566 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1809. 



DEATHS in the Year 1809. 



At his house in Hertford-street, 

 May Fair, the earl of Liverpool. — 

 The right honourable Charles 

 Jenkinson, earl of Liverpool, and 

 baron of Hawkesbury, was descend- 

 ed from a family which had been 

 settled more than a century, at 

 Walcot, near Charlbury, in Oxford- 

 shire. His grandfaiher, Sir Robert 

 Jenkinson, married a wealthy heir- 

 ess at Bromley, in Kent; and his 

 father, who was a colonel in the 

 army, residedat South LawnLodge, 

 in Whichvvood Forest. Charles 

 Jenkinson vvas born in 1727, and 

 received the first rudiments of his 

 education at the grammar school of 

 Burford. He vvas afterwards placed 

 on the foundation in the Charter- 

 house, from which seminary he vvas 

 removed to Oxford, and was enter- 

 ed a member of University college. 

 There he took two degrees, that of 

 B. A. and A. M. and seems to have 

 made himself first known to the 

 public by some verses on the death 

 of the prince of Wales, father of 

 his present majesty. Li 1753, he 

 removed from Oxford, and possess- 

 ing but a small patrimonial fortune, 

 he commenced his career as a man 

 of letters, and is said to have sup- 

 plied materials for the IVIonthly Re- 

 view. He next commenced politi- 

 cal writer ; and, in 17.56, published 

 " A Dissertation on the Establish- 

 ment of a National and Constitu- 

 tional force in England, independ- 

 ant of a Standing Army." This tract 

 abounds with many manly and pa- 

 triotic sentiments, and has been 

 quotedagainsthimselfin the House 

 of Peers, on winch occasion his 

 lordship did not deny that he was 



the author, but contented himself 

 with apologising for his errors, on 

 account of his extreme youth. Soon 

 after this he wrote " A Discourse 

 on the Conduct of tlie Government 

 of Great Britain, with respect to 

 Neutral Nations, during the present 

 War." To this production, his rise 

 in life has been falsely attributed ; 

 it was indeed allowed by every one 

 to be an able performance; but, 

 like many others of the same kind, 

 it might have lain in the warehouse 

 of his bookseller, and he himself 

 remained for ever in obscurity, had 

 it not been for the intervention of a 

 gentleman of the same county, with 

 whom he luckily became acquaint- 

 ed. Sir Edward Turner, of Am- 

 broseden in Oxfordshire, being of 

 an ancient family, and possessing 

 a large fortune, was desirous to re- 

 present his native county in parlia- 

 ment. Having attained consider- 

 able influence by means of a large 

 estate, and a hospitable and noble 

 mansion, since pulled down by his 

 successor, he accordingly stood 

 candidate as knight of the shire. 

 He was however, strenuously but 

 unsuccessfully opposed ; for in ad- 

 dition to his own, he possessed the 

 court interest. The struggle, ne- 

 vertheless, was long and violent, 

 and it still forms a memorable 

 epoch in the history of contested 

 elections ; but for nothing is it more 

 remarkable, than by being the for- 

 tunate occurrence in Mr. Jenkin- 

 son's life, which produced all his 

 subsequent greatness. The con- 

 tending parties having, as usual, 

 called in the aid of ballads, lam- 

 poons, verses, and satires, this gen- 

 tleman 



