Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley

(Redirected from Baron Bexley) British politician

The Right HonourableThe Lord BexleyPC FRS FSA
Portrait, oil on canvas, of Lord Bexley by Sir Thomas Lawrence.

Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 12 May 1812 – 31 January 1823
Monarchs	George III George IV
Prime Minister	The Earl of Liverpool
Preceded by	Spencer Perceval
Succeeded by	F. J. Robinson
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
In office 13 February 1823 – 26 January 1828
Monarch	George IV
Prime Minister	The Earl of Liverpool George Canning Viscount Goderich
Preceded by	Charles Bathurst
Succeeded by	The Earl of Aberdeen

Personal details
Born	(1766-04-29)29 April 1766 Bloomsbury, Middlesex, England
Died	8 February 1851(1851-02-08) (aged 84) Foots Cray, Kent, England
Political party	Tory
Spouse(s)	Catherine Isabella Eden (1778–1810)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, PC, FRS, FSA (29 April 1766 – 8 February 1851) was an English politician, and one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history.

Background and education

The fifth son of Henry Vansittart (died 1770), the Governor of Bengal, Vansittart was born in Bloomsbury, Middlesex, and raised in Bray, Berkshire. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he took his degree in 1787, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. From the early 1770s he was living with his mother at 60 Crooms Hill, Greenwich.

Political career

Vansittart began his public career by writing pamphlets in defence of the administration of William Pitt, especially on its financial side, and in May 1796 became Member of Parliament for Hastings, retaining his seat until July 1802, when he was returned for Old Sarum. In February 1801 he was sent on a diplomatic errand to Copenhagen, and shortly after his return was appointed joint Secretary to the Treasury, a position which he retained until the resignation of Henry Addington's ministry in April 1804. Owing to the influence of his friend, the Duke of Cumberland, he became Chief Secretary for Ireland under Pitt in January 1805, resigning his office in the following September. With Addington, now Viscount Sidmouth, he joined the government of Charles James Fox and Lord Grenville as Secretary to the Treasury in February 1806, leaving office with Sidmouth just before the fall of the ministry in March 1807.

During these and the next few years Vansittart's reputation as a financier was gradually rising. In 1809 he proposed and carried without opposition in the House of Commons thirty-eight resolutions on financial questions, and only his loyalty to Sidmouth prevented him from joining the cabinet of Spencer Perceval as Chancellor of the Exchequer in October 1809. He opposed an early resumption of cash payments in 1811, and became Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Earl of Liverpool succeeded Perceval in May 1812. Having forsaken Old Sarum, he had represented Helston from November 1806 to June 1812; and after being member for East Grinstead for a few weeks, was returned for Harwich in October 1812.

Chancellor of the Exchequer

When Vansittart became Chancellor of the Exchequer the country was burdened with heavy taxation and an enormous debt. Nevertheless, the continuance of the Napoleonic Wars compelled him to increase the customs duties and other taxes, and in 1813 he introduced a complicated scheme for dealing with the sinking fund. In 1816, after the conclusion of peace, a large decrease in taxation was generally desired, and there was an outcry when the Chancellor proposed only to reduce, not to abolish, the property or income tax. The abolition of this tax, however, was carried in parliament, and Vansittart was also obliged to remit the extra tax on malt, meeting a large deficiency principally by borrowing. He devoted considerable attention to effecting real or supposed economies with regard to the national debt. He carried an elaborate scheme for handing over the payment of naval and military pensions to contractors, who would be paid a fixed annual sum for forty-five years; but no one was found willing to undertake this contract, although a modified plan on the same lines was afterwards adopted.

Vansittart became very unpopular in the country, and he resigned his office in December 1822. His system of finance was severely criticised by William Huskisson, Tierney, Brougham, Hume and Ricardo. On his resignation Liverpool offered Vansittart the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Accepting this offer in February 1823, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bexley, of Bexley in the County of Kent, in March, and granted a pension of £3000 a year. He resigned in January 1828. In the House of Lords, Bexley took very little part in public business, although he introduced the Spitalfields Weavers Bill in 1823, and voted for Catholic Emancipation in 1824. He took a good deal of interest in the British and Foreign Bible Mission, the Church Missionary Society and kindred bodies, funded Kenyon college and seminary on the US western frontier (the seminary is now named Bexley Hall in his honour) and assisted in founding King's College London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1822. He was also one of the vice-presidents of the American Colonization Society, whose aim was to repatriate African freedmen in the United States to the African continent.

Family

Lord Bexley married Catherine Isabella (1778–1810), daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, in July 1806. He withdrew from public life in the spring of 1809 to take her on rest cures at Malvern and Torquay. The marriage was childless. He died at Foots Cray, Kent, on 8 February 1851. As he had no issue the title became extinct on his death.

