biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1770–1830)
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| biography:
| British statesman, born at Birch Moreton Court, Hereford and Worcester, WC England, UK. He was appointed under-secretary in the colonial department (1795), and entered parliament in 1796. He was secretary of the Treasury (1804–9), President of the Board of Trade, treasurer of the navy (1823), and colonial secretary (1827–8). He obtained the removal of restrictions on the trade of the colonies with foreign countries, the removal or reduction of many import duties, and relaxation of the navigation laws, and was an active pioneer of free trade. He fought to get an Act for the Manchester–Liverpool railway through a hostile parliament, and when the Act was passed he went to the opening, as member of parliament for Liverpool. When the engine stopped to take in water, the passengers got out onto the line. Huskisson went to greet the Duke of Wellington in his carriage, but found himself in the way of an engine travelling on the next line. Due to lameness from a former ankle injury, he was unable to get out of the way in time, and he died of his injuries later that day, the first casualty in a railway accident. |
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