Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford

Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, 1828

Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford (born August 1, 1776 in Markethill , County Armagh , † March 27, 1849 ) was a British politician and Governor-General of British North America from 1835 to 1837.

Life

He was the elder son and heir of Arthur Acheson, 2nd Viscount Gosford from his marriage to Millicent Pole. In 1806 his father was made Earl of Gosford .

To 1797 on he studied from 1796 Christ Church College of Oxford University . During the Irish Rebellion of 1798 he served as a Lieutenant-Colonel of Militia of Counties Armagh . In 1807 he was promoted to the rank of colonel .

He entered politics in 1798 as a Member of Parliament for County Armagh in the Irish House of Commons . After the unification of Great Britain and Ireland he was from 1801 to 1807 for the County Armagh member in the British House of Commons . When his father died in 1807, he inherited his title as 2nd Earl of Gosford. In 1811 he was elected to the British House of Lords as the Irish Representative Peer . There he supported the Whig policy of reconciliation with Ireland.

In 1832 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the County of Armagh and in 1834 was admitted to the British Privy Council . From April to June 1835 he was captain of the Yeomen of the Guard . On June 13, 1835 he was given the British title of Baron Worlingham , of Beccles in the County of Suffolk . In contrast to his Irish titles, this was directly connected to a seat in the British House of Lords. In the same year he was appointed Governor General of British North America. As royal commissioner, he investigated the situation in Lower Canada and recommended a policy of "reconciliation without concessions" towards the French Canadians . In 1837 he recognized the failure of his reconciliation policy and resigned in November of that year. The rebellions that broke out in Canada demonstrated the failure of its policies. In 1838 he was accepted as the Knight Grand Cross in the Order of the Bath . In the House of Lords, he sat unsuccessfully against the Act of Union 1840 , which united Upper and Lower Canada (Ontario and Quebec).

Marriage and offspring

On July 20, 1805, he married in Marylebone , London , Mary Sparrow (1777-1841), daughter of Robert Sparrow, squire of Worlingham Hall in Suffolk. He had three children with her:

• Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford (1806-1864);
• Lady Mary Acheson (1809-1850) ⚭ 1835 James Hewitt, 4th Viscount Lifford ;
• Lady Millicent French Acheson (around 1812–1887) ⚭ 1842 Henry Bence-Jones.

He also had an illegitimate daughter from a relationship with Mary Richardson:

• Olivia Acheson.

When he died in 1849, his son Archibald inherited his title of nobility.

literature

• Phillip Buckner: Acheson, Archibald . In: Dictionary of Canadian Biography . tape 7: 1836-1850 . University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1988, ISBN 0-8020-3452-7 ( English , French ).
• Thomas Blair Browning: Acheson, Archibald. In: Sidney Lee (Ed.): Dictionary of National Biography . Supplement Volume 1, Smith, Elder & Co., London 1901, pp. 8-10 ( wikisource ).

Web links

• Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford on thepeerage.com
• Mr Archibald Acheson at Hansard (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} Chelsey Parrott-Sheffer: Archibald Acheson, 2nd earl of Gosford. In: Encyclopædia Britannica . March 23, 2020, accessed April 8, 2020 .  

predecessor	Office	successor
Arthur Acheson	Earl of Gosford 1807-1849	Archibald Acheson
New title created	Baron Worlingham 1835-1849	Archibald Acheson