View source for Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

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{{short description|Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827}}
{{redirect2|Lord Liverpool|The Earl of Liverpool|other holders of the title|Earl of Liverpool}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2015}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Earl of Liverpool
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100|KG|PC|FRS}}
| image            = File:Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) - Robert Banks Jenkinson (1770-1828), 2nd Earl of Liverpool - RCIN 404930 - Royal Collection.jpg
| alt              = Oil painting by Thomas Lawrence
| caption          = ''[[Portrait of Lord Liverpool]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]],<br>c. 1820
| office           = [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]
| term_start       = 8 June 1812
| term_end         = 9 April 1827
| monarch          = {{plainlist|
* [[George III]]
* [[George IV]]}}
| 1blankname       = [[Regent of the United Kingdom|Regent]]
| 1namedata        = [[George IV|George, Prince Regent]] {{nowrap|(1812–1820)}}
| predecessor      = [[Spencer Perceval]]
| successor        = [[George Canning]]
| office2          = [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]]
| term_start2      = 1 November 1809
| term_end2        = 11 June 1812
| primeminister2   = Spencer Perceval
| predecessor2     = [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|The Viscount Castlereagh]]
| successor2       = [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|The Earl Bathurst]]
| office3          = [[Leader of the House of Lords]]
| term_start3      = 25 March 1807
| term_end3        = 9 April 1827
| primeminister3   = {{plainlist|
* [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|The Duke of Portland]]
* Spencer Perceval
*''Himself''}}
| predecessor3     = [[William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville|The Lord Grenville]]
| successor3       = [[F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich|The Viscount Goderich]]
| term_start4      = 17 August 1803
| term_end4        = 5 February 1806
| primeminister4   = {{plainlist|
* [[Henry Addington]]
* [[William Pitt the Younger]]}}
| predecessor4     = [[Thomas Pelham, 2nd Earl of Chichester|The Lord Pelham]]
| successor4       = The Lord Grenville
| office5          = [[Home Secretary]]
| term_start5      = 25 March 1807
| term_end5        = 1 November 1809
| primeminister5   = The Duke of Portland
| predecessor5     = [[George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer|The Earl Spencer]]
| successor5       = [[Richard Ryder (Secretary of State)|Richard Ryder]]
| term_start6      = 12 May 1804
| term_end6        = 5 February 1806
| primeminister6   = William Pitt the Younger
| predecessor6     = [[Charles Philip Yorke]]
| successor6       = The Earl Spencer
| office7          = [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]]
| term_start7      = 20 February 1801
| term_end7        = 14 May 1804
| primeminister7   = Henry Addington
| predecessor7     = The Lord Grenville
| successor7       = [[Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|The Lord Harrowby]]
| birth_name       = Robert Banks Jenkinson
| birth_date       = 7 June 1770
| birth_place      = London, England
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1828|12|4|1770|6|7|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Kingston upon Thames]], [[Surrey]], England
| resting_place    = [[Church of St Mary, Hawkesbury|Hawkesbury Parish Church]], [[Gloucestershire]], England
| parents          = [[Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool|Charles Jenkinson]] (father)<br>[[Amelia Watts]] (mother)
| spouse           = {{plainlist}}
* {{marriage|[[Louisa Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool|Louisa Hervey]]|25 March 1795|12 June 1821|reason=d}}
* {{marriage|[[Mary Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool|Mary Chester]]<br/>|24 September 1822}}
{{endplainlist}}
| education        = [[Charterhouse School]]
| alma_mater       = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| party            = [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]]
| signature        = Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool Signature.svg
| signature_alt    = Cursive signature in ink
}}

'''Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool''' (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828), was a British [[Tories (British political party)|Tory]] statesman who served as [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]] from 1812 to 1827. Before becoming prime minister he had been [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|foreign secretary]], [[home secretary]] and [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies|secretary of state for war and the colonies]]. He held the constituency of Rye from 1790 until 1803, when he was elevated to the [[House of Lords]], where he was [[Leader of the House of Lords|Leader]] 1803–1806 and 1807–1827.

Liverpool's fifteen years as prime minister saw his guiding Britain to victory in the Napoleonic Wars and ushering in a lasting postwar peace. However it also produced unrest and [[Classical radicalism|radicalism]] at home. During the first part of his premiership, repressive measures were taken to restore order at home, the [[Corn Laws]] were introduced and income tax was repealed. In the 1820s his leadership became more liberal, and the period saw a reform of the [[criminal law]] and prisons. Throughout his tenure as prime minister, Liverpool sought a compromise over the issue of [[Catholic emancipation]]. He resigned following a stroke in February 1827. Important events during Liverpool's premiership included the defeat of [[Napoleon]] at the [[Battle of Waterloo]], the [[Congress of Vienna]], the [[War of 1812|1812–1814 war]] with America, the [[Peterloo massacre]], the failed [[Cato Street Conspiracy]] and the [[Caroline of Brunswick|Queen Caroline]] affair.

