# Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bathurst, Henry (1762-1834)

1904 Errata appended.
​BATHURST, HENRY (1762–1834), third Earl Bathurst, statesman, son of Henry Bathurst, second Earl Bathurst [q. v.], was born 22 May 1762. His mother was daughter of Thomas Scawen, Esq., of Manwell, in the county of Northampton. Bathurst married, April 1789, Georgina, daughter of Lord George Henry Lennox, and succeeded to the family honours on 6 Aug. 1794. He was a personal friend of Mr. Pitt, and on the formation of his second ministry in 1804 he accepted the mastership of the mint. This office be continued to hold under Mr. Addington, and, having held the seals of the Foreigh Office from October to December in 1809, subsequently became president of the board of trade under the Duke of Portland. In Lord Liverpool's ministry he occupied the responsible position of secretary for war and the colonies, and finished his political career under the Duke of Wellington, 1828–30, as lord president of the council. Though Lord Bathurst did not belong to that class of public men who leave their mark behind them, he was an able and useful minister, and for the improvement in the conduct of the Peninsular war which began contemporaneously with his acceptance of the secretaryship he must be allowed his share of credit. His correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, to be found in the ‘Wellington Despatches,’ is very interesting, and shows great quickness in apprehending the military questions brought before him, as well as promptitude in dealing with them. It likewise devolved upon Lord Bathurst to defend the policy of the government in their treatment of the first Napoleon, which was bitterly assailed by Lord Holland in the House of Lords in the year 1817. His speech on that occasion was clever and simple, but was thought by the friends of the ex-emperor to savour too much of pleasantry for so solemn a subject. His name of course will frequently be found in connection with the slave trade; and he was one of the tories who supported in principle the repeal of the Roman Catholic disabilities. In politics he was a tory of the old school, and ceased to take any active part in parliament after the passing of the Reform Bill. He spoke and voted against the second reading of that measure on the ground that it would not reform but destroy the constitution. He was through life, however, a man of what are called moderate views, and enjoyed the esteem and respect of his contemporaries of both political parties.
[Castlereagh's Correspondence; Wellington Despatches; Lord Colchester's Diary; Courts and Cabinets of George IV; Hansard's Parliamentary Debates.]
T. E. K.
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.17 N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 408 | i | 17 f.e. | Bathurst, Henry, 3rd Earl Bathurst: after 1794 insert He was M.P. for Cirencester 1783-94. From 1790 till his death he was a teller of the exchequer |
| | | 16 f.e. | after Mr. Pitt, insert served as lord of the Admiralty 1788-9, lord of the Treasury 1789-91, and commissioner of the board of control 1798-1802 |
| | | 15 f.e. | for his read Mr. Pitt's |
| | | 14-10 f.e. | omit This . . . in 1809 |
| | | 10 f.e. | for subsequently read subsequently he |
| | | 9 f.e. | after duke of Portland insert 1807-9, and under Perceval 1809-12, holding concurrently the mastership of the Mint from Oct. to Dec. 1809; he was also foreign secretary |
| | | 4 f.e. | after council insert He was made K.G. in 1817 |
| | | 32 | after parties add He died on 27 July 1834 |