Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, (1 August 1776 – 27 March 1849), styled The Honourable Archibald Acheson from 1790 to 1806 and Lord Acheson from 1806 to 1807, was a British politician who served as

Lieutenant-Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

Lower Canada The Province of Lower Canada (french: province du Bas-Canada) was a British colony on the lower Saint Lawrence River and the shores of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence (1791–1841). It covered the southern portion of the current Province of Quebec an ...

and

Governor General Governor-general (plural ''governors-general''), or governor general (plural ''governors general''), is the title of an office-holder. In the context of governors-general and former British colonies, governors-general are appointed as viceroy t ...

British North America British North America comprised the colonial territories of the British Empire in North America from 1783 onwards. English overseas possessions, English colonisation of North America began in the 16th century in Newfoundland (island), Newfound ...

in the 19th century.

Early life

Acheson was born on 1 August 1776 at

Markethill Markethill () is a village in County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It is beside Gosford Forest Park. It had a population of 1,647 people in the 2011 Census. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under th Open Governme ...

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

, Ireland. Gosford was the son of

Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford Arthur Acheson, 1st Earl of Gosford PC (14 January 1807), known as The Viscount Gosford between 1790 and 1806, was an Irish peer of Scottish descent and politician. Early life Arthur Acheson was born . He was the eldest son of Archibald Ache ...

, and his wife Millicent (née Pole). He succeeded his father to his titles and estates in 1807.

Career

Acheson sat in the

Irish House of Commons The Irish House of Commons was the lower house of the Parliament of Ireland that existed from 1297 until 1800. The upper house was the House of Lords. The membership of the House of Commons was directly elected, but on a highly restrictive fra ...

for Armagh County from 1798 until the Act of Union in 1801, when Ireland became part of the United Kingdom. Subsequently, he was a Member of the

British House of Commons The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 mem ...

representing

Armagh Armagh ( ; ga, Ard Mhacha, , "Macha's height") is the county town of County Armagh and a city in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Pri ...

to 1807, when he succeeded to his father's Irish titles as Earl of Gosford. He entered the British

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

in 1811 upon being elected an

Irish Representative Peer This is a list of representative peers elected from the Peerage of Ireland to sit in the British House of Lords after the Kingdom of Ireland was brought into union with the Kingdom of Great Britain. No new members were added to the House after ...

. In 1831 he was appointed the first

Lord Lieutenant of Armagh This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Armagh. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated on 23 August 1831. L ...

for life, having previously been a

Governor of Armagh This is a list of people who have served as Lord-Lieutenant of Armagh. There were lieutenants of counties in Ireland until the reign of James II of England, James II, when they were renamed governors. The office of Lord Lieutenant was recreated ...

since 1805. The new position incorporated the post of

Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh The Custos Rotulorum of County Armagh was the highest civil officer in County Armagh, Ireland. The position was later combined with that of Lord Lieutenant of Armagh. Incumbents *1661–1671 William Caulfeild, 1st Viscount Charlemont (also Custo ...

which he also already held. He was created

Baron Worlingham Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knigh ...

in the

Peerage of the United Kingdom The Peerage of the United Kingdom is one of the five Peerages in the United Kingdom. It comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Acts of Union 1800, Acts of Union in 1801, when it replaced the ...

in 1835 and thus became a member of the UK House of Lords in his own right. He commissioned Thomas Hopper (1776–1856) to design a new house,

Gosford Castle Gosford Castle is a 19th-century country house situated in Gosford, a townland of Markethill, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. It was built for Archibald Acheson, 2nd Earl of Gosford, and designed in the Norman revival style by London architect ...

on his Gosford estate. The house would not be completed until after his death. In 1835, he became Governor General of

(also Lieutenant-Governor of

), and commissioner in the

Royal Commission for the Investigation of all Grievances Affecting His Majesty's Subjects of Lower Canada The Royal Commission for the Investigation of all Grievances Affecting His Majesty's Subjects of Lower Canada was established 7 years after the publication of the report of a Select Committee of the House of Commons on the Civil Government of Canad ...

