Charles Watson-Wentworth

Charles Watson-Wentworth (May 13rd 1730 - July 1st 1782), 2nd marquis of Rockingham, called the Honourable Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, count de Malton (title of courtesy) between 1746 and 1750 and count Malton in 1750, was a British statesman of the left Whig, which was twice Prime Minister of Great Britain. He held only two important mandates during his existence, Prime Minister and President of the House of Lords, but its influence was considerable at the time of its second mandate.

Youth and studies

Going down from the 1st count de Strafford, Lord Rockingham grows in the family home of Wentworth Woodhouse close to Rotherham in the Yorkshire of the South. He accepted his education with the Westminster School and the St John' S College. In 1746, it left Wentworth to join with Carlisle the Duc of Cumberland in war against the “ Young Applicant ” Four years later, it was created count Malton in the Pairie of Ireland, then well quickly collected the marquisat of his father.

Political career

It sat at the House of Lords the following year and was made knight Order of the Garter in 1761. In 1762, the king George III named Lord Bute, his friend and his mentor, Prime Minister; but this last was seen constrained to resign in front of a growing opposition. It was replaced by George Grenville, which either did not manage to him to find enough supports; after its resignation in 1765, it is Lord Rockingham who was named Prime Minister.

Rockingham named Secretaries of State its allies Henry Seymour Conway and the duke of Grafton. It is also at that time that Edmund Burke, Irish statesman and Philosophe, became his private secretary; until the untimely death of Rockingham in 1782 it was to remain for him a friend, a political ally and an adviser. During its ministry, it abrogea the Stamp Act, thus reducing the weight of the taxes on the colonies. However, the dispute inside even of the cabinet caused its resignation and the nomination of Lord Chatham as Prime Minister (the duke of Grafton was named First Lord with the Treasury, one of the rare occasions where the two loads are transfered separate).

Independence of the United States

Rockingham passed in the opposition the sixteen following years. It intelligently supported the constitutional laws for the colonists and supported the claim for American independence. In 1782 it was named Prime Minister second once (with Charles James Fox and Lord Shelburne as Secretaries of State) and, as of its taking up the duties, recognized the independence of the the United States, putting an end to the British intervention in the Guerre of independence. But its ministry did not last, because Lord Rockingham died 14 weeks later.

Homages

To the the United States, the three states of the New Hampshire, North Carolina and Virginia, gave its name to the one of their counties.

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