Liverpool, known as Jenkinson until 1803 and as Hawkesbury from 1803 to 1808, was the son of Tory politician [[Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool]]. He was educated at [[Charterhouse School]] and [[Christ Church, Oxford]]. Twice married, he had no children; on his death the earldom passed to his younger half-brother.

==Early life==
Jenkinson was born on 7 June 1770, the son of politician [[Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool|Charles Jenkinson]] (who was later created the first [[Earl of Liverpool]]) and his first wife, [[Amelia Watts]]. Jenkinson's 19-year-old mother, who was the daughter of senior [[East India Company]] official [[William Watts (East India Company official)|William Watts]] and his wife [[Begum Johnson|Frances Croke]], died one month after his birth.<ref name=ODNB>{{cite ODNB |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-14740 |title=Jenkinson, Robert Banks, second earl of Liverpool (1770-1828) |year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/14740}}</ref> Through his mother's maternal grandmother, Isabella Beizor, Jenkinson was descended from Portuguese settlers in India, and he may also have had [[Indian people|Indian]] ancestors.<ref name=Hay>{{cite book |last=Hay |first=William Anthony |title=Lord Liverpool: a political life |publisher=Boydell and Brewer |location=Woodbridge, UK |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-78327-282-2}}</ref>{{rp|10}} He was baptised on 29 June 1770 at [[St. Margaret's, Westminster]].<ref name=ODNB/>

Charles Jenkinson did not remarry until 1782, and as a small child Robert was looked after by his widowed paternal grandmother, Amarantha Jenkinson, in [[Winchester]]. Robert's maternal aunt, Sophia Watts, and his paternal aunt Elizabeth, wife of [[Charles Wolfran Cornwall]], were also involved in his early years. He briefly attended schools in Winchester and [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] before starting, aged nine, at Albion House [[Preparatory school (United Kingdom)|preparatory school]] in [[Parsons Green]].{{r|Hay|pp=24–25}}

When he was thirteen, Jenkinson became a boarder at his father's old school, [[Charterhouse School]], under the headmaster [[Samuel Berdmore (schoolmaster)|Samuel Berdmore]]. His father had ambitions of high office for him and exhorted him in letters to apply himself not just to his studies, but also to his appearance and personal habits.<ref name=ODNB/>{{r|Hay|p=27}} From Charterhouse, he went up to [[Christ Church, Oxford]], in April 1787. At university he was a sober and hardworking student. He formed what was to be a lifelong friendship with [[George Canning]], although at times they would be political rivals. Together with a few other students, including [[Lord Henry Spencer]], they set up a debating society in which Jenkinson would present the Tory and Canning the Whig point of view. Having spent a summer in Paris, where he witnessed the [[Storming of the Bastille]] on 14 July 1789, Jenkinson was created a [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|Master of Arts]] at Oxford in May 1790.<ref name=ODNB/>{{r|Hay|p=31}}

[[Image:2nd Earl of Liverpool 1790s.jpg|thumb|left|upright|''[[Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence|Lawrence]], 1796]]

== Early career (1790–1812)==

=== Member of Parliament ===
Jenkinson's political career began when he was elected to two seats in the [[1790 British general election|1790 general election]], [[Rye (UK Parliament constituency)|Rye]] and [[Appleby (UK Parliament constituency)|Appleby]]. He chose to represent the former, and never sat for Appleby. Still under age when he was elected, he spent several months touring [[continental Europe]] and did not take up his seat for Rye until after his twenty-first birthday, near the end of the 1791 session.<ref name=ODNB/>{{r|Hay|p=40}}

He made his maiden speech in February 1792, giving the government's reply to [[Samuel Whitbread (1764–1815)|Samuel Whitbread]]'s critical motion on the government's foreign policy. ''[[The Times]]'' praised it as "able and learned; cloathed in the best language and delivered with all the powers and graces of oratory". Several speeches followed, including one opposing [[William Wilberforce]]'s motion to [[Abolitionism in the United Kingdom|abolish]] Britain's involvement in the [[Atlantic slave trade]] and one in opposition to an inquiry into the [[Priestley Riots]].{{r|Hay|pp=40-44}}

