a revival of Luddite activity. In November and December 1816, followers of Thomas Spence organised two meetings at Spa Fields in London at which the radical Henry Hunt was invited to speak. The second meeting was followed by the Spa Fields riots and an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Tower of London and Bank of England. The following month, the Prince Regent's carriage window was broken in a possible assassination attempt. In response to these incidents, a measure to temporarily suspend habeas corpus was passed by both Houses of Parliament. On 16 August 1819, between 20,000 and 60,000 people gathered at St Peter's Fields, Manchester, to hear Henry Hunt and other speakers demand parliamentary reform in the form of universal suffrage and annual parliaments. Against the advice of home secretary Sidmouth, local magistrates ordered troops to disperse the crowd and arrest the speakers. Eleven people were killed and hundreds injured in what became known as the Peterloo Massacre. Later that year, after the Whigs had tried to make political capital out of the Peterloo Massacre, parliament passed the Six Acts, which were designed to curtail disturbances of the peace while preserving traditional liberties. Later in 1822, following the suicide of Castlereagh, Canning became foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons, while two of his followers were promoted, F. J. Robinson to the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and William Huskisson to the Presidency of the Board of Trade. ==Retirement and death==

On 28 February 1827, Liverpool suffered a stroke at Fife House. He made only a partial recovery and was unable to return to office; the King appointed Canning as prime minister in April 1827. Liverpool suffered another stroke at Coombe in July 1827 and died on 4 December 1828 after a third attack. He was buried at Hawkesbury Church in Gloucestershire alongside his first wife and his parents. ==Personal life==

Liverpool married Louisa Hervey on 25 March 1795 and was widowed on 12 June 1821. His second marriage, on 24 September 1822, was to Mary, daughter of Reverend Charles Chester (formerly Bagot), who outlived him. == Legacy ==

Lord Liverpool's reputation was poor in the 19th century and has steadily grown since the 1930s. Norman Gash argues that as prime minister he gave the nation stable leadership for 15 years (1812–1827), a tenure behind only to Walpole (1721–1742) and Pitt the Younger (1783–1801 and 1804–1806). Liverpool skillfully held together a fractious Tory party and a cabinet of strong personalities (especially Castlereagh and Canning). He guided the nation to victory over Napoleon and managed the difficult post-war transition, including massive debt reduction and economic stabilization. He led the transition to "Liberal Toryism" in the 1820s, which introduced important economic, legal, and criminal justice reforms. Historian Robert William Seton-Watson in 1937 summed up Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses: Recently Martin Hutchinson has hailed him as "Britain's Greatest Prime Minister." argues:Lord Liverpool was a better military strategist than Churchill or Lloyd George, ran the economy better than Pitt, Gladstone or Thatcher, dealt with post-war debt and poverty better than Attlee and won more elections than any of them. That is why Lord Liverpool, who beat Napoleon and presided over the Industrial Revolution, was Britain’s Greatest Prime Minister. John W. Derry in 2020 says Jenkinson was: Liverpool entered the top office at the age of 42 years, younger than all of his successors. He served as prime minister for a total of 14 years and 305 days, making him the longest-serving prime minister of the 19th century. As of 2025, none of Liverpool's successors has served longer. In London, Liverpool Street and Liverpool Road, Islington, are named after Lord Liverpool. In Australia, the Hawkesbury River and the Liverpool Plains, both in New South Wales, and the Liverpool River in the Northern Territory were named for him. Likewise the city of Liverpool, New South Wales.So too was the Canadian town of Hawkesbury, Ontario. Lord Liverpool was portrayed by American actor Gilbert Emery in the 1934 film The House of Rothschild. ==Lord Liverpool's ministry (1812–1827)==

• Lord Liverpool – First Lord of the Treasury and Leader of the House of Lords • Lord Eldon – Lord Chancellor • Lord Harrowby – Lord President of the Council • Lord Westmorland – Lord Privy Seal • Lord Sidmouth – Secretary of State for the Home Department • Lord Castlereagh (Lord Londonderry after 1821) – Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the House of Commons • Lord Bathurst – Secretary of State for War and the Colonies • Lord Melville – First Lord of the Admiralty • Nicholas Vansittart – Chancellor of the Exchequer • Lord Mulgrave – Master-General of the Ordnance • Lord Buckinghamshire – President of the Board of Control • Charles Bathurst – Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster • Lord Camden – minister without portfolio Changes • Late 1812 – Lord Camden leaves the Cabinet • September 1814 – William Wellesley-Pole (Lord Maryborough from 1821), the Master of the Mint, enters the Cabinet • February 1816 – George Canning succeeds Lord Buckinghamshire at the Board of Control • January 1818 – F. J. Robinson, the president of the Board of Trade, enters the Cabinet • January 1819 – The Duke of Wellington succeeds Lord Mulgrave as Master-General of the Ordnance. Lord Mulgrave becomes minister without portfolio • 1820 – Lord Mulgrave leaves the cabinet • January 1821 – Charles Bathurst succeeds Canning as President of the Board of Control, remaining also at the Duchy of Lancaster • January 1822 – Robert Peel succeeds Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary • February 1822 – Charles Williams-Wynn succeeds Charles Bathurst at the Board of Control. Bathurst remains at the Duchy of Lancaster and in the Cabinet • September 1822 – Following the suicide of Lord Londonderry, George Canning becomes Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons • January 1823 – Vansittart, elevated to the peerage as Lord Bexley, succeeds Charles Bathurst as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. F. J. Robinson succeeds Vansittart as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is succeeded at the Board of Trade by William Huskisson • 1823 – Lord Maryborough, the Master of the Mint, leaves the Cabinet. His successor in the office is not a Cabinet member ==Arms==