Nicholas Vansittart, Baron Bexley, was a British politician and statesman, one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history.
Background
Nicholas Vansittart was born in London on 29 April 1766, the fifth son of Henry Vansittart, governor of Bengal, and Emilia, daughter of Nicholas Morse, the governor of Madras. After his father’s death in 1770, he was raised by two uncles.
Education
He was educated at Mr. Gilpin’s school at Cheam and at Christ Church, Oxford, gaining a B.A. in 1787 and an M.A. in 1791. He went to Lincoln’s Inn in 1788 and was called to the bar in May 1791, but practiced law only a short time before pursuing a career in politics.
Career
In 1801, Vansittart was given the responsibility of leading a British mission to the court of Denmark, with the goal of improving British- Danish relations. Although the mission was unsuccessful, on his return Vansittart was appointed joint secretary to the Treasury, a post he held until 1804. He was briefly, and unsuccessfully, chief secretary for Ireland in 1805. In 1806 and 1807, Vansittart again held the post of secretary to the Treasury. When Spencer Perceval formed a government in 1809, he offered Vansittart the post of chancellor of the exchequer, partly in the hope of attracting the influential Lord Sidmouths supporters in the Commons—a group to which Vansittart belonged— into his government. Vansittart rejected the offer in favor of opportunities in the private sector, where he went on to develop a formidable reputation as a financier. However, with the assassination of Perceval in 1812 and the formation of a new administration under Lord Liver-pool, Vansittart accepted a second offer to become chancellor of the exchequer.
In 1823 he resigned as chancellor of the exchequer and was made chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster—effectively, a minister without a ministry; he was also awarded a seat in the House of Lords. He continued in his post until 1828, when the Duke of Wellington became prime minister.
The rest of Bexley’s life was taken up with religious and charitable activities. He served as president of the British and Foreign Bible Mission, and presided over the inauguration of Kings College, London, in 1831. He died on 8 July 1851, leaving no heir.
Membership
He entered the House of Commons as Tory M.P. for Hastings in 1796 and continued to sit in the House of Commons for the next 26 years, being elected for Old Sarum in 1802, Helston in 1806, East Grinstead in 1812, and Harwich in 1812.
Connections
He had married Catherine Isabella, the second daughter of Lord Auckland, in 1806, the couple had remained childless, and Catherine had died in 1810.