Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath. Painting by Thomas Lawrence, 1795

Thomas Thynne, 1st Marquess of Bath KG FRS (born September 13, 1734 , † November 19, 1796 in London ) was a British nobleman, politician and courtier. As a member of the nobility and through good relations with the king, he made a political career despite his mistakes and inadequacies. He was Secretary of State twice between 1768 and 1779 and held that office for a total of seven years, making him one of the longest-serving ministers during the difficult years of the American Revolutionary War .

Origin and youth

Thomas Thynne was the eldest son and heir to Thomas Thynne, 2nd Viscount Weymouth and his second wife Louisa Carteret, daughter of John Carteret, 2nd Earl Granville . His mother died in 1736. Thomas grew up with his father before he attended Market Street School in Markyate Hertfordshire . From the spring of 1752 he studied at St John's College in Cambridge , where he made a master's degree in 1753 . Then he went on a grand tour . His father had died in January 1751, inheriting the Viscount Weymouth title and his family's extensive estates including Longleat House . Lord Weymouth, as he was now called, had the interior of the Elizabethan country house redesigned, for which he commissioned Capability Brown , who from 1757 laid out the garden and park. Weymouth itself, like many of the nobles of that time, sought diversion in gambling. His losses were so great that they became the subject of talk at court and King George II worried about the young Viscount.

Marriage and Political Career

On May 22, 1759, Weymouth married Elizabeth Cavendish-Bentinck, the eldest daughter of William Bentinck, 2nd Duke of Portland and Margeret Cavendish Harley. Through this marriage Weymouth rose further socially, and after the accession of King George III. In 1760 he became Lord of the King's Bedchamber , while his wife became First Lady of the Bedchamber in 1761 and finally Mistress of the Robes of Queen Sophie Charlotte in 1793 . Through these influential court offices, Weymouth quickly gained political importance, since George III. actively took care of government and administration during the first two decades of his reign. Weymouth politically joined John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford , and became the Queen's Master of the Horse in the spring of 1763 when Bedford gained great influence over the new government of George Grenville . Despite his large land holdings, however, the cost of Weymouth's lavish lifestyle exceeded his income, which is why he fled to France from his creditors in 1765. By the favor of the king and the government, he was made Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in April and became a member of the Privy Council in late May 1765 . He received the customary allowance of £ 3,000, although he never traveled to Ireland and resigned after three months in July 1765. Weymouth made a name for himself as a speaker in the House of Lords over the next few years , and through Bedford's influence he became Secretary of State for the northern Department in January 1768 in the government of the Duke of Grafton at the age of 33 , although he was almost no diplomatic or had government experience.

He was considered lazy, wasteful, addicted to gambling and alcoholism. However, he was not untalented, and some of his letters and speeches show a high degree of intelligence. He was also of a stately figure and could be charming and polite in private dealings. His way of working, however, fluctuated between inertia and hectic activity, which did not always lead to good results. As Secretary of State, he held a key position in the UK government and was responsible for translating cabinet decisions into precise instructions for officials and diplomats. In order to have a consistently successful foreign policy, Weymouth should have had regular diplomatic talks. In fact, in his first term, he was dependent on his deputy, Robert Wood , who ran the day-to-day business. He was suspected by his contemporaries of abusing his power and using his inside knowledge in financial speculation. During Weymouth's two terms in office, there were a number of undercover complaints and eventually open protests by British diplomats who, in critical situations, received no instructions from the government in London and felt abandoned. In 1779, the British ambassador to St. Petersburg , James Harris , received only one letter from Weymouth within nine months, containing even outdated and sparse information. Weymouth itself pointed out that a ministerial goal was to hear a lot and say little. His silence and evasive behavior towards foreign diplomats were notorious and were seen as a sign of his ignorance of European conditions. He also had a bad relationship with other members of the government, so that he had little influence on the further business of the government. Nevertheless, he sometimes ruthlessly sought personal gain.

Thynne and other politicians operate on the Britannia and drink their blood in the process. Caricature from 1768 about the exploitation of Britain by the government

Acting as Secretary of State

In terms of foreign policy, Weymouth initially supported the Duke of Bedford's pro-France policy . During his tenure as Secretary of State for the northern Department, the acquisition of Corsica fell by France. When the purchase of the island became public in the spring of 1768, Weymouth was one of the members of the government who refused a firm response or even military intervention. Through targeted indiscretions towards foreign diplomats, he even announced that the government under the Duke of Grafton would not start a war against France over Corsica. He completely worsened his relations with the Earl of Shelburne , who, as Secretary of the southern Department , had rejected the occupation of Corsica by France. When Shelburne resigned in the fall of 1768, Weymouth moved to this post in October, which was of higher standing, while the career diplomat Earl of Rochford became Secretary of State for the northern Department. Weymouth did little in his two-year tenure, however, leaving British foreign policy to hard-working Rochford. He only acted energetically on two occasions: in the spring of 1768, with the approval of the King, he used troops to suppress demonstrations and unrest in London, when the controversial politician John Wilkes had returned from his exile and was a successful candidate for the House of Commons in Middlesex . He advocated tough measures against Wilkes, who was temporarily arrested, but ultimately remained a member of parliament. When the East India Company turned to the government the next year with a request for military support against Haidar Ali in India, Weymouth tried without consulting his government colleagues to bring the East India Company under greater control of its ministry, but this failed.

