Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton

William Bingham Baring, 2nd Baron Ashburton, PC, DL, FRS (June 1799 – 23 March 1864) was a British businessman and a Whig politician who later became a Tory.[1]

The Right Honourable
The Lord Ashburton
PC DL FRS
Paymaster General
In office
1 March 1845 – February 1846
MonarchQueen Victoria
Prime MinisterSir Robert Peel
Preceded bySir Edward Knatchbull
Succeeded byThomas Babington Macaulay
Personal details
Born(1799-06-00)June 1799
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Died(1864-03-23)23 March 1864 (aged 64)
The Grange, Hampshire
NationalityBritish
Political partyWhig (to 1837)
Tory from 1837
Spouse(s)(1) Lady Harriet Montagu
m. 1823; d. 1857
(2) Louisa Stewart-Mackenzie
m. 1858; wid. 1864
Alma materOriel College, Oxford

Background and education

William Bingham Baring was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in June 1799, the eldest son of the politician and banker Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton (1773–1848), and his wife Ann Louisa (died 1848), daughter of William Bingham.[2][3] He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford, where he graduated in classics in 1821. He received a Master of Arts in 1836 and an Honorary Doctorate of Civil Law in 1856.[4]

Political career

Baring sat as Member of Parliament for Thetford between 1826 and 1830 and 1841 and 1848,[5] for Callington between 1830 and 1831,[6] for Winchester between 1832 and 1837[7] and for Staffordshire North between 1837 and 1841.[8] He was elected as a Whig in 1832 and 1835, and from 1837 as a Tory.[9] He served under Sir Robert Peel as Joint Secretary to the Board of Control from 1841 to 1845 and as Paymaster General, with a seat in the Cabinet, from 1845 to 1846. In 1845 he was sworn of the Privy Council.[10] In 1848 he succeeded his father in the barony and entered the House of Lords.

Baring was a member of the Canterbury Association from 27 May 1848.[11] He was a commandeur of the Légion d'honneur, awarded for his services to commerce. He served as captain in the Hampshire Yeomanry Cavalry.[4] In 1853, he was appointed to be a Deputy Lieutenant of the County of Southampton.[12] In 1854 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[13] One of his on-going legacies is the National Rifle Association's competition for the Ashburton Shield which was donated by Lord Ashburton in 1861.[14]

Family

Lord Ashburton married as his first wife, Lady Harriet Mary Montagu,[15] eldest daughter of George Montagu, 6th Earl of Sandwich, on 12 April 1823. Their only child, Alexander Montagu Baring (1828–1830), died as an infant. Lady Harriet is well known for inspiring the devotion of Thomas Carlyle, to the great dismay of his wife Jane Welsh Carlyle.[16] Lady Harriet died on 4 May 1857, aged 51.

Lady Louisa Ashburton, Lord Ashburton's second wife

Lord Ashburton married as his second wife Louisa Caroline Stewart-Mackenzie, youngest daughter of James Alexander Stewart-Mackenzie, on 17 November 1858. They had one daughter, Mary Florence, (named after Florence Nightingale[17]) born on 26 June 1860 at Bath House, Piccadilly, London (a site now occupied by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority), who married William Compton, 5th Marquess of Northampton. Lord Ashburton died at The Grange, Hertfordshire, in March 1864, aged 64.

He was succeeded in the barony by his younger brother, Francis. Lady Ashburton subsequently had an intimate relationship with the sculptor Harriet Hosmer.[18] Lady Ashburton died in London in February 1903, aged 75.[19]

Eponymous

The Ashburton River in New Zealand and the town of the same name located on the river were named by the chief surveyor of the Canterbury Association, Joseph Thomas, after Lord Ashburton.[11]

See also

References
  1. "Baring, William Bingham" . Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.
  2. Reynolds, K. D. "Baring [née Montagu], Harriet Mary, Lady Ashburton (1805–1857), literary hostess". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/1386. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. Charles Mosley, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes (Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999), volume 1, page 120.
  4. Dod, Robert P. (1860). The Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland. London: Whitaker and Co. p. 95.
  5. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Tain Burghs to Tipperary North". Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  6. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Caernarfon to Cambridgeshire South West". Archived from the original on 13 July 2011. Retrieved 4 September 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  7. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Wigan to Withington". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  8. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Southend to Stamford". Archived from the original on 23 October 2018. Retrieved 4 September 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  9. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 334, 456, 305. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
  10. "No. 20484". The London Gazette. 1 July 1845. p. 1931.
  11. Blain, Rev. Michael (2007). The Canterbury Association (1848-1852): A Study of Its Members' Connections (PDF). Christchurch: Project Canterbury. pp. 14–16. Retrieved 20 March 2013.
  12. "No. 6272". The Edinburgh Gazette. 12 April 1853. p. 300.
  13. "Fellows 1660-2007" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 9 October 2016.
  14. Edward Walford, (2006 reprinted), Greater London. A Narrative of Its History, Its People, and Its Places. Volume 2, page 508, (Adamant Media Corporation)
  15. Watts, George Frederic. "Portrait of Lady Ashburton". ArtFlakes. Archived from the original on 15 July 2014.
  16. Kenneth J. Fielding, David R. Sorensen (ed) Jane Carlyle: newly selected letters, Ashgate, 2004, pp. xiv–xvi.
  17. Sherwood, Dolly, Harriet Hosmer: American Sculptor 1830-1908, University of Missouri Press, Columbia, 1991 p. 266.
  18. Dolly Sherwood, Harriet Hosmer, University of Missouri Press, pp. 102–3; 270–3.
  19. Surtees, Virginia (2004). "Baring [née Stewart-Mackenzie], Louisa Caroline, Lady Ashburton (1827–1903)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/50780. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
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