Church of St Mary Matching Essex England - stained glass 2

Henry John Selwin-Ibbetson, 1st Baron Rookwood, (26 September 1826 – 15 January 1902), known as Sir Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, Bt, from 1869 to 1892, was a British

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician. He served under

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department This article lists past and present parliamentary under-secretaries of state serving the home secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office. Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present *April 1782: Evan Nepean *Apri ...

between 1874 and 1878 and as

Financial Secretary to the Treasury The Financial Secretary to the Treasury is a mid-level ministerial post in HM Treasury. It is nominally the fifth most significant ministerial role within the Treasury after the first lord of the Treasury, the chancellor of the Exchequer, the ch ...

between 1878 and 1880.

Background and education

Born Henry John Selwin, Rookwood was the only son of Sir John Thomas Selwin, 6th Baronet, and his wife Isabella, daughter of General John Leveson-Gower, and was educated at homeLee, Sir Sidney (editor). ''The Dictionary of National Biography. Supplement: January 1901-December 1911''. Oxford University Press. and at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College, formally the College of St John the Evangelist in the University of Cambridge, is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge, founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch L ...

where he took his degree in 1849.

Political career

Selwin-Ibbetson unsuccessfully contested

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

in 1857 and 1859 but in 1865 he was successfully returned to Parliament as one of two representatives for Essex South. He later represented Essex West from 1868 to 1885 and Epping from 1885 to 1892. In 1867 he resumed by Royal licence the original family surname of Ibbetson in addition to that of Selwin and the following year he succeeded his father in the baronetcy. When the Conservatives came to power in 1874 under

Rookwood refused the office of Chairman of the Committee of Ways and Means (Deputy Speaker of the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

). Disraeli instead appointed him

, a position he held until 1878, and was then

from 1878 to 1880. In 1879 he declined to become

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the representative of the monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia, Governor-General of Australia at the national level, the governor ...

. He was later Second Church Estate Commissioner between 1885 and 1886 and 1886 to 1892. On his retirement from the House of Commons in 1892 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rookwood, of Rookwood Hall and Down Hall, both in the County of Essex. Lord Rookwood "secured

Epping Forest Epping Forest is a area of ancient woodland, and other established habitats, which straddles the border between Greater London and Essex. The main body of the forest stretches from Epping in the north, to Chingford on the edge of the Lond ...

for the public".

Family

Lord Rookwood married firstly the Hon. Sarah Elizabeth Copley, eldest daughter and co-heiress of

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

John Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst John Singleton Copley, 1st Baron Lyndhurst, (21 May 1772 – 12 October 1863) was a British lawyer and politician. He was three times Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. Background and education Lyndhurst was born in Boston, Massachusetts, ...

, in 1850. After her death in 1865 he married secondly Eden Thackrah, daughter of George Thackrah and widow of his first cousin Sir Charles Henry Ibbetson, 5th Baronet, in 1867. After her death in 1899 he married thirdly Sophia Harriet Lawrell ( – 30 July 1932), daughter of Digby Lawrell, in 1900. There were no children from the three marriages. His estate comprised some 4,000 acres, coal mines in Durham and Yorkshire, and a considerable quantity of house property in Halifax. Lord Rookwood died in London 15 January 1902, aged 75, when the baronetcy and barony both became extinct.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rookwood, Henry Selwin-Ibbetson, 1st Baron 1826 births 1902 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1865–1868 UK MPs 1868–1874 UK MPs 1874–1880 UK MPs 1880–1885 UK MPs 1885–1886 UK MPs 1886–1892 UK MPs who were granted peerages Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria Church Estates Commissioners