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Henry Brooke Parnell, 1st Baron Congleton

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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HENRY BROOKE PARNELL CONGLETON, 1ST Baron (1776-1842), was the second son of Sir John Parnell, Bart. (1744-1801), chancellor of the Irish exchequer, and was educated at Eton and Cambridge. In 1801 he succeeded to the family estates in Queen's county, and married a daughter of the earl of Portarlington; and in 1802, by his father-in-law's interest, he was returned for Portarlington to parliament, but he speedily resigned the seat. In 1806 he was returned for Queen's county, for which he sat till 1832, when he withdrew from the representation. In 1833, however, he was returned for Dundee; and after being twice re-elected for the same city (1835 and 1837), he was raised to the peerage in 1841 with the title of Baron Congleton of Congleton. In 1842, having suffered for some time from ill-health and melancholy, he committed suicide. He was a Liberal Whig, and took a prominent part in the struggle of his party. In 1806 he was a commissioner of the treasury for Ireland; it was on his motion on the civil list that the duke of Wellington was defeated in 1830; in that year and in 1831 he was secretary at war; and from 1835 till 1841 he was paymaster of the forces and treasurer of the ordnance and navy. He was the author of several volumes and pamphlets on matters connected with financial and penal questions, the most important being that On Financial Reform, 1830.

He was succeeded as 2nd baron by his eldest son John Vesey (1805-1883), who in 1829 joined the Plymouth Brethren, and spent his life in enthusiastic religious work. He left no son, and his brother Henry William (d. 1896) became 3rd baron, being succeeded by his second son Henry (1839-1906), a soldier who rose to be major-general.