. He was instructed to appease the reformists, led by

Louis-Joseph Papineau Louis-Joseph Papineau (October 7, 1786 – September 23, 1871), born in Montreal, Quebec, was a politician, lawyer, and the landlord of the ''seigneurie de la Petite-Nation''. He was the leader of the reformist Patriote movement before the Lower ...

, without giving them any real power. Gosford attempted to distance himself from his predecessor, Lord Aylmer, who had exacerbated the hostility of

French-Canadians French Canadians (referred to as Canadiens mainly before the twentieth century; french: Canadiens français, ; feminine form: , ), or Franco-Canadians (french: Franco-Canadiens), refers to either an ethnic group who trace their ancestry to Fren ...

to the British administration. Gosford officially established the Diocese of Montreal in 1836, though it had been unofficially created a few years before. In August of that year Gosford dissolved the Legislative Assembly when they refused to pass his budget. In November, Lord Gosford learned of the planned

Lower Canada Rebellion The Lower Canada Rebellion (french: rébellion du Bas-Canada), commonly referred to as the Patriots' War () in French, is the name given to the armed conflict in 1837–38 between rebels and the colonial government of Lower Canada (now southe ...

and had many of Papineau's followers arrested, although Papineau himself escaped to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The next month, he issued a reward for the capture of Papineau, and declared

martial law Martial law is the imposition of direct military control of normal civil functions or suspension of civil law by a government, especially in response to an emergency where civil forces are overwhelmed, or in an occupied territory. Use Marti ...

in Lower Canada. Lord Gosford resigned in November 1837 and returned to Britain the next year. His eventual successor,

Lord Durham Earl of Durham is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1833 for the Whig politician and colonial official John Lambton, 1st Baron Durham. Known as "Radical Jack", he played a leading role in the passing of the Gr ...

, implemented the Union Act in 1840 (uniting Lower and Upper Canada, which Lord Gosford had unsuccessfully argued against).

Personal life

He married Mary Sparrow, the daughter and heiress of Robert Sparrow of Worlingham Hall, Suffolk, with whom he had a son and four daughters. *

Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford Archibald Acheson, 3rd Earl of Gosford KP (20 August 1806 – 15 June 1864), styled Viscount Acheson between 1807 and 1849, was a British peer and Member of Parliament. Early life Gosford was born on 20 August 1806. He was the only son of Arch ...

(20 August 1806 – 15 June 1864), he succeeded his father upon his death. *Lady Mary Acheson (27 June 1809 – 13 March 1850). On 9 July 1835 she married

James Hewitt, 4th Viscount Lifford James Hewitt, 4th Viscount Lifford, DL (31 March 1811 – 20 November 1887), of Meenglass Castle, County Donegal, was Deputy Lieutenant for the County of Donegal. Early life and family He was born on 31 March 1811 at Merrion Square, Dublin, as ...

. They had four sons, and four daughters. * Lady Millicent French Acheson (circa 1812 – 29 August 1887). She married

Henry Bence Jones Henry Bence Jones FRS (31 December 1813 – 20 April 1873) was an English physician and chemist. Early life Bence Jones was born at Thorington Hall, Stoke-by-Nayland, Suffolk, the son of Lieutenant Colonel William Jones, an officer in the 5th ...

on 28 May 1842. They had three sons, and four daughters. The youngest son, Archibald, married a daughter of

Henry Lopes, 1st Baron Ludlow Henry Charles Lopes, 1st Baron Ludlow, (3 October 1828 – 25 December 1899) was a British judge and Conservative Party politician. Background and education Ludlow was a younger son of Sir Ralph Lopes, 2nd Baronet, and the uncle of Henry Lopes, ...

. Lord Gosford died in 1849.

Legacy

It is believed the city of

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extr ...

in New South Wales, Australia was named after him, the Governor of New South Wales having served with him in Canada.

References

External links