Richard Weston, 1st Earl of Portland, KG (1 March 157713 March 1634/1635), was Chancellor of the Exchequer and later

Lord Treasurer The Lord High Treasurer was an English government position and has been a British government position since the Acts of Union of 1707. A holder of the post would be the third-highest-ranked Great Officer of State in England, below the Lord ...

of England under James I and Charles I, being one of the most influential figures in the early years of Charles I's Personal Rule and the architect of many of the policies that enabled him to rule without raising taxes through Parliament.

Biography

Weston was the eldest son and heir of Sir Jerome Weston, High Sheriff of Essex for 1599, and the former Mary Cave. He was born at Roxwell,

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, and was a student of the

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. He served as Member of Parliament (MP) for a number of constituencies including

Maldon Maldon (, locally ) is a town and civil parish on the Blackwater Estuary in Essex, England. It is the seat of the Maldon District and starting point of the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation. It is known for Maldon Sea Salt which is prod ...

(1601–1603), Midhurst (in the parliament of 1604–1611),

(in the Addled Parliament of 1614), Arundel (1622), Bossiney (1624), Callington (1625) and Bodmin (1626). He was knighted in 1603. During the reign of King James I of England, Weston was sent on embassies to

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

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, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. On the last assignment, he negotiated for the restitution of the Palatine. Upon his return to England in 1621, he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and retained the post after the accession of Charles I; he proved a capable financial manager but incurred popular hatred as a (justly) suspected

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, while also later earning the enmity of the (Catholic) queen, Henrietta Maria for refusing grants to her favourites. He opposed wars with Spain in 1623 and France in 1626, but managed to find ways of raising the money to fund them when required, even when it was impossible to secure the cooperation of Parliament. Weston was elevated to the peerage on 13 April 1628 as Baron Weston of Nayland in Suffolk. He was subsequently made

of England and invested with the Order of the Garter. His policies proving highly unpopular, he escaped impeachment in 1629 only by the dissolution of Parliament. Nevertheless, he played an important role in the King's Personal Rule without Parliament, finding new sources of revenue while preventing any further increase in the King's expenditure, and being for a time the most influential of Charles's advisers. He persuaded the King to make peace with France in 1629 and Spain in 1630, removing the biggest drain on the treasury, and to sign the secret treaty with Spain in 1634. By the time he died in 1635, the Crown was solvent. Dyck Frances Weston

On 17 February 1633, Weston was created Earl of Portland. Lord Portland was married twice. His first wife was Elizabeth Pincheon of Writtle in Essex. His second wife was Frances Waldegrave of Borley in Essex. He had three children by his first marriage, including Lady Mary Weston (2 January 1603-after August 1678), who married the 2nd Lord Aston of Forfar in 1629, and Lady Elizabeth Weston (died 1656), who married John Netterville, 2nd Viscount Netterville. He had seven children by his second marriage, including his son Thomas, who later succeeded as 4th Earl, and Lady Anne Weston, the first of the four wives of Basil Feilding, 2nd Earl of Denbigh. His nephew (his sister's son), Jeremy Clarke, became a Governor of

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

in the American colonies. On his death, he was succeeded by his second but eldest surviving son,

Jerome Jerome (; ; ; – 30 September 420), also known as Jerome of Stridon, was an early Christian presbyter, priest, Confessor of the Faith, confessor, theologian, translator, and historian; he is commonly known as Saint Jerome. He is best known ...

.''Burke's Peerage'' p.1084

References

Sources

External links

*
www.british-civil-wars.co.uk
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Portland, Richard Weston, 1st Earl of 1577 births 1635 deaths 17th-century English diplomats 17th-century English nobility Chancellors of the Exchequer of England Knights of the Garter Lord-lieutenants of Essex Lord-lieutenants of Hampshire People from Chelmsford Members of the Middle Temple English MPs 1601 English MPs 1604–1611 English MPs 1614 English MPs 1621–1622 English MPs 1624–1625 English MPs 1625 English MPs 1626 Earls of Portland Members of Parliament for Maldon Members of the Parliament of England for Callington Members of the Parliament of England for Bodmin Members of the Parliament of England for Bossiney First Lords of the Admiralty