Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton PC (3 July 1776 – 8 June 1842), known as Sir Henry Parnell, Bt, from 1812 to 1841, was an Irish writer and Whig politician. He was a member of the Whig administrations headed by Lord Grey and

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pr ...

of the 1830s and also published works on financial and penal questions as well as on civil engineering. He was a grand-uncle to the Irish nationalist leader

Charles Stewart Parnell Charles Stewart Parnell (27 June 1846 – 6 October 1891) was an Irish nationalist politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1875 to 1891, also acting as Leader of the Home Rule League from 1880 to 1882 and then Leader of t ...

Background and education

Parnell was the second son of

Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet (25 December 1744 – December 1801) was an Anglo-Irish Member of Parliament. Biography A Church of Ireland landowner, his family had originally migrated to Ireland from Congleton in Cheshire. Although not from ...

, Chancellor of the Irish Exchequer, and Laetitia Charlotte, daughter of Sir Arthur Brooke, 1st Baronet. His younger brother William Parnell-Hayes was the grandfather of

. He was educated at Eton and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. In 1801 he inherited the family estates in Queen's County on the death of his father, bypassing his disabled elder brother according to a special Act of Parliament passed in 1789. In 1812 he succeeded as fourth Baronet, of Rathleague, on the death of his brother.thepeerage.com Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton
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Political career

Parnell represented Maryborough 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 fran ...

from 1798 until the Act of Union in 1801. In April the following year he was elected to

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprem ...

for Queen's County, but relinquished this seat already in July of the same year, when he was returned for Portarlington. However, he resigned the seat already in December 1802. In 1806 he was once again elected for Queen's County, and represented the constituency until 1832. In 1828 he was chairman of the Select Committee on the State of Public Income and Expenditure which successfully recommended abolition of the 280-year old

Navy Board The Navy Board (formerly known as the Council of the Marine or Council of the Marine Causes) was the commission responsible for the day-to-day civil administration of the Royal Navy between 1546 and 1832. The board was headquartered within the ...

and the merging of its functions into the

Board of Admiralty The Board of Admiralty (1628–1964) was established in 1628 when Charles I put the office of Lord High Admiral into commission. As that position was not always occupied, the purpose was to enable management of the day-to-day operational requi ...

. It was by Parnell's motion on the civil list that the Duke of Wellington's administration was defeated in 1830. The Whigs came to power under Lord Grey and in 1831 Parnell was admitted to the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mo ...

and appointed Secretary at War, a post he held until February 1833. He resigned his seat in Parliament the same year but returned in 1833 as the representative for

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. When the Whigs again came to power in April 1835 under

, Parnell was made

Paymaster of the Forces The Paymaster of the Forces was a position in the British government. The office was established in 1661, one year after the Restoration of the Monarchy to King Charles II, and was responsible for part of the financing of the British Army, in ...

and Treasurer of the Ordnance and

Navy A navy, naval force, or maritime force is the branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral, or ocean-borne combat operations and related functions. It in ...

. These offices were consolidated into that of Paymaster-General in 1836, and Parnell retained this post until the government fell in 1841. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Congleton, of

Congleton Congleton is a town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. The town is by the River Dane, south of Manchester and north of Stoke on Trent. At the 2011 Census, it had a population of 26,482. Topon ...

in the County Palatine of

Chester Chester is a cathedral city and the county town of Cheshire, England. It is located on the River Dee, close to the English–Welsh border. With a population of 79,645 in 2011,"2011 Census results: People and Population Profile: Chester Loca ...

Works

*''Observations upon the State of Currency of Ireland, and upon the Course of Exchange between London and Dublin'' (1804; 2nd edn., 1804; 3rd edn. (with additional appendix), 1804). *''The Principles of Currency and Exchange, illustrated by Observations on the State of Ireland'' (1805). *''An Historical Apology for the Irish Catholics'' (1807). *''A History of the Penal Laws against the Irish Catholics, from the Treaty of Limerick to the Union'' (1808; a ‘new edition’ appeared in vols. xx. and xxi. of the ''Pamphleteer'' (1822); 4th edn. (with slightly altered title), 1825). *''Treatise on the Corn Trade and Agriculture'' (1809). *''The Substance of the Speeches of Sir Henry Parnell, bart., in the House of Commons, with additional Observations on the Corn Laws'' (1814; 3rd edn. published in vol. iv. of the ''Pamphleteer'' (1814). *''Observations on the Irish Butter Acts'' (1825). *''Observations on Paper Money, Banking, and Over-Trading, including those parts of the Evidence taken before the Committee of the House of Commons which explain the Scotch System of Banking'' (1827, 1829). *''On Financial Reform'' (1830; 2nd edn., 1830; 3rd edn., 1831; 4th edn., 1832). Selections from this book, compiled by Henry Lloyd Morgan, were published under the title of ''National Accounts'' (2nd edn., 1873). *''A plain Statement of the Power of the Bank of England, and the Use it has made of it; with a Refutation of the Objections made to the Scotch System of Banking, and a Reply to “The Historical Sketch y J. R. McCullochof the Bank of England,”'' (1832). *''A Treatise on Roads, wherein the Principles on which Roads should be made are explained and illustrated by the Plans, Specifications, and Contracts made use of by Thomas Telford, Esq., on the Holyhead Road'' (1833; 2nd edn., 1838). *''The Psalms: a new Version'' (1860; 2nd edn., 1875). Parnell was the author of books and pamphlets on matters connected with financial questions, the major important work being ''On Financial Reform'', published in 1830. Parnell was opposed to the prevailing