Coat of arms of Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley
	Crest An eagle's head, couped at the neck, between two wings elevated and displayed sable, the whole resting on two crosses patée argent. Escutcheon Ermine, an eagle displayed sable, on a chief gules a ducal coronet or between two crosses patée argent. Supporters Dexter, a horse regardant argent, gorged with a ducal coronet or; and pendent therefrom by a gold chain, a shield sable, charged with an ostrich feather argent, quilled and escrolled, gold (allusive to the badge or cognizance of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster). Sinister, an eagle regardant, wings elevated and displayed sable, gorged with a ducal coronet, and pendent therefrom a portcullis or. Motto GRATA QUIES (Grateful Repose)

Legacy

The Australian explorer Phillip Parker King named one of the bays on the coast of Kimberley in Western Australia "Vansittart Bay" after Lord Bexley.

References

^ Chisholm 1911.
"No. 17896". The London Gazette. 15 February 1823. p. 251.
Bexley and Coburn Halls Archived 1 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine at Kenyon College website. Retrieved on 8 September 2006.
"Library and Archive catalog". Royal Society. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
The African Repository, American Colonization Society, 1842, Volumes 18–19, p. 54
Vansittart, Nicholas, first Baron Bexley (1766–1851), politician, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Debrett's Peerage of England, Scotland, and Ireland. 1840.
"Vansittart Bay". Great Escape Cruises. Retrieved 7 May 2022. Vansittart Bay was named after the Chancellor of Exchequer by early explorer Phillip Parker King

Attribution

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Bexley, Nicholas Vansittart". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 3 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Carr, William (1899). "Vansittart, Nicholas" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 58. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Nicholas Vansittart
Vansittart Arms – named after Nicholas, 1st Baron Bexley

Political offices
Preceded byCharles Long	Secretary to the Treasury (junior) 1801–1802	Succeeded byJohn Sargent
Preceded byJohn Hiley Addington	Secretary to the Treasury (senior) 1802–1804	Succeeded byWilliam Huskisson
Preceded bySir Evan Nepean, Bt	Chief Secretary for Ireland 1805	Succeeded byCharles Long
Preceded byWilliam Huskisson	Secretary to the Treasury (senior) 1806–1807	Succeeded byWilliam Huskisson
Preceded bySpencer Perceval	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1812–1823	Succeeded byF. J. Robinson
Preceded byCharles Bathurst	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1823–1828	Succeeded byThe Earl of Aberdeen
Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded byJohn Stanley Robert Dundas	Member of Parliament for Hastings 1796–1801 With: Sir James Sanderson, Bt 1796–1798 William Sturges 1798–1801	Succeeded byParliament of the United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded byParliament of Great Britain	Member of Parliament for Hastings 1801–1802 With: William Sturges 1801–1802	Succeeded byThe Lord Glenbervie George William Gunning
Preceded byGeorge Hardinge John Horne Tooke	Member of Parliament for Old Sarum 1802–1812 With: Henry Alexander 1802–06 The Lord Blayney 1806–07 Josias du Pre Porcher from 1807	Succeeded byJosias du Pre Porcher James Alexander
Preceded byViscount Primrose Sir John Shelley, Bt	Member of Parliament for Helston 1806–1807 With: John de Ponthieu	Succeeded byJohn de Ponthieu Thomas Brand
Preceded byCharles Ellis George Gunning	Member of Parliament for East Grinstead 1812 With: Charles Ellis	Succeeded byGeorge Gunning James Stephen
Preceded byJohn Hiley Addington William Huskisson	Member of Parliament for Harwich 1812–1823 With: John Hiley Addington 1812–1818 Charles Bathurst 1818–1823	Succeeded byGeorge Canning J. C. Herries

v t e Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland
Walter de Thornbury John de Hotham Nicholas de Balscote Adam de Harvington Thomas de Montpellier Thomas de Brayles Robert le Poer William de Bromley Robert de Emeldon John de Pembroke Thomas Bache William Fitzwilliam John de Troye Robert Preston, 1st Baron Gormanston Hugh Banent Robert Dyke Sampson d"Artois James Blakeney Robert Norreys Robert St Lawrence, 3rd Baron Howth Walter Ivers Edward Barnewall Patrick Bermingham Richard Delahide John Alan Thomas Cusack Henry Draycott Robert Dillon John Bathe Sir Edward Waterhouse George Clive Thomas Molyneux Sir Richard Cooke Dudley Norton Henry Holcroft Thomas Hibbotts Henry Holcroft Sir Robert Meredyth Richard Jones Sir Charles Meredyth Bruno Talbot Philip Savage Sir Ralph Gore, 4th Baronet Henry Boyle Marmaduke Coghill Henry Boyle Arthur Hill Henry Boyle Anthony Malone Sir William Yorke, 1st Baronet William Gerard Hamilton John Foster Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet Isaac Corry John Foster Sir John Newport, 1st Baronet John Foster William Wellesley-Pole William Vesey-FitzGerald Nicholas Vansittart

Chancellors of the Exchequer of Ireland

v t e Chancellors of the exchequer
England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond Javid Sunak Zahawi Kwarteng Hunt Reeves
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice

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