Irish writer and politician (1776?1842)
Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton
PC
(3 July 1776 ? 8 June 1842), known as
Sir Henry Parnell, Bt
, from 1812 to 1841, was an Irish writer and
Whig
politician. He was a member of the Whig administrations headed by
Lord Grey
and
Lord Melbourne
of the 1830s and also published works on financial and penal questions as well as on civil engineering. He was a grand-uncle to the Irish nationalist leader
Charles Stewart Parnell
.
Background and education
[
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]
Parnell was the second son of
Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet
,
Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer
,
[1]
and Laetitia Charlotte, daughter of Sir Arthur Brooke, 1st Baronet. His younger brother William Parnell-Hayes was the grandfather of
Charles Stewart Parnell
. He was educated at
Eton
and
Trinity College, Cambridge
.
[2]
In 1801 he inherited the family estates in
Queen's County
on the death of his father,
[1]
bypassing his disabled elder brother according to a special Act of Parliament passed in 1789. In 1812 he succeeded as fourth Baronet, of Rathleague, on the death of his brother.
Political career
[
edit
]
Parnell represented
Maryborough
in the
Irish House of Commons
from 1798 until the
Act of Union
in 1801.
[3]
In April the following year he was elected to
Parliament of the United Kingdom
for
Queen's County
, but relinquished this seat already in July of the same year,
[4]
when he was returned for
Portarlington
. However, he resigned the seat already in December 1802.
[5]
In 1806 he was once again elected for Queen's County, and represented the constituency until 1832.
[4]
In 1828 he was chairman of the Select Committee on the State of Public Income and Expenditure which successfully recommended abolition of the 280-year-old
Navy Board
and the merging of its functions into the
Board of Admiralty
.
[6]
It was by Parnell's motion on the civil list that the
Duke of Wellington's
administration was defeated in 1830.
[1]
The
Whigs
came to power under
Lord Grey
and in 1831 Parnell was admitted to the
Privy Council
[7]
and appointed
Secretary at War
,
[8]
a post he held until February 1833. He resigned his seat in Parliament the same year but returned in 1833 as the representative for
Dundee
.
[9]
When the Whigs again came to power in April 1835 under
Lord Melbourne
, Parnell was made
Paymaster of the Forces
and
Treasurer of the Ordnance
and
Navy
.
[1]
These offices were consolidated into that of
Paymaster General
in 1836, and Parnell retained this post until the government fell in 1841. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as
Baron Congleton
, of
Congleton
in the County Palatine of
Chester
.
[10]
Works
[
edit
]
- Observations upon the State of Currency of Ireland, and upon the Course of Exchange between London and Dublin
(1804; 2nd edn., 1804; 3rd edn. (with additional appendix), 1804).
- The Principles of Currency and Exchange, illustrated by Observations on the State of Ireland
(1805).
- An Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics
(1807).
- A History of the Penal Laws against the Irish Catholics, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Union
(1808; a ‘new edition’ appeared in vols. xx. and xxi. of the
Pamphleteer
(1822); 4th edn. (with slightly altered title), 1825).
- Treatise on the Corn Trade and Agriculture
(1809).
- The Substance of the Speeches of Sir Henry Parnell, bart., in the House of Commons, with additional Observations on the Corn Laws
(1814; 3rd edn. published in vol. iv. of the
Pamphleteer
(1814).
- Observations on the Irish Butter Acts
(1825).
- Observations on Paper Money, Banking, and Over-Trading, including those parts of the Evidence taken before the Committee of the House of Commons which explain the Scotch System of Banking
(1827, 1829).
- On Financial Reform
(1830; 2nd edn., 1830; 3rd edn., 1831; 4th edn., 1832). Selections from this book, compiled by Henry Lloyd Morgan, were published under the title of
National Accounts
(2nd edn., 1873).
- A plain Statement of the Power of the Bank of England, and the Use it has made of it; with a Refutation of the Objections made to the Scotch System of Banking, and a Reply to “The Historical Sketch [by J. R. McCulloch] of the Bank of England,”
(1832).
- A Treatise on Roads, wherein the Principles on which Roads should be made are explained and illustrated by the Plans, Specifications, and Contracts made use of by Thomas Telford, Esq., on the Holyhead Road
(1833; 2nd edn., 1838).
