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Eighteenth Century British Prime Minister No.13

Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
Prime Minister: 27 March – 1 July, 1782 (Second administration: 96 days)
Political faction: Whig
Predecessor: Lord North
[Life: 13 May, 1730 – 1 July, 1782]

Click to read Overview of ‘PMs on the Pan‘

‘PM on the Pan’ Take Aways

• Mad for horse racing: Rockingham was a horse racing fan. During his parliamentary career some thought he was more interested in his horse breeding activities than thbe business of the house. He was obsessed.
  • Whistlejacket: Rockingham’s beloved stallion Whistlejacket was the subject of a groundbreaking portrait by artist George Stubbs (1724-1806) who painted it against a plain background, with no rider or gear.
  • Stubbs patron: He commissioned at least a dozen paintings of horses by Stubbs, effectively becoming his patron and helping elevate him to become the most popular equine artist of the Eighteenth century.
  • Grandest stables: The stables at his gigantic home in Yorkshire, Wentworth Woodhouse, were also gigantic, said to be the grandest in England, capable of housing 200 horses!
  • St Ledger Stakes: Rockingham was a co-founder of the St Ledger Stakes, one of the five Classic flat races in Britain.
• Sixteen years in opposition: Rockingham went into a sort of Whig opposition – there was no formal ‘opposition’ as we understand it today – for the next decade and a half, with a following labelled the Rockingham Whigs. They had aristocratic leanings (Rockingham was most certainly aristocratic) and their major objectives included monitoring the balance of power and influence between the Crown and Parliament – terms set out following the Glorious Revolution of 1689 and making peace with the newly-declared United States of America. (The American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) ended on 3 September with the signing of the Treaty of Paris.)
• How he got the PM gig…again!: Rockingham succeeded Lord North, who finally left office after losing favour over his handling of the war with the American colonies. King George III brought him in to manage the peace negotiations.
• Second time Prime Minister: This was Rockingham’s second turn as Prime Minister (his first turn was from 13 July 1765 – 30 July 1766). He was 51 years of age.
• Northern and Southern Secretaries: His government dismantled the offices of Northern and Southern Secretaries, which oversaw diplomatic relations with northern states (incl. Netherlands, Holy Roman Empire, Prussia…and Scotland) and southern states (incl. France, Spain, Italy, American Colonies, Ireland and Ottoman empire)…the Southern Secretary was the more senior of the two offices. Rockingham replaced these two offices with the Foreign Office and Home Office.
• Died in office (How did he leave office…): Rockingham was the third British Prime Minister to die in office. He caught a bad flu and died. He was married with no children.(The other PMs who died in office were Spencer Compton (70), 1743, and Henry Pelham (59), 1754).

Check out my PMs on the Pan series of posts
1. First PM Sir Robert Walpole
2. Second PM Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington
3. Third PM Henry Pelham
4. Fourth PM Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
5. Fifth PM William Cavendish, 4th Duke of Devonshire
6. Sixth PM Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle
7. Seventh PM John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute
8. Eighth PM George Grenville
9. Ninth PM Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
10. Tenth PM William Pitt the Elder, 1st Earl of Chatham
11. Eleventh PM Augustus Henry FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton
12. Twelfth PM Lord North
13. Thirteenth PM Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
14. Fourteenth PM Earl of Shelburne
15. Fifteenth PM Duke of Portland
16. Sixteenth PM William Pitt the Younger

Notes
The Prime Ministers, Iain Dale (2020) (Rockingham article by Jesse Norman)
Marquess of Rockingham episode of Iain Dale’s Presidents, Prime Ministers, Monarchs and Dictators podcast
UK Govt Past Prime Ministers: Marquess of Rockingham
British Prime Ministers of the 18th Century, FJC Hearnshaw (1928)
Museum of the Prime Minister