Leader of the House of Lords
What position did Thomas Townshend, 1st Viscount Sydney take from Dec 1783 to Jun 1789?
Thomas Townshend , 1st Viscount Sydney Thomas Townshend , 1st Viscount Sydney , ( 24 February 1733 – 30 June 1800 ) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1754 to 1783 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sydney . He held several important Cabinet posts in the second half of the 18th century . The cities of Sydney in Nova Scotia , Canada , and Sydney in New South Wales , Australia were named in his honour , in 1785 and 1788 , respectively . Background and education . Townshend was born at Raynham , Norfolk , the son of the Hon . Thomas Townshend , who was the second son of Charles Townshend , 2nd Viscount Townshend , also known as Turnip Townshend for his agricultural innovations . Thomas Townshend the youngers mother was Albinia , daughter of John Selwyn . He was educated at Clare College , Cambridge . Political career . Townshend was elected to the House of Commons in 1754 as Whig member for Whitchurch in Hampshire , and held that seat till his elevation to the peerage in 1783 . He initially aligned himself with his great-uncle the Duke of Newcastle , but later joined William Pitt the Elder in opposition to George Grenville . He held the offices of Clerk of the Household to the Prince of Wales ( 1756–60 ) and Clerk of the Green Cloth from 1761 to 1762 . In 1765 he was also made a Lord of the Treasury in the first Rockingham ministry and continued in that office in the Pitt ( then Lord Chatham ) administration until December 1767 , when he became a member of the Privy Council and joint-Paymaster of the Forces . During the ministry of Lord Chatham and the Duke of Grafton he supported the position his cousin Charles Townshend was in with regard to the American revenue program . Townshend was forced out of office in June 1768 by Grafton who wanted Rigby as Paymaster of the Forces to gain favour with the Duke of Bedford . Townshend remained in opposition until the end of Lord Norths ministry and spoke frequently in the House of Commons against the American war . Although he had no close party connection , he was inclined toward the Chathamites . He took office again as secretary at war in the second Rockingham ministry . When Lord Shelburne became Prime Minister in July 1782 , Townshend succeeded him as Home Secretary and became Leader of the House of Commons . Among the matters requiring attention that he inherited from Shelburne was a scheme for attacking the Spanish possessions in South America . A memorandum which Shelburne wrote to him at this time listing matters requiring his urgent attention said : Preparations and Plans for W . India [ Spanish America ] . Expeditions require to be set forward—Major Dalrymple has a Plan against the Spanish Settlements . For assistance in planning the expedition , Townshend turned to Captain Arthur Phillip . The plan drawn up by Phillip and approved by Townshend in September 1782 was for a squadron of three ships of the line and a frigate to mount a raid on Buenos Aires and Monte Video , from there to proceed to the coasts of Chile , Peru and Mexico to maraud , and ultimately to cross the Pacific to join the British East Indian squadron for an attack on Manila , the capital of the Spanish Philippines . The expedition sailed on 16 January 1783 , under the command of Commodore Sir Robert Kingsmill . Phillip was given command of one of the ships of the line , the 64-gun , or Europe . Shortly after sailing an armistice was concluded between Great Britain and Spain . Phillip took the Europe to India to join the British East Indian squadron , but after his return to England in April 1784 , remained in close contact with Townshend ( now Lord Sydney ) and the Home Office Under Secretary , Evan Nepean . From October 1784 to September 1786 he was employed by Nepean , who was in charge of the Secret Service relating to the Bourbon Powers , France and Spain , to spy on the French naval arsenals at Toulon and other ports . Townshend was created Baron Sydney of Chislehurst and entered the House of Lords on 6 March 1783 . He originally proposed his title to be Baron Sidney , in honour of his kinsman , the renowned opponent of royal tyranny , Algernon Sidney , however he was worried that other members of his family might have claims on it and then suggested Sydenham , the name