After the 1792 parliamentary session ended in June, Jenkinson travelled to [[Koblenz]], which was a centre for [[French emigration (1789–1815)|French émigrés]]. French newspapers accused him of being an agent of the government; ''The Times'' denied the rumours.<ref name=ODNB/>{{r|Hay|p=44}} His services as a capable speaker for the government were recognised in 1793 when he was appointed to the [[India Board]].{{r|Hay|pp=48–49}} After the outbreak of the [[War of the First Coalition]] with [[France]] in 1793, Jenkinson became [[Colonel (United Kingdom)|colonel]] of the [[List of British fencible regiments#Cinque Ports Fencibles|Cinque Ports Light Dragoons]], a [[fencible]] cavalry regiment, in 1794.<ref name=ODNB/>

There was a rare conflict between Jenkinson and his father when he fell in love with [[Louisa Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool|Lady Louisa Hervey]], daughter of the [[Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol|Earl of Bristol]] and his wife Elizabeth. Lord Bristol approved of the match and offered a £10,000 dowry, but Jenkinson's father thought that Jenkinson should not marry before he was thirty unless it was to a fortune. He also objected to the Hervey family's eccentricity and Whig connections, only relenting after the intervention of Pitt and [[George III]]. The couple married on 25 March 1795 at [[Wimbledon, London|Wimbledon]].<ref name=ODNB/>{{r|Hay|pp=51–53}}

Jenkinson's father was created Earl of Liverpool in May 1796, bringing Jenkinson the courtesy title of '''Lord Hawkesbury'''.{{r|Hay|pp=51–54}} The Cinque Ports Light Dragoons were posted to Scotland, where they provided a guard for the funeral of [[Robert Burns]] in 1796 and perpetrated the [[massacre of Tranent]] in 1797. Jenkinson was not present at the massacre, and "was blamed for remaining at [[Haddington, East Lothian|Haddington]], as his presence might have prevented the outrages of the soldiery."{{r|Hay|pp=51, 54}}. In March 1799 he became a [[Privy council|Privy Councillor]], member of the [[Board of Trade]] and master of the [[Royal Mint]].<ref name=Thorne>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1790-1820/member/jenkinson-hon-robert-banks-1770-1828 |title=Jenkinson, Hon. Robert Banks (1770-1828) |last=Thorne |first=R. G. |date=1986 |work=History of Parliament}}</ref>

===Cabinet===

==== Foreign Secretary and Home Secretary ====
Hawkesbury, as he now was, obtained his first [[Cabinet of the United Kingdom|Cabinet]] position in 1801 when he became [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]] in [[Henry Addington]]'s administration and was responsible for negotiating the [[Treaty of Amiens]] with France. In 1803 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Hawkesbury in order to support the government against [[William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville|Lord Grenville]]'s attacks.<ref name=ODNB/> When Pitt returned to power in May 1804, Hawkesbury became [[Home Secretary]] and remained as Leader of the House of Lords. After Pitt's death in January 1806, [[George III|the King]] asked Hawkesbury to form a government but he refused and instead was awarded the lucrative [[sinecure]] of [[Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports]]. Following the resignation of Grenville in March 1807, Hawkesbury advised the King to ask [[William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland|the Duke of Portland]] to form a ministry and returned to his roles as Home Secretary and Leader of the House of Lords. In December 1808, on the death of his father, Hawkesbury became '''Lord Liverpool'''.<ref name=ODNB/> Portland was more of a figurehead than the head of government.<ref>{{cite book |first=John |last=Campbell |title=istols at Dawn: Two Hundred Years of Political Rivalry from Pitt and Fox to Blair and Brown |publisher=Vintage Books |location=London |date=2009 |page=63}}</ref> As a result of Portland's weakness, the departments were left to themselves while the government was without a higher authority to smooth down differences between departments and arbitrate disagreements between ministers.<ref name=Hunt>{{cite book |first=Giles |last=Hunt |title=The Duel: Castlereagh, Canning and Deadly Cabinet Rivalry |publisher=I.B. Tauris |location=London |date=2008}}</ref>{{rp|91ff}} The real figures of importance were a foursome of Pittites, consisting of Viscount Castlereagh, George Canning, Spencer Perceval and Lord Hawkesbury.{{r|Hunt|pp=87ff}} The government was soon torn apart from inner disputes and rivalries. After the [[Castlereagh–Canning duel|duel between Castlereagh and Canning]], the government collapsed.