Falklands Crisis of 1770

In the second half of 1770, Weymouth regained greater influence on British foreign policy. From 1766 to 1767 there had already been a dispute with Spain because of the British settlement of Port Egmont on the Falkland Islands , which included the islands as part of his area of ​​interest. As both sides wanted to avoid war, a compromise was reached that did not solve the crisis. In June 1770, Spanish soldiers drove the weak British garrison from Port Egmont, which Weymouth learned in September. The conflict fell within the jurisdiction of Weymouth, who now showed the greatest zeal in his career to date. His department has had considerable freedom in the implementation of government policy and, with Prime Minister Lord North and his counterpart Lord Rochford away from London, Weymouth was responsible for the UK government's response to Spanish aggression. Given Britain's maritime superiority, Weymouth believed it could force Spain into war or surrender. Without consulting the other members of the government, he mobilized large parts of the Royal Navy and took a bellicose attitude in his letters to the government in Madrid. In late 1770, war with Spain over the Falkland Islands had become likely, with both governments assuming that France would support allied Spain. Weymouth's motive for this stance was probably his attempt to exploit the crisis to maintain political supremacy in Great Britain. In doing so, he saw Prime Minister Lord North as his main obstacle. He suspected, supported by his deputy Robert Wood, that in a war the weak government of Lord North would be overthrown and that William Pitt the Elder , the Prime Minister , would take over the government again during the Seven Years War . Given Pitt's poor physical condition, Weymouth hoped to become the actual head of that government. However, this was made by King George III. prevented, who got an overview of Weymouth's activities and sought a peaceful settlement with Spain in agreement with the majority of the government. Although the king insisted on a firm stance towards Spain, he was not ready for any war. Together with Lord North, the king led the opposition to Weymouth within the government and assured French diplomats that Britain wanted to avoid war. Weymouth had to change its policy at the end of November and after a tumultuous cabinet meeting on December 7th, Weymouth resigned. At the end of January 1771, the King, Lord North and Lord Rochford reached an agreement with Spain.

Second term as Secretary of State

Amazingly, the King assured him that Weymouth would one day again become Secretary of State for the southern Department. Just six months after his resignation, he was considered a possible candidate for the office of Lord Keeper of the Seal . His political comeback came at the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, when he was again Secretary of State for the southern Department in November 1775. Even during his second term in office he acted mostly sluggish and aloof and isolated from the rest of the government, even though he was government spokesman in the House of Lords and, for this purpose, he periodically intrigued against his government colleagues. At the beginning of his term in office, he did not immediately take the hard line against France and Spain again, but quickly changed that stance again. In doing so, he allied himself with the Earl of Sandwich , First Lord of the Admiralty . Sandwich advocated tough policies on France to prevent it from intervening in the War of Independence. However, he and Weymouth remained politically isolated as the majority of the government sought reconciliation with France and Spain. When Weymouth's attitude was completely different from official government policy in 1776 and 1777, it was simply passed over by his colleagues and by French and Spanish diplomats, which the smug Weymouth eventually accepted. As a result, he had little influence on British politics during the American Revolutionary War. To cover up his indolence, he even forwarded dispatches from Viscount Stormont , the influential British ambassador to Paris, as his own instructions to other British diplomats. Fittingly, Stormont succeeded him as Secretary of State in November 1779.

In mid-1777, however, war with France seemed inevitable, so Weymouth's position again coincided with the majority of the government, and Weymouth gradually returned to lead British diplomacy. Still, his influence on the war was minimal and, as before, he was lazy and sluggish. This came to light in 1779 when the Earl of Suffolk , Weymouth's counterpart as Secretary of State for the northern Department, fell seriously ill and eventually died. For nine months, Weymouth was effectively solely responsible for British foreign policy. In a fit of anger against the Spanish ambassador in May 1779, he openly reprimanded Spain's attitude towards the rebellious colonies, thereby undoing the year-long cautious policy of reconciliation between Spain and Great Britain. As a result, Spain openly entered the War of Independence in the summer of 1779. Weymouth finally resigned from office in November 1779.

Service as courtier and elevation to Marquess of Bath

Weymouth and his wife nonetheless remained highly popular with the king. As early as June 1778, the king had accepted him into the Order of the Garter , although he was never officially introduced into the order. Between March and November 1775, Weymouth briefly held the office of Groom of the stole , which he held again from 1782. This gave him an annual income of £ 2,000. In August 1789 Weymouth was finally promoted to Marquess of Bath .

He was buried in the family vault at Longbridge Deverill .

progeny

From his marriage to Elizabeth Cavendish-Bentinck he had three sons and five daughters, including:

His legacy as Marquess of Bath became his eldest son, Thomas.

Others

On November 23, 1764 he was accepted as a Fellow in the Royal Society , in 1769 he was made an honorary doctor of law by the University of Cambridge . On April 29, 1784 he was accepted as a Fellow in the Society of Antiquaries .

literature

Web links

predecessor Office successor
Thomas Thynne Viscount Weymouth
1751-1796 		Thomas Thynne
New title created Marquess of Bath
1789–1796 		Thomas Thynne
personal data
SURNAME Thynne, Thomas, 1st Marquess of Bath
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobleman, politician and courtier
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1734
DATE OF DEATH November 19, 1796
Place of death London