Robert Henley Henley, 2nd Baron Henley (''né'' Eden, 3 September 1789 – 3 February 1841), styled Hon. Robert Eden from 1799 to 1830, was a British lawyer, Member of Parliament, peer, and writer.

Early life and education

Robert Henley was born Robert Eden at

Lambeth Palace Lambeth Palace is the official London residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury. It is situated in north Lambeth, London, on the south bank of the River Thames, south-east of the Palace of Westminster, which houses Parliament of the United King ...

, London, the second son of diplomat Morton Eden, and his wife, Lady Elizabeth, youngest daughter 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 ...

Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington, PC (c. 1708 – 14 January 1772), was the Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain. He was a member of the Whig Party in the parliament and was known for his wit and writing. Family Born the second son o ...

(c. 1708–1772) and eventual heiress to her brother,

Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of Northington Robert Henley, 2nd Earl of Northington (3 January 1747 – 5 July 1786), was a British politician. He was born the eldest son of Robert Henley, 1st Earl of Northington, and educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford. He succeed ...

. Robert's other uncles were

Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet Sir John Eden, 4th Baronet (16 September 1740 – 23 August 1812), was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1774 and 1790. Eden was the eldest son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet and his wife Mary Davison of Beamish, c ...

; Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland; and

William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, Privy Council of Ireland, PC (Ire), Royal Society, FRS (3 April 174528 May 1814) was a British diplomat and politician who sat in the British House of Commons, House of Commons from 1774 to 1793. Early life A m ...

. His father was knighted in 1791 and in 1799 raised to the peerage as Baron Henley, of

Chardstock Chardstock is a village and civil parish located on the eastern border of Devon, England off the A358 road between Chard and Axminster. The parish population at the 2011 Census was 828. The parish also contains the hamlets of Bewley Down, Bi ...

, in the

Peerage of Ireland The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

, in honour of his wife's family. Her brother Robert, 2nd Earl of Northington, died unmarried in 1786, and the earldom and subsidiary title of

Baron Henley Baron Henley is a title that has been created twice: first in the Peerage of Great Britain and then in the Peerage of Ireland. The first creation came in 1760 in favour of Sir Robert Henley, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, when he was cr ...

in the Peerage of Great Britain had become extinct. Robert was educated at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

, and matriculated at

Christ Church, Oxford Christ Church (, the temple or house, ''wikt:aedes, ædes'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by Henry V ...

in 1807, graduating B.A. 1811, and M.A. 1814.

Career and peerage

Henley served as a

Master in Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over all matters of eq ...

from 1826 to 1840 and between 1826 and 1830 he also sat as member of parliament for

Fowey Fowey ( ; , meaning ''beech trees'') is a port town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the mouth of the River Fowey in south Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. The town has been in existence since well before the Norman invasion, ...

. In 1823, his elder brother, Hon. Frederick Eden, a barrister and heir to their father's barony, died unmarried at his chambers at

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional association for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practice as a barrister in England and Wa ...

. In 1830, he succeeded his father as second Baron Henley, but as this was an

Irish peerage The peerage of Ireland consists of those Peerage, titles of nobility created by the English monarchs in their capacity as Lordship of Ireland, Lord or Monarchy of Ireland, King of Ireland, or later by monarchs of the United Kingdom of Great B ...

it did not entitle him to a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. The following year, Lord Henley assumed by royal licence the surname of Henley in lieu of Eden. in commemoration of his maternal ancestors, and the same year he published a biography of his maternal grandfather, entitled ''Memoir of the Life of Robert Henley, Earl of Northington, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain''.

Marriage and issue

Henley married Harriet Peel, daughter of

Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet Sir Robert Peel, 1st Baronet (25 April 1750 – 3 May 1830), was a British politician and industrialist and one of the early textile manufacturers of the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First ...

, and sister of Prime Minister

Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet (5 February 1788 – 2 July 1850), was a British Conservative statesman who twice was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1834–1835, 1841–1846), and simultaneously was Chancellor of the Exchequer (1834–183 ...

, in 1823. They had four sons, two of whom survived to adulthood: * Hon. Anthony Henley (Eden) (1825–1898), succeeded as third earl *Robert Henley Eden (13–18 July 1826), died in infancy *Hon. Rev. Robert Henley (7 March 1831 – 7 August 1910), Vicar of Putney, Surrey, married in 1852 Emily Louisa Aldridge *Hon. Morton Henley (5 November – 1 December 1832), died in infancy After several months of illness, Lord Henley died in February 1841, aged 51, at his home at 19 Whitehall Place, Westminster, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son,

Anthony Anthony, also spelled Antony, is a masculine given name derived from the '' Antonii'', a '' gens'' ( Roman family name) to which Mark Antony (''Marcus Antonius'') belonged. According to Plutarch, the Antonii gens were Heracleidae, being descenda ...

. Lady Henley died in 1869.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henley, Robert Henley, 2nd Baron 1789 births 1841 deaths 19th-century British writers UK MPs 1826–1830 Henley, B2 Robert Henley Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Fowey Barons Henley British biographers Younger sons of barons