====War Secretary====
Liverpool accepted the position of [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]] when [[Spencer Perceval]] formed a ministry in November 1809. During his time in office, he ensured that the Cabinet gave sufficient support to the [[Peninsular War]].<ref name=ODNB/> In 1810, he was made a colonel of militia.<ref name=Thorne/>

==Prime Minister<span class="anchor" id="Premiership"></span><!-- linked from redirects [[Premiership of Lord Liverpool]], [[Premiership of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool]], [[Premiership of the Earl of Liverpool]], [[Prime ministership of Lord Liverpool]], [[Prime ministership of the Earl of Liverpool]] --> (1812–1827)==
{{further|Liverpool ministry}}

===Appointment===
[[File:Lord Castlereagh Marquess of Londonderry.jpg|thumb|''[[Portrait of Lord Castlereagh]]'' by [[Thomas Lawrence]]. Castlereagh served as Liverpool's [[Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom)|Foreign Secretary]] from 1812 until 1822, playing a major role in assembling the coalition against [[Napoleon]] and the postwar [[Concert of Europe]]]]
Following the [[assassination of Spencer Perceval]] on 11 May 1812, the Cabinet proposed Liverpool as his successor, but [[James Stuart-Wortley, 1st Baron Wharncliffe|James Stuart-Wortley]] moved a vote of no confidence in the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]]. The resolution was passed by four votes and Liverpool resigned, only to be reinstated when [[George IV of the United Kingdom|George, the Prince Regent]], failed in his attempts to find an alternative. Liverpool was confirmed as prime minister on 8 June 1812.{{r|Hay|p=143}}<ref name=ODNB/>

Liverpool then assembled a Cabinet, with [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Viscount Castlereagh]] as Foreign Secretary and [[Leader of the House of Commons]], [[Henry Addington|Viscount Sidmouth]] at the Home Office, [[Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley|Nicholas Vansittart]] at the [[Chancellor of the Exchequer|Exchequer]] and [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|Bathurst]] at the War Office. Canning was offered a place in the Cabinet, but turned the offer down as he refused to serve under Castlereagh in the House of Commons.{{r|Hay|p=145}} Liverpool's first actions as prime minister were to cancel the [[Orders in Council (1807)|Orders in Council]] in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent the outbreak of [[War of 1812|war with the United States]], and to assure the Prince Regent of the Cabinet's neutrality on the question of [[Catholic emancipation]]. He then called a general election in October 1812 in order to increase the government majority in the House of Commons.<ref name=ODNB/>

Liverpool chose not to move into [[Downing Street]], instead dividing his time between his London home, [[Fife House, Whitehall]], his modest country home at [[Coombe, Kingston upon Thames]], and [[Walmer Castle]].{{r|Hay|p=152}}

===War===
[[File:Congress of Vienna.PNG|thumb|right|''The Congress of Vienna'' by [[Jean-Baptiste Isabey]]]]
The early years of Liverpool's tenure as Prime Minister saw the [[War of 1812]] with the United States, which ended when [[The Treaty of Ghent]] was signed on 24 December 1814.{{r|Hay|p=163}}, and the final campaigns of the Napoleonic Wars. After the downfall of Napoleon in April 1814, Liverpool was appointed to the [[Order of the Garter]] and London hosted the allied monarchs. Foreign Secretary Castlereagh was sent to the [[Congress of Vienna]] to negotiate the post-war terms of European settlement.<ref name=ODNB/> In February 1815, Napoleon escaped from the Isle of [[Elba]], where he had been exiled, and renewed his leadership of France until defeated at the [[Battle of Waterloo]] on 18 June 1815, nine days after the final act at the Congress of Vienna had been signed.{{r|Hay|p=167}}

===Unrest at home===
Following the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the country experienced social and economic distress. In March 1815 Parliament passed an act forbidding the importation of wheat until the domestic price reached 80 [[Shilling (British coin)|shilling]]s per [[Quarter (unit)|quarter]]. Known as the [[Corn laws|corn law]], the act protected the interests of landowners at the cost of increased bread prices.<ref name=ODNB/> In 1816 the House of Commons voted to repeal the income tax that had been introduced to fund the war with France; Liverpool had argued that the tax should be retained in peacetime.{{r|Hay|pp=177–178}}

During the post-war years, unrest inspired by hardship or the desire for reform spread throughout the country and repressive measures were taken in response.<ref name=Petrie>{{cite book |first=Charles |last=Petrie, Bt. |title=Lord Liverpool and his times |date=1954 |publisher=James Barrie |location=London}}</ref>{{rp|226–27}} After poor harvests led to rising bread prices, riots broke out in [[East Anglia]] in 1816. In [[Ely and Littleport riots of 1816|Littleport]] a rioter was killed when troops opened fire and five rioters were subsequently executed. There was also a revival of [[Luddite]] activity.{{r|Petrie|p=227}} In November and December 1816, followers of [[Thomas Spence]] organised two meetings at [[Spa Fields]] in London at which the radical [[Henry Hunt (politician)|Henry Hunt]] was invited to speak. The second meeting was followed by the [[Spa Fields riots]] and an unsuccessful attempt to seize the [[Tower of London]] and [[Bank of England]]. The following month, the Prince Regent's carriage window was broken in a possible assassination attempt. In response to these incidents, a measure to temporarily suspend ''habeas corpus'' was passed by both Houses of Parliament.{{r|Hay|pp=184–186}}

