James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe

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James Archibald Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 1st Baron Wharncliffe (6 October 1776 – 19 December 1845), English statesman, was the son of Colonel James Archibald Stuart, son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and of his wife Mary Wortley-Montagu (Baroness Mountstuart in her own right), as whose heir Colonel Stuart added the name of Wortley, taking later also that of Mackenzie (which his son in later life discarded) as heir to his uncle JS Mackenzie of Rosehaugh.

He entered the army, becoming colonel in 1797, but retired in 1801 and devoted himself to politics, sitting in parliament as a Tory for the rotten borough of Bossiney in Cornwall till 1818, when he was returned for Yorkshire. His attitude on various questions became gradually more Liberal, and his support of Catholic emancipation lost him his seat in 1826. He was then raised to the peerage as Baron Wharncliffe of Wortley, a recognition both of his previous parliamentary activity and of his high position among the country gentlemen.

At first opposing the Reform Bill, he gradually came to see the undesirability of a popular conflict, and he separated himself from the Tories and took an important part in modifying the attitude of the peers and helping to pass the bill, though his attempts at amendment only resulted in his pleasing neither party. He became Lord Privy Seal in Peel's short ministry at the end of 1834, and again joined him in 1841 as Lord President of the Council.

In 1837 he brought out an edition of the writings of his ancestress, Lady Mary Wortley-Montagu (new ed. 1893).

On 30 March 1799, he married Lady Elizabeth Caroline Mary Crichton (1779–1856), by whom he had four children:^[1]

• John Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie, 2nd Baron Wharncliffe (1801–1855)
• Hon. Charles Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (1802–1844)
• Hon. James Archibald Stuart-Wortley (1805–1881), recorder of London and solicitor-general
• Hon. Caroline Jane Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (d. 12 June 1876), married on 30 August 1830 Hon. John Chetwynd-Talbot (1806–1852)

On his death in 1845 he was succeeded as baron by his eldest son, John Stuart-Wortley (1801-1855), whose son Edward, 3rd baron (1827-1899), best known as chairman of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway, converted under him into the Great Central, was created 1st Earl of Wharncliffe and Viscount Carlton in 1876; his name was prominently identified with railway enterprise, and became attached to certain features of its nomenclature. He was succeeded as 2nd earl by his nephew Francis (b. 1856).

[edit] References

1. ^ Theroff's Online Gotha, Bute. Retrieved on 2006-12-01.

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Stuart-Wortley Sir John Lubbock	Member of Parliament for Bossiney with Sir John Lubbock 1797–1802 John Hiley Addington 1802–1803 George Peter Holford 1803–1806 Henry Baring 1806–1807 Peter Isaac Thellusson 1807–1808 John Otway Cuffe 1808–1817 William Yates Peel 1817–1818 1797–1818	Succeeded by John Ward Sir Compton Pocklington Domvile
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam Henry Lascelles	Member of Parliament for Yorkshire with Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam 1818–1826	Succeeded by Charles Wentworth-Fitzwilliam William Duncombe Richard Fountayne-Wilson John Marshall
Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Mulgrave	Lord Privy Seal 1834–1835	Succeeded by Viscount Duncannon
Preceded by The Marquess of Lansdowne	Lord President of the Council 1841–1846	Succeeded by The Duke of Buccleuch and Queensberry
Honorary Titles
Preceded by The Earl of Harewood	Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire 1841–1845	Succeeded by The Earl of Harewood
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New Title	Baron Wharncliffe 1826–1845	Succeeded by John Stuart-Wortley