Biography

Mentioned in 18610612CharlesSumner_WHS: "My dear Secretary, Mr Motley has just arrived, fresh from long-continued intimacy & recent conversation with Lord Palmerston & Lord John Russell – in the course of which our affairs have been much discussed.  He is a true American, who knows well how to be thoroughly loyal to his own country & to inspire the confidence of foreign statesmen."

From gov.uk:

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

Lord Palmerston became enormously popular thanks to his assertive and ‘manly’ foreign policy which proclaimed Britain’s values as a model for the world to follow. He served in government for 46 years.

Although he generally avoided controversial domestic reforms, Palmerston was instrumental in getting Parliament to approve the creation of the Divorce Court in 1857. Before this, people wanting a divorce had had to get a private act of Parliament passed.

Dates in office:
1859 to 1865, 1855 to 1858

Political party:
Whig and Liberal

Major acts:
Government of India Bill 1858: transferring control of the East India Company to the Crown.

Interesting facts:
Florence Nightingale said of Palmerston after his  death; “Though he made a joke when asked to do the right thing he always did it. He was so much more in earnest than he appeared, he did not do himself justice.”

Quote:
“The function of government is to calm, rather than to excite agitation.”