biography
| name: |
Palmerston (of Palmerston), Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount
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| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1784–1865)
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| biography:
| British statesman and Liberal prime minister (1855–8, 1859–65), born in Broadlands, Hampshire, S England, UK. He studied at Edinburgh and Cambridge, became a Tory MP in 1807, served as secretary of war (1809–28), joined the Whigs (1830), and was three times foreign secretary (1830–4, 1835–41, 1846–51). His brusque speed, assertive manner, and robust defences of what he considered to be British interests abroad secured him the name of ‘Firebrand Palmerston’. A more comfortable nickname was Pam, and his frequently xenophobic foreign policy won him substantial popular support in Britain. He is associated with ‘Gunboat Diplomacy’, whereby Britain employed, or threatened to employ, its unchallengeable naval supremacy to resolve overseas differences in its favour. Home secretary in Aberdeen's coalition (1852), he became premier in 1855, when he vigorously prosecuted the Crimean War with Russia. His authority after resuming the premiership in 1859 was unchallenged, and he became Britain's oldest prime minister. A sturdy opponent of further parliamentary reform in the early 1860s, he died in office. |
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