protectionist Protectionism, sometimes referred to as trade protectionism, is the economic policy of restricting imports from other countries through methods such as tariffs on imported goods, import quotas, and a variety of other government regulations. ...

system and advocated retrenchment of public expenditure, especially for the armed services.Sidney Buxton, ''Finance and Politics: An Historical Study, 1783–1885. Volume I'' (London: John Murray, 1888), p. 32, n. ‡. ''On Financial Reform'' proposed the repeal of taxes on raw materials and home manufactures, along with the reduction of import duties on foreign manufactures. He also favoured the reduction of taxes on "luxuries", such as tea, sugar, tobacco, wine and spirits. To pay for these reforms, Parnell proposed the reintroduction of the

income tax An income tax is a tax imposed on individuals or entities (taxpayers) in respect of the income or profits earned by them (commonly called taxable income). Income tax generally is computed as the product of a tax rate times the taxable income. Ta ...

. According to Sidney Buxton, ''On Financial Reform'' exercised a considerable influence on public opinion and "laid before the country the financial and fiscal policy that Peel and

Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-cons ...

afterwards carried through". One of the main representatives of the so-called "British free banking school," Parnell argued that the best way to achieve monetary stability was to revoke the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government o ...

's monopoly on the issue of

banknote A banknote—also called a bill (North American English), paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable instrument, negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes w ...

s. These ideas were defended by Parnell and others in opposition to those of the British Currency School who advocated legal restrictions on the amount of notes that could be issued, with respect to their deposits in specie, and the British Banking School, which advocated discretionary policy by the banks in monetary matters. Support for free banking declined after Parnell's death in 1842, and the

Bank Charter Act 1844 The Bank Charter Act 1844 (7 & 8 Vict. c. 32), sometimes referred to as the Peel Banking Act of 1844, was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, passed under the government of Robert Peel, which restricted the powers of British banks ...

eliminated the right of new banks in England and Wales to issue notes, consolidating the Bank of England's monopoly.

Anna J. Schwartz Anna Jacobson Schwartz (pronounced ; November 11, 1915 – June 21, 2012) was an American economist who worked at the National Bureau of Economic Research in New York City and a writer for ''The New York Times''. Paul Krugman has said that Schwar ...

, "Banking School, Currency School, Free Banking School," in ''The New Palgrave: Money'' (London, W. W. Norton & Company, 1989), . Parnell also wrote about penal matters. In the domain of civil engineering, he authored the 1833 and 1838 editions of ''A Treatise on Roads'', in which the works and techniques of

Thomas Telford Thomas Telford FRS, FRSE, (9 August 1757 – 2 September 1834) was a Scottish civil engineer. After establishing himself as an engineer of road and canal projects in Shropshire, he designed numerous infrastructure projects in his native Scot ...

were described.

Family

Parnell married Lady Caroline Elizabeth, daughter of

John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington Earl of Portarlington is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1785 for John Dawson, 1st Earl of Portarlington, who had earlier represented Portarlington in the Irish House of Commons. He was the son of William Dawson, 1st Vis ...

, in 1801. In 1842, having suffered for some time from ill-health and melancholy, he committed suicide by hanging, aged 65. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son John Vesey Parnell. Lady Congleton died in February 1861. The couple had three sons and three daughters who reached adulthood. A daughter, Frances Louisa, died when she was five years old, and was buried in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

. Her monument bears the inscription "Sacred to the memory of Frances Louisa Parnell. Born 28 October 1806 Died 18 September 1812. Interred under this spot. This monument is placed here by her afflicted and disconsolate mother."

References

External links