Lord Henry Lennox

Lord Henry George Charles Gordon-Lennox PC (2 November 1821 – 29 August 1886), known as Lord Henry Lennox, was a British Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1846 to 1885 and was a close friend of Benjamin Disraeli.

The Right Honourable Lord Henry Lennox PC
Caricature by Ape published in Vanity Fair in 1870.
First Secretary of the Admiralty
In office 16 July 1866 – 1 December 1868
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by	Thomas Baring
Succeeded by	William Edward Baxter
First Commissioner of Works
In office 21 March 1874 – 14 August 1876
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by	William Patrick Adam
Succeeded by	Hon. Gerard Noel
Personal details
Born	2 November 1821
Died	29 August 1886 (aged 64)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Amelia Brooman (d. 1903)
Alma mater	University of Oxford

Background and education

Lennox was the third son of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond, and Lady Caroline, daughter of Field Marshal Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey. He was the brother of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 6th Duke of Richmond, Lord Alexander Gordon-Lennox and Lord George Gordon-Lennox. He was educated at The Prebendal School, Chichester, then University of Oxford.[1]

Political career

Lennox entered the House of Commons in 1846 as Member of Parliament for Chichester, in Sussex. He represented this constituency until 1885,[2] when he stood for Partick, but was defeated.[3]

Lennox held office in every Conservative government between 1852 and 1876. He was a Junior Lord of the Treasury in 1852 and between 1858 and 1859 in the first two short-lived governments of the Earl of Derby before becoming First Secretary of the Admiralty in 1866 in Derby's last government, a post he held until 1868, the last year under the premiership of his close friend Benjamin Disraeli. According to John F. Beeler in British naval policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli era, 1866-1880, Lennox acted as a spy to the then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Disraeli, informing him of the intentions of leading admirals.[4]

He served again under Disraeli as First Commissioner of Works from 1874 to 1876[5] and was admitted to the Privy Council in 1874.[6] He was forced to resign as First Commissioner of Works after revelations in the case of Twycross v Grant regarding the Lisbon Tramways swindle, of which company he was a director.[7][8]

Personal life

Lennox married Amelia Susannah (née Brooman), widow of John White, in 1883. They had no children. He died in August 1886, aged 64. Lady Henry Lennox died in February 1903.[1] John White was the uncle of another peer, Lord Overtoun, while lady Amelia was the great-grandmother of 1950s MP Richard Brooman-White.[9]

References

1. thepeerage.com Rt. Hon. Lord Henry Charles George Gordon-Lennox
2. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Chichester to Clitheroe". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2009.
3. Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench, 1889, page 214
4. Beeler, John F. British naval policy in the Gladstone-Disraeli era, 1866-1880, page 74. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1997.
5. "No. 24081". The London Gazette. 27 March 1874. p. 1873.
6. "No. 24112". The London Gazette. 10 July 1874. p. 3423.
7. Sanders, Lloyd Charles (1893). "Lennox, Charles Gordon-" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 33. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
8. The New York Times 7 August 1876. "Affairs in England".
9. Loch mansion had colourful residents, Helensburgh Heritage Trust, 29 July 2019

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Henry Lennox