On 16 August 1819, between 20,000 and 60,000 people gathered at [[St Peter's Square, Manchester|St Peter's Fields]], [[Manchester]], to hear [[Henry Hunt (politician)|Henry Hunt]] and other speakers demand parliamentary reform in the form of [[universal suffrage]] and annual parliaments. Against the advice of home secretary Sidmouth, local magistrates ordered troops to disperse the crowd and arrest the speakers. Eleven people were killed and hundreds injured in what became known as the [[Peterloo Massacre]].{{r|Hay|pp=184–186}} Later that year, after the Whigs had tried to make political capital out of the Peterloo Massacre, parliament passed the [[Six Acts]], which were designed to curtail disturbances of the peace while preserving traditional liberties.<ref name=ODNB/> In February 1820, the [[Cato Street conspiracy]], a plot to assassinate the cabinet and take over the government was uncovered. Two months later, there were outbreaks of unrest in [[Bonnymuir]] and [[Glasgow]] in Scotland.{{r|Petrie|p=242}}
[[File:The Trial of Queen Caroline 1820 by Sir George Hayter.jpg|thumb|''[[The Trial of Queen Caroline]]'' by [[George Hayter]]. [[George IV]]'s insistence on trying to divorce his wife [[Caroline of Brunswick]] caused problems for Liverpool's government.]]
King George III died in January 1820 and the Prince Regent became King George IV. He immediately demanded a divorce from his estranged wife [[Caroline of Brunswick]]; the Cabinet preferred the option of giving her an allowance on condition she remained abroad. When Caroline returned to London in June 1820 to public acclaim, Liverpool reluctantly issued a [[Pains and Penalties Bill 1820|bill of pains and penalties]] to deprive her of her titles and dissolve her marriage. After evidence had been heard in the House of Lords, the bill was dropped at the third reading due to a lack of parliamentary support. The King nevertheless denied Caroline entry to his coronation in July 1821; she died the following month.{{r|Petrie|pp=245–249}}

===Liberal Toryism===
Following the reactionary early years of his premiership, the later years, from 1822 to 1827, were a more liberal phase.{{r|Petrie|pp=264–265}} In January 1822 [[Robert Peel]] replaced Sidmouth as home secretary and went on to introduce a number reforms to prisons and the criminal law.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/peel-robert-1788-1850 |title=Peel, Robert (1788-1850) |first=David R. |last=Fisher |date=2009 |work=History of Parliament}}</ref> Later in 1822, following the suicide of Castlereagh, Canning became foreign secretary and leader of the House of Commons, while two of his followers were promoted, [[F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich|F. J. Robinson]] to the Chancellorship of the Exchequer and [[William Huskisson]] to the Presidency of the Board of Trade.<ref name=ODNB/>

==Retirement and death==
On 28 February 1827, Liverpool suffered a [[stroke]] at Fife House. He made only a partial recovery and was unable to return to office; the King appointed Canning as prime minister in April 1827. Liverpool suffered another stroke at Coombe in July 1827 and died on 4 December 1828 after a third attack. He was buried at [[Church of St Mary, Hawkesbury|Hawkesbury Church]] in Gloucestershire alongside his first wife and his parents.{{r|Hay|pp=261–263}}

==Personal life==
Liverpool married Louisa Hervey on 25 March 1795 and was widowed on 12 June 1821. His second marriage, on 24 September 1822, was to Mary, daughter of Reverend Charles Chester (formerly Bagot), who outlived him.<ref name=Thorne/> Both marriages were childless and the earldom of Liverpool passed to his half-brother [[Charles Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool|Charles Jenkinson]] on his death.<ref name=ODNB/>

Liverpool was one of the founders of the [[National Gallery]] and was the first president of the Royal National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck, later the [[RNLI]].<ref name=lewis>{{cite web |title=History of the life-boat, and its work |first=Richard |last=Lewis |via=Internet Archive |publisher=MacMillan & Co. |date=1874 |url=https://archive.org/details/historylifeboat00lewigoog |access-date=8 December 2020}}</ref>