- The Psalms: a new Version
(1860; 2nd edn., 1875).
Parnell was the author of books and pamphlets on matters connected with financial questions, the major important work being
On Financial Reform
, published in 1830.
[1]
Parnell was opposed to the prevailing
protectionist
system and advocated
retrenchment
of public expenditure, especially for the armed services.
[11]
On Financial Reform
proposed the repeal of taxes on raw materials and home manufactures, along with the reduction of import duties on foreign manufactures. He also favoured the reduction of taxes on "luxuries", such as tea, sugar, tobacco, wine and spirits. To pay for these reforms, Parnell proposed the reintroduction of the
income tax
.
[11]
According to
Sidney Buxton
,
On Financial Reform
exercised a considerable influence on public opinion and "laid before the country the financial and fiscal policy that
Peel
and
Gladstone
afterwards carried through".
[11]
One of the main representatives of the so-called "British
free banking
school", Parnell argued that the best way to achieve monetary stability was to revoke the
Bank of England
's monopoly on the issue of
banknotes
. These ideas were defended by Parnell and others in opposition to those of the
British Currency School
who advocated legal restrictions on the amount of notes that could be issued, with respect to their deposits in
specie
, and the
British Banking School
, which advocated discretionary policy by the banks in monetary matters. Support for free banking declined after Parnell's death in 1842, and the
Bank Charter Act 1844
eliminated the right of new banks in England and Wales to issue notes, consolidating the Bank of England's monopoly.
[12]
Parnell also wrote about
penal
matters. In the domain of civil engineering, he authored the 1833 and 1838 editions of
A Treatise on Roads
, in which the works and techniques of
Thomas Telford
were described.
[1]
Family
[
edit
]
Parnell married Lady Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of
John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington
, in 1801. In 1842, having suffered for some time from ill health and
melancholy
, he committed suicide
[1]
by hanging, aged 65. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son
John Vesey Parnell
.
[1]
Lady Congleton died in February 1861.
The couple had three sons and three daughters who reached adulthood.
[13]
A daughter, Frances Louisa, died when she was five years old, and was buried in
Westminster Abbey
. Her monument bears the inscription "Sacred to the memory of Frances Louisa Parnell. Born 28 October 1806 Died 18 September 1812. Interred under this spot. This monument is placed here by her afflicted and disconsolate mother."
References
[
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]
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
Chisholm, Hugh
, ed. (1911).
"Congleton, Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron"
.
Encyclopædia Britannica
. Vol. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 913.
- ^
"Parnell, Henry [Brooke] (PNL794HB)"
.
A Cambridge Alumni Database
. University of Cambridge.
- ^
"leighrayment.com Irish House of Commons: 1692?1800"
. Archived from the original on 1 June 2009
. Retrieved
17 November
2009
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
a
b
"leighrayment.com Queenborough to Queen's University, Belfast"
. Archived from the original on 21 March 2018
. Retrieved
17 November
2009
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
"leighrayment.com House of Commons: Plymouth to Putney"
. Archived from the original on 27 November 2018
. Retrieved
17 November
2009
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
Bonner-Smith, D. (1945). "The Abolition of the Navy Board".
The Mariner's Mirror
.
31
(3): 154?159.
doi
:
10.1080/00253359.1945.10658919
.
- ^
leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1679?1835
[usurped]
- ^
"No. 18790"
.
The London Gazette
. 5 April 1831. p. 643.
- ^
"leighrayment.com House of Commons: Dumbarton to Dysart Burghs"
. Archived from the original on 5 November 2018
. Retrieved
17 November
2009
.
{{
cite web
}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (
link
)
- ^
"No. 20007"
.
The London Gazette
. 13 August 1841. p. 2072.
- ^
a
b
c
Sidney Buxton,
Finance and Politics: An Historical Study, 1783?1885. Volume I
(London: John Murray, 1888), p. 32, n. ‡.
- ^
Anna J. Schwartz
, "Banking School, Currency School, Free Banking School," in
The New Palgrave: Money
(London, W. W. Norton & Company, 1989),
ISBN
0-393-02726-0
.
- ^
Gray, Peter. "Parnell, Henry Brooke, first Baron Congleton (1776?1842)".
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/21386
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
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