Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham

The Right Honourable The Lord Grantham PC
First Lord of Trade
In office 9 December 1780 – 11 July 1782
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Lord North The Marquess of Rockingham
Preceded by	The Earl of Carlisle
Succeeded by	The Lord Sydney (President of the Committee on Trade and Foreign Plantations)
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 13 July 1782 – 2 April 1783
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Earl of Shelburne
Preceded by	Hon. Charles James Fox
Succeeded by	Hon. Charles James Fox
Personal details
Born	30 November 1738 Vienna, Austria
Died	20 July 1786 (aged 47)
Nationality	British
Political party	Whig
Spouse(s)	Lady Mary Yorke (1757-1830)
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge

Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham PC (30 November 1738 – 20 July 1786) was a British politician and statesman. He notably served as Foreign Secretary between 1782 and 1783.

Background and education

Grantham was born in Vienna, Austria, the son of Thomas Robinson, 1st Baron Grantham, British Ambassador to Austria at the time, by his wife Frances, daughter of Thomas Worsley. He was educated at Westminster School and at Christ's College, Cambridge,^[1]

Political career

Grantham entered parliament as member for Christchurch in 1761,^[2] and succeeded to the peerage, because of his father's death, in 1770. That year he was appointed to the Privy Council. In 1771 he was sent as British Ambassador to Spain and retained this post until war broke out between Great Britain and Spain in 1779. In 1772, while at the Summer Spanish Court in Aranjuez, he received correspondence from Richard Wall, the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs.^[3] From 1780 to 1782 Grantham was President of the Board of Trade, and from July 1782 to April 1783 Foreign Secretary under Lord Shelburne.

Family

James Grant of Grant, John Mytton, the Hon. Thomas Robinson, and Thomas Wynne by Nathaniel Dance-Holland, c. 1760.

Lord Grantham married Lady Mary Jemima, daughter of Philip Yorke, 2nd Earl of Hardwicke and Jemima Yorke, 2nd Marchioness Grey, in 1780. They had three sons, Thomas, later 2nd Earl de Grey, and Frederick John, later Viscount Goderich and Earl of Ripon, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in 1827 and 1828. He died on 20 July 1786, aged only 46, and was succeeded by his eldest son, Thomas. Lady Grantham died in January 1830, aged 72 years old.

Styles of address

• 1738-1761: Mr Thomas Robinson
• 1761: The Hon Thomas Robinson
• 1761-1770: The Hon Thomas Robinson MP
• 1770: The Rt Hon The Lord Grantham
• 1770-1786: The Rt Hon The Lord Grantham PC

See also

Wrest Park

References

1. "Robinson, Thomas (RBN755T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
3. Letters from Wall to Robinson, 30 December 1772, 10 December 1776, 13 December 1774, 18 October 1777. Bedfordshire and Luton Archives and Record Service L 30/14/409/1-4. Wall lived at Soto de Roma, Íllora, near Granada and mentions people from England visiting him, receiving and sending little presents.

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "^{article name needed}". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

External links

• "Archival material relating to Thomas Robinson, 2nd Baron Grantham". UK National Archives.