== Legacy ==
Lord Liverpool's reputation was poor in the 19th century and has steadily grown since the 1930s.<ref> Norman McCord, and Bill Purdue, ''British History 1815-1914'' (Oxford UP, 2007) pp. 11–12.</ref> [[Norman Gash]] argues that as prime minister he gave the nation stable leadership for 15 years (1812–1827), a tenure behind only to Walpole (1721–1742) and Pitt the Younger (1783–1801 and 1804–1806). Liverpool skillfully held together a fractious Tory party and a cabinet of strong personalities (especially Castlereagh and Canning). He guided the nation to victory over Napoleon and managed the difficult post-war transition, including massive debt reduction and economic stabilization. He led the transition to "Liberal Toryism" in the 1820s, which introduced important economic, legal, and criminal justice reforms.<ref>Norman Gash, "The Earl of Liverpool." in ''The Prime Ministers'' (Routledge, 1974) pp. 283–298.</ref><ref>Norman Gash, ''Lord Liverpool: The Life and Political Career of Robert Banks Jenkinson, Second Earl of Liverpool, 1770 –1828'' (Harvard University Press, 1984) pp. 1–7.</ref><ref>Richard A. Gaunt, "Norman Gash: Political Historian" ''Parliamentary History'' (25 October 2024) [https://doi.org/10.1111/1750-0206.12766 online]</ref>

Historian [[Robert William Seton-Watson]] in 1937 summed up Liverpool's strengths and weaknesses:
{{blockquote|No one would claim Liverpool as a man of genius, but he had qualities of tact, firmness and endurance to which historians have rarely done full justice: and thus it came about that he held the office of Premier over a period more than twice as long as any other successor of Pitt, long after peace had been restored to Europe. One reason for his ascendancy was that he had an unrivalled insight into the whole machinery of government, having filled successively every Secretaryship of State, and tested the efficiency and mutual relations of politicians and officials alike.... He had a much wider acquaintance with foreign affairs than many who have held his high office.<ref>R. W. Seton-Watson, ''Britain in Europe (1789–1914): A Survey of Foreign Policy'' (1937), p. 29.</ref>}}

Recently Martin Hutchinson has hailed him as "Britain's Greatest Prime Minister."<ref>Martin Hutchinson, ''Britain's Greatest Prime Minister: Lord Liverpool'' (The Lutterworth Press, 2020) [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Britain_s_Greatest_Prime_Minister/HMhxEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=intitle:Britain%27s+intitle:Greatest+intitle:Prime+intitle:Minister&printsec=frontcover online]</ref> argues:<blockquote>Lord Liverpool was a better military strategist than Churchill or Lloyd George, ran the economy better than Pitt, Gladstone or Thatcher, dealt with post-war debt and poverty better than Attlee and won more elections than any of them. That is why Lord Liverpool, who beat Napoleon and presided over the Industrial Revolution, was Britain’s Greatest Prime Minister.<ref>Martin Hutchinson, "Lord Liverpool" ''Historic UK'' (2024) [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Lord-Liverpool/ online]</ref></blockquote>

[[John W. Derry]] in 2020 says Jenkinson was: {{blockquote|[A] capable and intelligent statesman, whose skill in building up his party, leading the country to victory in the war against Napoleon, and laying the foundations for prosperity outweighed his unpopularity in the immediate post-Waterloo years.<ref>{{cite book |editor=John Cannon |title=The Oxford Companion to British History |year=2009 |page=582}}{{ISBN missing|date=December 2020}}</ref>}}

Liverpool entered the top office at the age of 42 years, younger than all of his successors. He served as prime minister for a total of 14 years and 305 days, making him the longest-serving prime minister of the 19th century. As of 2025, none of Liverpool's successors has served longer.

In London, Liverpool Street and [[Liverpool Road]], Islington, are named after Lord Liverpool. In Australia, the [[Hawkesbury River]] and the [[Liverpool Plains]], both in New South Wales, and the [[Liverpool River]] in the [[Northern Territory]] were named for him. Likewise the city of [[Liverpool, New South Wales|Liverpool]], New South Wales.So too was the Canadian town of [[Hawkesbury, Ontario]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ntlis.nt.gov.au/placenames/view.jsp?id=14550 |title=Place Names Register Extract – Liverpool River |access-date=2 May 2015 |work=NT Place Names Register |publisher=Northern Territory Government}}</ref>

Lord Liverpool was portrayed by American actor [[Gilbert Emery]] in the 1934 film ''[[The House of Rothschild]]''.

