Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham
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The Most Honourable The Marquess of Rockingham KG PC FRS |
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| Prime Minister of Great Britain | |
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In office 27 March 1782 – 1 July 1782 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | Lord North |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Shelburne |
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In office 13 July 1765 – 30 July 1766 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Preceded by | George Grenville |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Chatham |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
13 May 1730 Wentworth, Yorkshire, England |
| Died | 1 July 1782 (aged 52) Wimbledon, Surrey, England |
| Political party | Whig |
| Spouse(s) | married on 26 February 1752 Mary Bright |
| Alma mater | St John's College, Cambridge |
| Religion | Church of England |
Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham, KG, PC, FRS (13 May 1730 – 1 July 1782), styled The Hon. Charles Watson-Wentworth before 1733, Viscount Higham between 1733 and 1746, Earl of Malton between 1746 and 1750 and The Marquess of Rockingham in 1750, was a British Whig statesman, most notable for his two terms as Prime Minister of Great Britain. He became the patron of many Whigs, known as the Rockingham Whigs, and served as a leading Whig grandee. He served in only two high offices during his lifetime (Prime Minister and Leader of the House of Lords), but was nonetheless very influential during his one and a half years of service.
A descendant of the 1st Earl of Strafford, Lord Rockingham was brought up at the family home of Wentworth Woodhouse near Rotherham in South Yorkshire. He was educated at Westminster School. During the Jacobite rising of 1745 Rockingham's father made him a colonel and organised volunteers to defend the country against the "Young Pretender". Rockingham's sister Mary wrote to him from London, saying the King "did not doubt but that you was as good a colonel as he has in his army" and his other sister Charlotte wrote that "you have gained immortal honour and I have every day the satisfaction of hearing twenty handsome things said of the Blues and their Collonel". The march of the Jacobite army into northern England caused the Wentworth household to flee to Doncaster and Rockingham rode from Wentworth to Carlisle to join the Duke of Cumberland in pursuit of the "Young Pretender". Rockingham did this without parental consent and Cumberland wrote to Rockingham's father, saying that his "zeal on this occasion shows the same principles fix't that you yourself have given such strong proofs of". Rockingham wrote to his father that Cumberland "blamed me for my disobedience, yet as I came with a design of saving my King and country...it greatly palliated my offence". Rockingham's mother wrote to his father: "Though I hope you won't tell it him, never any thing met with such general applause, in short he is the hero of these times, and his Majesty talks of this young Subject, in such terms, as must please you to hear...in the Drawing Room no two people talk together, but he makes part of the discourse".
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