Herries worked his way up in the Treasury and eventually became Secretary to the
First Lord of the Treasury,
Commissary-General to the Army,
Paymaster of the Civil List,
Secretary to the Treasury (1823–1827),
Chancellor of the Exchequer in
Lord Goderich's government (1827–1828),
Master of the Mint under the
Duke of Wellington (1828–1830), briefly
President of the Board of Trade (1830),
Secretary at War under
Sir Robert Peel (1834–1835), and finally
President of the Board of Control in
Lord Derby's first government (1852). During his tenure as Commissary-General, he used the help of
Nathan Mayer Rothschild to transfer money to British and allied army troops on the continent, which was not an easy task during the
Continental Blockade. Rothschild's successful conclusion of these transfers was one of the foundations of the house's English banking empire. Herries was one of few men of ministerial experience to side with the
protectionist Tories after the repeal of the
Corn Laws. Following the death of
Lord George Bentinck in 1848, Herries was suggested by
Lord Stanley as an alternative to
Benjamin Disraeli as Shadow
Leader of the House of Commons. In the end Herries declined, and Disraeli gradually came into his own as leader. Staunchly protectionist, Herries was in repeated conflict with Disraeli who, despite championing protectionism barely six years before, was hurriedly disassociating himself and the party from that doctrine. The two never got along, and Herries' refusal to assist in the framing of the 1852 Budget (which he regarded as "wild work"), cannot have helped matters. By the time of Derby's second government in 1858, Herries had died. His son,
Charles Herries, was appointed Chairman of the
Board of Inland Revenue by Disraeli during the latter's second premiership in 1877. ==Family==