==Lord Liverpool's ministry (1812–1827)==
[[File:Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.jpg|thumb|Lord Liverpool by Thomas Lawrence, c.1827]]
* Lord Liverpool – [[First Lord of the Treasury]] and [[Leader of the House of Lords]]
* [[John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon|Lord Eldon]] – [[Lord Chancellor]]
* [[Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby|Lord Harrowby]] – [[Lord President of the Council]]
* [[John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland|Lord Westmorland]] – [[Lord Privy Seal]]
* [[Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth|Lord Sidmouth]] – [[Secretary of State for the Home Department]]
* [[Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh|Lord Castlereagh]] (Lord Londonderry after 1821) – [[Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (UK)|Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs]] and [[Leader of the House of Commons]]
* [[Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst|Lord Bathurst]] – [[Secretary of State for War and the Colonies]]
* [[Robert Dundas, 2nd Viscount Melville|Lord Melville]] – [[First Lord of the Admiralty]]
* [[Nicholas Vansittart]] – [[Chancellor of the Exchequer]]
* [[Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave|Lord Mulgrave]] – [[Master-General of the Ordnance]]
* [[Robert Hobart, 4th Earl of Buckinghamshire|Lord Buckinghamshire]] – [[President of the Board of Control]]
* [[Charles Bathurst]] – [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]]
* [[John Jeffreys Pratt, 1st Marquess Camden|Lord Camden]] – minister without portfolio

===Changes===

* Late 1812 – Lord Camden leaves the Cabinet
* September 1814 – [[William Wellesley-Pole, 3rd Earl of Mornington|William Wellesley-Pole]] (Lord Maryborough from 1821), the [[Master of the Mint]], enters the Cabinet
* February 1816 – [[George Canning]] succeeds Lord Buckinghamshire at the Board of Control
* January 1818 – [[F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich|F. J. Robinson]], the [[president of the Board of Trade]], enters the Cabinet
* January 1819 – The [[Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington|Duke of Wellington]] succeeds Lord Mulgrave as Master-General of the Ordnance. Lord Mulgrave becomes minister without portfolio
* 1820 – Lord Mulgrave leaves the cabinet
* January 1821 – Charles Bathurst succeeds Canning as President of the Board of Control, remaining also at the Duchy of Lancaster
* January 1822 – [[Robert Peel]] succeeds Lord Sidmouth as Home Secretary
* February 1822 – [[Charles Williams-Wynn (1775–1850)|Charles Williams-Wynn]] succeeds Charles Bathurst at the Board of Control. Bathurst remains at the Duchy of Lancaster and in the Cabinet
* September 1822 – Following the suicide of Lord Londonderry, [[George Canning]] becomes Foreign Secretary and Leader of the House of Commons
* January 1823 – Vansittart, elevated to the peerage as Lord Bexley, succeeds Charles Bathurst as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. F. J. Robinson succeeds Vansittart as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He is succeeded at the Board of Trade by [[William Huskisson]]
* 1823 – Lord Maryborough, the Master of the Mint, leaves the Cabinet. His successor in the office is not a Cabinet member

