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Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (June 7, 1770 - December 4, 1828). Also called Lord Hawkesbury (1796-1808). British statesman and Prime Minister.

The son of George III's close adviser Charles Jenkinson, 1st Earl of Liverpool[?], Jenkinson entered the Commons in 1790 and rose quickly through the Tory ranks. He served as a member of the Board of Control for India (1793-1796), and as Master of the Mint[?] (1799-1801). In Henry Addington's government Lord Hawkesbury, as he was now known, entered the cabinet as Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, in which capacity he he negotiated the Treaty of Amiens with France.

In later governments, Hawkesbury continued to serve in important cabinet positions - as Home Secretary in Pitt's second government and the Duke of Portland's second government, and then as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in Perceval's government.

When Perceval was assassinated in May, 1812, Lord Liverpool succeeded him as prime minister. Liverpool's ministry was a long and eventful one - it saw Britain's victory in the Napoleonic Wars, the Congress of Vienna, and the eventful early years of peace which followed. Liverpool, aware that his abilities were no more than moderate, generally stayed in the background, letting more brilliant subordinates like Lord Castlereagh, George Canning, the Duke of Wellington, Robert Peel, and William Huskisson, all of whom served under him, take leading parts. Nevertheless, Liverpool was himself a skillful politician, and did a good job of holding together the more liberal and more reactionary wings of the Tory party, which his more brilliant successor, Canning, was incapable of. Liverpool retired in 1827.

Lord Liverpool's Administration, June 1812 - April 1827

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