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ROCKINGHAM, CHARLES WATSON WENTWORTH,...

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Originally appearing in Volume V23, Page 435 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ROCKINGHAM, See also:CHARLES See also:WATSON See also:WENTWORTH, 2ND See also:MARQUESS OF (173o-1782) , twice See also:prime See also:minister of See also:England, was the son of See also:Thomas Watson Wentworth (c. 169o—175o), who was created See also:earl of Melton in 1733 and marquess of Rockingham in 1746. The See also:family of Watson was descended from See also:Sir See also:Lewis Watson (1584—1653), son and See also:heir of Sir See also:Edward Watson (d. 1616) of Rockingham See also:Castle in See also:Northamptonshire. For his services to the See also:king during the See also:Civil See also:War Sir Lewis was created See also:Baron Rockingham in 1645. His See also:grandson Lewis, the 3rd baron (1655—1724), was created earl of Rockingham in 1714, and was succeeded by his grandson Lewis (c. 1709—1745), whose See also:brother Thomas, the 3rd earl, died unmarried in See also:February 1746, when the earldom became See also:extinct. The See also:barony of Rockingham, however, descended to a See also:cousin, Thomas, See also:father of the prime minister, a grandson of Edward, the 2nd baron (163o-1689), who had married See also:Anne, daughter and heiress of Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of See also:Strafford. The vast estates of the Wentworths had passed to Edward's son, Thomas, who took the additional name of Wentworth, and then to his son, the 1st marquess of Rockingham. Charles Watson Wentworth was See also:born in 1730 on the 19th of See also:March (according to some, the 13th of May), and was educated at See also:Westminster school and St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge. He showed his spirit as a boy by See also:riding across from Wentworth to See also:Carlisle in 1746 to join the See also:duke of See also:Cumberland in his pursuit of the See also:Young Pretender. He was created earl of See also:Malton in the See also:peerage of See also:Ireland in See also:September 1750, and succeeded his father as 2nd marquess of Rockingham in See also:December of the same See also:year.

In 1751 he became See also:

lord-See also:lieutenant of the See also:North and See also:East See also:Ridings of See also:Yorkshire and a lord of the bedchamber, and in 176o was made a See also:knight of the Garter. After See also:George III. had begun his policy of dividing the See also:great Whig families, those Whig noblemen and gentlemen who did not choose to join the sections headed by the Grenvilles, the duke of See also:Bedford, or any other great noblemen, selected as their See also:chief the young marquess of Rockingham. In May 1762 the king's favourite, the earl of See also:Bute, became first lord of the See also:treasury, and the marquess of Rockingham was amongst those who in the following year were dismissed from their lord-lieutenancies. The opposition now See also:grew so strong that Lord Bute resigned in See also:April 1763, and the king, true to his policy, appointed George See also:Grenville to be his successor. But Grenville's See also:section of the Whig party was not strong enough to maintain him in See also:power See also:long, and in See also:July 1765 Lord Rockingham formed his first See also:administration with See also:General See also:Conway and the duke of See also:Grafton as secretaries of See also:state. The See also:cabinet seemed stronger than it really was, for it was divided by See also:intestine quarrels, and the earl of See also:Chatham refused to have anything to do with it. Nevertheless, Rockingham recovered his lord-lieutenancies and won reputation as a See also:good See also:administrator. In May 1766 the duke of Grafton, a far abler See also:man than Rockingham, though neither so conciliatory in his See also:manners nor so generally popular, seceded from the See also:government, and in See also:August 1766 he succeeded his former chief as first lord of the treasury and prime minister. Then followed many years of fruitless opposition to the king's See also:personal authority as exhibited through his ministers, but at last, on the 27th of March 1782, Lord Rockingham again became prime minister with See also:Fox and Shelburne (afterwards marquess of See also:Lansdowne) as secretaries of state. This See also:time he enjoyed See also:office for but a few See also:weeks, for he died on the 1st of July 1782. He See also:left no issue, and his See also:property went to his See also:nephew, the 2nd Earl See also:Fitzwilliam, his titles becoming extinct. A few words from his See also:epitaph by See also:Burke deserve See also:quotation as giving the See also:reason of the predominance of such an See also:ordinary man as Lord Rockingham over a party abounding in men of great abilities: " A man worthy to be held in esteem, because he did not live for himself.

. He far exceeded all other statesmen in the See also:

art of See also:drawing together, without the See also:seduction of self-See also:interest, the concurrence and co-operation of various dispositions and abilities of men, whom he assimilated to his See also:character and associated in his labours." See See also:Memoirs of the See also:Marquis of Rockingham and his Contemporaries, by George Thomas, earl of See also:Albemarle (2 vols., 1852) ; See also:Horace See also:Walpole's Memoirs of the reign of George III., edited by G. F. R. See also:Barker (1894) ; and the other letters, papers and diaries of the time.

End of Article: ROCKINGHAM, CHARLES WATSON WENTWORTH, 2ND MARQUESS OF (173o-1782)

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