of a village near his home in Kent , before settling on Sydney . He opposed the Fox-North coalition and returned to political office with Pitt , serving as Home Secretary from 1783 to 1789 . In Canada , Sydney , Nova Scotia on Cape Breton Island ( now the province of Nova Scotia ) , was founded by British Col . Joseph Frederick Wallet DesBarres in 1785 , and named in honour of Thomas Townshend , 1st Viscount Sydney ( Home Secretary in the British cabinet at the time ) . Lord Sydney appointed Col . DesBarres governor of the new colony of Cape Breton Island . Following the loss of the Thirteen Colonies , Sydney , as Home Secretary in the Pitt Government , was given responsibility for devising a plan to settle convicts at Botany Bay . His choice of Arthur Phillip as Governor was inspired , and Phillips leadership was instrumental in ensuring the penal colony survived the early years of struggle and famine . On 26 January 1788 , Phillip named Sydney Cove in honour of Sydney and the settlement became known as Sydney Town . In 1789 Townshend was created Viscount Sydney . Although the colonisation of New South Wales was just one among many responsibilities of the Secretary of State , Sydney was recognised as the Originator of the Plan of Colonization for New South Wales by David Collins , who dedicated his Account of the English Colony in New South Wales with these words . Collins wrote that Sydneys benevolent Mind had led him to conceive this Method of redeeming many Lives that might be forfeit to the offended Laws ; but which , being preserved under salutary Regulations , might afterward become useful to Society ; and to Sydneys Patriotism the Plan presented a Prospect of commercial and political Advantage . In choosing the name Sydney when he was raised to the peerage in 1783 , Thomas Townshend demonstrated his pride in descent from the Sidney family , who had been eminent opponents of Stuart absolutism . Sydney thought of himself as a Whig , by which he meant he was opposed to any increase in the power and authority of the Royal prerogative . The name Sydney ( with special reference to Algernon Sydney , d.1683 ) was a synonym in the eighteenth century political lexicon for opposition to tyranny and absolutism . It is probable that Sydney was aware of his distinguished ancestor , Algernon Sidneys characterisation of the founders of imperial Rome : “Thus we find a few Men assembling together upon the Banks of the Tiber , resolv’d to build a City , and set up a Government among themselves” . Sydney was responsible for giving the new colony a constitution and judicial system suitable for a colony of free citizens rather than a prison . Phillips second commission of 2 April 1787 made him governor of a colony with a civil government , not of a penal settlement with a military government . The Governors commission , together with the colonys charter of justice establishing the legal regime , brought into existence in New South Wales a colony whose inhabitants enjoyed all the rights and duties of English law , where slavery was illegal . Personal life . Sydney married Elizabeth , daughter of Richard Powys , MP , in 1760 . He died in June 1800 , aged 67 , and was succeeded in his titles by his son , John . Sydney was buried in the Scadbury chapel in the parish church of St Nicholass in Chislehurst in southeast London , where a large memorial tablet to him may be seen . The Viscountess Sydney died in May 1826 , aged 90 . Their daughter , Mary ( died 1821 ) , married John Pitt , 2nd Earl of Chatham , but had no children . Reputation . Sydneys reputation has suffered at the hands of the nationalist school of Australian historians , such as Manning Clark . In his influential A History of Australia ( Melbourne University Press 1961 ) Clark wrote : Mr Thomas Townshend , commonly denominated Tommy Townshend , owed his political career to a very independent fortune and a considerable parliamentary interest , which contributed to his personal no less than his political elevation , for his abilities , though respectable , scarcely rose above mediocrity . Other writers have portrayed Sydney as a cruel monster for dispatching the unfortunate convicts to the far side of the earth . Sydney can be described , by the standards of his time , as an enlightened and progressive politician . He did not support the American Revolution but was a strong opponent of the war which