Henry Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury

Admiral Henry John Chetwynd-Talbot, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury, 18th Earl of Waterford, 3rd Earl Talbot, CB, PC (8 November 1803 – 4 June 1868), styled Viscount of Ingestre between 1826 and 1849 and known as The Earl Talbot between 1849 and 1858, was a British naval commander and Conservative politician.

Admiral The Right Honourable The Earl of Shrewsbury CB, PC
Henry John Chetwynd, 18th Earl of Shrewsbury (George Frederic Watts), ca. 1865
Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms
In office 26 February 1858 – 11 June 1859
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby
Preceded by	The Lord Foley
Succeeded by	The Lord Foley
Personal details
Born	(1803-11-08)8 November 1803
Died	4 June 1868(1868-06-04) (aged 64) Lacock[1]
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Lady Sarah Beresford (1807–1884)

Background

Shrewsbury was the second but eldest surviving son of Charles Chetwynd-Talbot, 2nd Earl Talbot, by his marriage to Frances Thomasine, a daughter of Charles Lambart. He was styled Viscount Ingestre from the death of his elder brother in 1826 and succeeded his father as 3rd Earl Talbot in 1849. In 1860, following a long and expensive legal case in the House of Lords, and against the claims of three others (Lord Edmund Howard Talbot, infant son of the 14th Duke of Norfolk by whom he was represented, Princess Dorio Pamphili (daughter of John, 16th Earl) and Major Talbot (descendant of William, 4th Earl) [2], he succeeded to the titles and estates (including Alton Towers) of a distant cousin and became 18th Earl of Shrewsbury and 18th Earl of Waterford.[3]

Military career

Talbot (as he then was) entered the Royal Navy in 1817. He commanded HMS Philomel at the Battle of Navarino, and was picked by Vice-Admiral Codrington to bring home the despatches announcing the victory.[4] He was soon after promoted to captain. On 9 March 1831, his father, the Lord Lieutenant of Staffordshire, commissioned him a lieutenant in the Staffordshire Yeomanry,[5] which he gave up in 1833.[6] On 2 June 1832 his father appointed him lieutenant-colonel of the Staffordshire Militia,[7] which he resigned in early 1846.[8]

He was promoted a rear-admiral in 1854 and a vice-admiral and admiral in 1865.

As Viscount Ingestre, while serving in the House of Commons, he was a leading supporter of the charlatan naval inventor Samuel Alfred Warner.[9]

Political career

Ingestre was returned to Parliament as one of two representatives for Hertford in 1830.[10] In May of the following year he was elected for Armagh City, a seat he only held until August 1831,[11] and then represented Dublin City until 1832.[12] In 1832 he was once again returned for Hertford. However, the election was declared void on petition in 1833.[10] He returned to the House of Commons as one of the two representatives for Staffordshire South in 1837, a seat he held until he succeeded his father in the Talbot earldom in 1849.[13] After entering the House of Lords he served under the Earl of Derby as a Lord-in-waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) in 1852 and as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms from 1858 to 1859.[14][15][16] In 1858 he was sworn of the Privy Council.[17]

Family

In 1828, while Lord Ingestre, he married Lady Sarah Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Beresford, 2nd Marquess of Waterford, by his marriage to Sarah Carpenter. They had four sons and four daughters. Their second son, Walter Cecil Carpenter (who assumed that surname by Royal licence in lieu of his patronymic) became an admiral in the Royal Navy and a Member of Parliament, while their third son, Sir Reginald Talbot, became a soldier, politician, and colonial governor.

Their daughter Adelaide Chetwynd-Talbot married Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow, in 1868.

Lord Shrewsbury died in June 1868, aged 64, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Charles, Viscount Ingrestre. The Countess of Shrewsbury survived her husband by sixteen years and died in October 1884, aged 76.[3]

Notes

1. Lacock Museum
2. Dublin Evening Packet and Correspondent and others 26 May 1857
3. "- Person Page 1157". thepeerage.com.
4. "No. 18413". The London Gazette. 10 November 1827. p. 2322.
5. "No. 18787". The London Gazette. 25 March 1831. p. 573.
6. "No. 19039". The London Gazette. 16 April 1833. p. 730.
7. "No. 18949". The London Gazette. 29 June 1832. p. 1491.
8. "No. 20594". The London Gazette. 14 April 1846. p. 1358.
9. McConnell, Anita. "Warner, Samuel Alfred". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/28767. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
10. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Hertford to Honiton". Archived from the original on 11 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
11. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Andover to Armagh South". Archived from the original on 20 October 2018. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
12. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Dover to Dulwich and West Norwood". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
13. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Southend to Stamford". Archived from the original on 25 June 2015. Retrieved 4 December 2009.
14. Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990,
15. "No. 22113". The London Gazette. 12 March 1858. p. 1415.
16. "No. 22281". The London Gazette. 1 July 1859. p. 2550.
17. leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1836-1914

See also

• O'Byrne, William Richard (1849). "Chetwynd, Henry John" . A Naval Biographical Dictionary . John Murray – via Wikisource.

References

• Short biography

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Shrewsbury

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Byron Thomas Slingsby Duncombe	Member of Parliament for Hertford 1830–1831 With: Thomas Slingsby Duncombe	Succeeded by Thomas Slingsby Duncombe John Currie
Preceded by Henry Goulburn	Member of Parliament for Armagh City 1831	Succeeded by Sir John William Head Brydges
Preceded by Robert Way Harty Louis Perrin	Member of Parliament for Dublin City 1831 With: Frederick Shaw	Succeeded by Daniel O'Connell Edward Southwell Ruthven
Preceded by Thomas Slingsby Duncombe John Currie	Member of Parliament for Hertford 1832–1833 With: Viscount Mahon (election declared void 1833)	Succeeded by Viscount Mahon William Francis Cowper
Preceded by Sir John Wrottesley Sir Francis Holyoake-Goodricke	Member of Parliament for Staffordshire South 1837–1849 With: George Anson	Succeeded by George Anson Viscount Lewisham
Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Foley	Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms 1858–1859	Succeeded by The Lord Foley
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Earl of Shrewsbury	Lord High Steward of Ireland 1856–1868	Succeeded by The Earl of Shrewsbury
Peerage of England
Preceded by Bertram Talbot	Earl of Shrewsbury 1858–1868	Succeeded by Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot
Peerage of Ireland
Preceded by Bertram Talbot	Earl of Waterford 1858–1868	Succeeded by Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot
Peerage of Great Britain
Preceded by Charles Chetwynd-Talbot	Earl Talbot 1849–1868	Succeeded by Charles John Chetwynd-Talbot