1855 - 1858

Henry John Temple, Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) the son of an Irish peer, was elected to Parliament in 1807. He was appointed as Secretary at war in 1809 and retained the post for twenty years and through five administrations, acquiring a reputation for hard work, competence and solid achievement, and moving slowly from Toryism to Liberalism. Eventually in 1828 he resigned from Wellington's government and in 1830 was welcomed into the Whig administration of Lord Grey as foreign Secretary, a position which he held until the fall of Melbourne in 1841, and again in Lord Russell's government of 1846-52. His confidence and independence in his department made him a dangerous colleague, and contributed to a feud with the prime minister which resulted in his dismissal in 1851. He accepted office again (as home Secretary) in partnership with Russell in the government headed by Lord Aberdeen, but when it collapsed over the incompetence with which it was managing the Crimean War, he succeeded in forming a government of his own in 1855. Weak in the Commons, he was defeated there on British policy against China in 1857; but his popularity in the country secured a general election victory that year. Shortly afterwards, however, his support for French requests to curb the activities of international conspirators in England undermined his popular support and led to his defeat in the Commons and resignation in February 1858. He returned in 1859 following a new understanding between the various wings of the Liberal party, leading the government until his death - aged over eighty - after a general election victory in 1865.