Background
Henry Bathurst was born 22 May 1762, the son of Henry, the second Earl of Bathurst, who was then lord chancellor, and his second wife, Tryphena.
Foreign Minister politician statesman
Henry Bathurst was born 22 May 1762, the son of Henry, the second Earl of Bathurst, who was then lord chancellor, and his second wife, Tryphena.
He was M.P. for Cirencester between 1783 and 1794, and from 1790 until his death was a teller of the exchequer. Bathurst, a personal friend of William (the Younger) Pitt’s, also was Lord of the Admiralty between 1783 and 1789, Lord of the Treasury from 1789 to 1791, and commissioner of the Board of Control between 1793 and 1802. On the formation of Pitt’s second ministry in 1804, he accepted the mastership of the mint, with responsibility for the coinage of the realm. He was subsequently president of the Board of Trade, under the Duke of Portland (1807-1809) and under Spencer Perceval (1809-1812), holding the mastership of the mint concurrently. From October to December 1809 he served as foreign secretary, but his tenure was too brief to achieve anything of substance, other than support for Wellington’s military campaign in Spain.
His longest period of office was in Lord Liverpool’s ministry (1812-1827), when he occupied the responsible position of secretary for war and the colonies. He ended his political career in the Duke of Wellington’s ministry (1828— 1830), as Lord President of the Council (the Privy Council). He died on 27 July 1834.
As a Tory of the old school, he was bitterly opposed to the Great Reform Act and took no active part in Parliament after its passage in 1832.
He was married in April 1789 to Georgina, daughter of Lord George Henry Lennox, and succeeded to the family honors with his father’s death on 6 August 1794.