he thought was pointless and needlessly prolonged during Lord Norths ministry . As Home Secretary and Foreign Secretary he was heavily involved in the development of Canada and the settling of fleeing refugees from the intolerant rebels . The city of Sydney in Nova Scotia is named after him in memory of his efforts on behalf of the loyalist settlers of Canada . In a parallel situation for the Royal Townships of the yet-to-formed colony of Upper Canada the thoroughfares of the United Empire Loyalist settlement of Cornwall , Ontario were , in 1784 , named Pitt Street and Sydney Street in honour of the prime minister and his foreign secretary . In 1986 , preceding celebrations of the Australian Bicentenary , Sydney was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post depicting his portrait . In 1992 , a monument in bronze and marble commemorating both the First Fleet and Viscount Sydney was unveiled in Sydney Square , outside Sydney Town Hall by Queen Elizabeth II . More recently Sydneys reputation has been revisited by Australian historians . Alan Atkinson wrote in The Europeans in Australia ( Oxford University Press , 1997 ) : Townshend was an anomaly in the British Cabinet , and his ideas were in some ways old-fashioned.. . He had long been interested in the way in which the empire might be a medium for British liberties , traditionally understood . He took the view that convicts should be given the chance to redeem themselves through self-government in penal colonies such as New South Wales . Governor Phillips well-known statement that There will be no slavery in a new country and hence no slaves is an accurate reflection of Sydneys philosophy . Sydneys papers are held by the William L . Clements Library at the University of Michigan . Timeline . - 1733 , 24 February : Born - 1754 : Entered the House of Commons as MP for Whitchurch , for 29 years until 1783 - 1756 : Clerk of the household of the Prince of Wales - 1760 , 19 May : married Elizabeth Powys ( b.1736 d.1826 ) , later served as Lady of the Bedchamber to Queen Charlotte - 1761 , 21 March : one of the clerks of the board of green cloth until he resigned in Dec . 1762 - 1765 , 12 July : 4th Lord of the Treasury , under Lord John Cavendish , under William Dowdeswell ( Chancellor of the Exchequer ) , under 2nd Marquess of Rockingham ( 1st Lord of the Treasury and Prime minister ) - 1766 , 2 August : 3rd Lord of the Treasury , under Charles Townshend ( Chancellor of the Exchequer ) , under Duke of Grafton ( 1st Lord of the Treasury ) - 1767 , 23 December : Paymaster of the Forces under William Pitt ( The Elder ) , until 1768 ( June ) - 1767 , 23 December : became a member of the Privy Council - 1782 , 30 March : Secretary at War under Rockinghams 2nd ministry , until 10 July 1782 . - 1782 , 10 July : Leader of the House of Commons , under the Earl of Shelburnes ministry , until 2 April 1783 . - 1782 , 10 July : Home Secretary ( and Colonial Secretary ) , under Shelburne ministry , until 2 April 1783 - 1783 , 6 March : Created Baron Sydney and entered the House of Lords . - 1783 , 23 December : Home Secretary ( and Colonial Secretary ) under William Pitt ( The Younger ) , until 5 June 1789 - 1783 : Leader of the House of Lords under Pitt ( The Younger ) , until 1789 - 1784 : First President of the Board of Control over the British East India Company , until 1790 - 1784 : 5 March : President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations ( equiv . to Secretary of State for Trade and Industry ) , until 1786 ( 23 Aug. ) - 1785 : Sydney in ( Cape Breton ) Nova Scotia was named after him by Col J.F.W . DesBarres . - 1788 , 26 January : Sydney Cove in NSW , Australia named after him by Governor Arthur Philip - 1789 : Elevated to 1st Viscount Sydney of Chislehurst , Kent - 1793 : Deputy Lieutenant of Kent - During some period Thomas Townshend was also a governor of the Charter House . - 1800 , 30 June : Died at home , Frognal House References . - Andrew Tink – papers concerning Viscount Sydney , compiled 2005–2006 . Mitchell Library manuscripts , State Library of New South Wales , Sydney . - Andrew Tink – Lord Sydney : The Life and Times of Tommy Townshend , published by Australian Scholarly Publishing : 2011 : - Andrew Tink , Townshend , Thomas ( Tommy ) ( 1733–1800 ) , People Australia , National Centre of Biography , Australian National University : accessed 19 February 2019