Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby, PC, FSA (22 December 176226 December 1847) was a prominent British politician of the

Pittite The Tories were a loosely organised political faction and later a political party, in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. They first emerged during the 1679 Exclusion Crisis, when they oppose ...

faction and the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. The ...

party.

Background and education

Born in London, Ryder was the eldest son of

Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby Nathaniel Ryder, 1st Baron Harrowby (3 July 1735 – 20 June 1803) was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1756 to 1776 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Harrowby. Ryder was the son of Sir Dudley Ryder, Lord Chief J ...

, and his wife Elizabeth (née Terrick). Sir Dudley Ryder was his grandfather and Richard Ryder his younger brother. He was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

and

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511. Th ...

Political career

Harrowby was elected to his father's old Parliament seat of Tiverton in 1784. His administrative career began with an appointment to be Joint

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is a vacant junior position in the British government, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affai ...

in 1789. In 1791 he was appointed joint Paymaster of the Forces, having been made Vice-President of the Board of Trade in 1790. He resigned the positions and also that of Treasurer of the Navy when he succeeded to his father's barony in June 1803. In 1804 he was

Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown Minister of the Crown is a formal constitutional term used in Commonwealth realms to describe a minister ...

. After

James Monroe James Monroe ( ; April 28, 1758July 4, 1831) was an American statesman, lawyer, diplomat, and Founding Father who served as the fifth president of the United States from 1817 to 1825. A member of the Democratic-Republican Party, Monroe wa ...

's first interview with him on 30 May 1804, "...Monroe reported to his Government that Lord Harrowby's manners were designedly unfriendly; his reception was rough, his comments on the Senate's habit of mutilating treaties were harsh, his conduct throughout the intervuew was calculated to wound and to irritate."Henry Adams, ''History of the United States of America during the Administrations of Thomas Jefferson'', Library of America, 1986, p. 587 ''et seq.'' In 1805 he was

Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster The chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster is a ministerial office in the Government of the United Kingdom. The position is the second highest ranking minister in the Cabinet Office, immediately after the Prime Minister, and senior to the Minist ...

under his intimate friend William Pitt; in the latter year he was sent on a special and important mission to the emperors of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

and the king of

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

as part of the

Hanover Expedition The Hanover Expedition, also known as the Weser Expedition, was a British invasion of the Electorate of Hanover during the Napoleonic Wars. Coordinated as part of an attack on France by the nations of the Third Coalition against Napoleon by ...

. In 1809 he was honoured when he was made Viscount Sandon, of Sandon in the County of Stafford, and Earl of Harrowby, in the County of Lincoln. From November 1809 to June 1812 he served as

Minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet ...

in the cabinet of Spencer Perceval. From 1812 to 1827, he served as Lord President of the Council under

Lord Liverpool Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, (7 June 1770 – 4 December 1828) was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. He held many important cabinet offices such as Foreign Secreta ...

. After George Canning's death in 1827, Harrowby refused to serve

George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from the death of his father, King George III, on 29 January 1820, until his own death ten y ...

as prime minister and never held office again. Despite this he continued to take part in politics, being especially prominent during the deadlock which preceded the passing of the

Reform Bill In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is most commonly used for legislation passed in the 19th century and early 20th century to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

in 1832. Harrowby's long association with the

Tories A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

did not prevent him from assisting to remove the disabilities of Roman Catholics and Protestant dissenters, or from supporting the movement for electoral reform; he was also in favour of the

emancipation Emancipation generally means to free a person from a previous restraint or legal disability. More broadly, it is also used for efforts to procure economic and social rights, political rights or equality, often for a specifically disenfranchi ...

of the slaves. He was a member of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland.

Family

Lord Harrowby married Lady Susanna Leveson-Gower, daughter of Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, in 1795. They had three sons and five daughters. She died in May 1838. Lord Harrowby survived her by nine years and died in December 1847 at his Staffordshire residence, Sandon Hall, aged 85, being, as Charles Cavendish Fulke Greville says, "the last of his generation and of the colleagues of Mr Pitt, the sole survivor of those stirring times and mighty contests." He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son

Dudley Dudley is a large market town and administrative centre in the county of West Midlands, England, southeast of Wolverhampton and northwest of Birmingham. Historically an exclave of Worcestershire, the town is the administrative centre of the ...

. His second son, Granville Ryder, became a Member of Parliament.

Notes

References

*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harrowby, Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl Of 1762 births 1847 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 British MPs 1796–1800 British Secretaries of State British Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster Earls of Harrowby Lord Presidents of the Council Ryder, Dudley Members of the Privy Council of Great Britain Ryder, Dudley People educated at Harrow School Paymasters of the Forces Ryder, Dudley Ryder, Dudley Ryder, Dudley Harrowby, E1 UK MPs who were granted peerages

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