==Arms==
{{Emblem table
| image = Coat of arms of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.svg
| imagesize = 250px
| crest = A sea-horse assurgent argent, maned azure, supporting a cross patée gules.
| escutcheon = Azure, a fess wavy argent charged with a cross patée gules, in chief two estoiles or, and, as an honourable augmentation, upon a chief wavy of the second a cormorant sable beaked and legged of the third, holding in the beak a branch of sea-weed (called layer) inverted vert.
| supporters = Two hawks, wings elevated and endorsed, proper, beaked, legged and belled or, charged on the breast with a cross patée gules.
| motto = ''Palma non sine pulvere'' (No reward without effort).
| orders = The Most Noble Order of the Garter - Knight Companion (KG).<ref>{{cite book |title=Burke's peerage and baronetage |year=1849 |pages=619-620 |URL=https://ukga.org/browse.php?action=ViewRec&DB=33&bookID=201&pagecount=662}}</ref>
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Further reading cleanup|date=November 2025}}
* {{cite book |author=Brock, W. R. |title=Lord Liverpool and Liberal Toryism 1820 to 1827 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNg8AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2 |publisher=CUP Archive |year=1943}}
* {{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Liverpool, Earls of |volume=16 |page=804}} 
* Chase, Malcolm. ''1820: Disorder and stability in the United Kingdom'' (Manchester University Press, 2013); influential scholarship. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1mf719r online]
* Cookson, J. E. ''Lord Liverpool's administration: the crucial years, 1815–1822'' (1975)
* Derry, John. ''Politics in the age of Fox, Pitt and Liverpool'' (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2001). [https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Kd91EQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PT6&dq=%22Lord+Liverpool%22&ots=H_BH6dUxCj&sig=i_HhVa73r7Y7E5puIB71aaplbaM online]
* Evans, Eric. "Robert Banks Jenkinson, Second Earl of Liverpool." in ''Biographical Dictionary of British Prime Ministers'' (Routledge, 2002) pp. 106–115.
* [[Norman Gash|Gash, Norman]]. ''Lord Liverpool: The Life and Political Career of Robert Banks Jenkinson, Second Earl of Liverpool 1770–1828'' (1984)
* Gash, Norman. "Jenkinson, Robert Banks, second earl of Liverpool (1770–1828)", ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' ( Oxford University Press, 2004); [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/14740 online]
* Hay, William Anthony. "Lord Liverpool: Alliances, Intervention and the National Interest." in ''The Tory World'' (Routledge, 2016) pp. 103–120.
* Hay, William Anthony. ''Lord Liverpool: A political life'' (Boydell Press, 2018)
* Hilton, Boyd. ''A Mad, Bad, and Dangerous People? England 1783–1846'' (New Oxford History of England) (2006) 
* Hilton, Boyd. "The Political Arts of Lord Liverpool", ''Transactions of the Royal Historical Society'' (Fifth Series) 38 (1988): 147–170. [http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=3465232&fileId=S0080440100013207 online]
* Hutchinson, Martin. ''Britain's Greatest Prime Minister: Lord Liverpool'' (The Lutterworth Press, 2020). [https://www.google.com/books/edition/Britain_s_Greatest_Prime_Minister/HMhxEAAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=intitle:Britain%27s+intitle:Greatest+intitle:Prime+intitle:Minister&printsec=frontcover online]
* Hutchinson, Martin. "Lord Liverpool" ''Historic UK'' (2024) [https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Lord-Liverpool/ online]
* McKenzie, Kirsten, and Lisa Ford. "A Dance of Crown and Parliament: Empire and Reform in the Age of Liverpool." ''English Historical Review'' 137.589 (2022): 1606-1632. [https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article-pdf/137/589/1606/50723963/cead024.pdf online]
* Petrie, Charles. ''Lord Liverpool'' (1954) [https://archive.org/details/dli.ernet.524588/page/n7/mode/1up online]
* Plowright, John. ''Regency England: The Age of Lord Liverpool'' (Routledge, 1996) "The Lancaster Pamphlets". [https://api.taylorfrancis.com/content/books/mono/download?identifierName=doi&identifierValue=10.4324/9780203130223&type=googlepdf excerpt]
* Sack, James J. ''The Grenvillites, 1801–29: Party Politics and Factionalism in the Age of Pitt and Liverpool'' (1991)
* Seton-Watson, R. W. ''Britain in Europe (1789–1914): A Survey of Foreign Policy'' (1937) [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.226175 online]

==External links==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{DNB poster|Jenkinson, Robert Banks}}
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-robert-jenkinson | the Earl of Liverpool }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081112092953/http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/earl-of-liverpool "Earl of Liverpool" by Prime Minister's Office] (archived 12 November 2008)
* {{NPG name}}
* {{UK National Archives ID}}

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{{Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool}}
{{Prime ministers of the United Kingdom}}
{{Foreign secretaries}}
{{Home secretaries}}
{{Masters of the Mint}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liverpool, Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl Of}}
[[Category:Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool| ]]
[[Category:1770 births]]
[[Category:1828 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century prime ministers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:British MPs 1790–1796]]
[[Category:British MPs 1796–1800]]
[[Category:British secretaries of state for foreign affairs]]
[[Category:Earls of Liverpool (1796 creation)|2nd Earl of Liverpool]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Knights of the Garter]]
[[Category:Lords Warden of the Cinque Ports]]
[[Category:Masters of the Mint]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies|Jenkinson, Robert Banks]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies|Jenkinson, Robert Banks]]
[[Category:People educated at Charterhouse School]]
[[Category:People from Westminster]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for the Home Department]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for war and the colonies]]
[[Category:Tory MPs (pre-1834)|Jenkinson, Robert Banks]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1801–1802|Jenkinson, Robert Banks]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1802–1806|Jenkinson, Robert Banks]]
[[Category:UK MPs who inherited peerages|Liverpool, E2]]
[[Category:Commissioners of the Treasury for Ireland]]
[[Category:Tory prime ministers of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Leaders of the House of Lords]]
[[Category:English people of Indian descent]]
[[Category:English people of Portuguese descent]]
[[Category:First Lords of the Treasury]]
[[Category:Georgian era]]