The life and politics of Thomas Spring Rice 1st Baron of Monteagle of Brandon 1790-1866
| dc.contributor.advisor | Murphy, John A. | |
| dc.contributor.author | Murphy, Charlotte Mary | en |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2025-10-31T16:12:18Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2025-10-31T16:12:18Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1991 | en |
| dc.date.submitted | 1991 | |
| dc.description.abstract | In the heart of Limerick city there is a peaceful and leafy public park. A very tall column dominates its beauty. Few people know the name of the man in whose honour this monument was raised. In fact, it was built to express the city's admiration for Thomas Spring Rice, 1st Baron Monteagle of Brandon, (1790-1866). (1) Spring Rice was born on 8 February 1790, at 21 Mungret Street, Limerick. (2) He was returned as a Whig MP for the city in 1820 and went on to become Under Secretary of State for the Home Department 1827; Secretary to the Treasury 1830-1834; Colonial Secretary 1834 and Chancellor of the Exchequer 1835-1839. Baron Monteagle of Brandon was the title he chose when he was raised to the peerage 1n 1839. (3) Thomas Babington Macaulay when writing to Spring Rice 1n 1835 indicated the level of talent this man possessed. I see no man among the Whigs so well qualified as yourself by talent for business and talent for debate combined to lead the House of Commons, or 1n other words, to rule the empire. (4) In spite of this it would be safe to state that Spring Rice is now almost completely unknown. There is no biography dealing with his life and work. Only two articles have been written about him .The Dictionary of National Biography (5) published one which deals, briefly and superficially with his career and The North Munster Antiquarian Journal has published 'The Chairing of Thomas Spring Rice' by Robert Herbert, which gives the background to his election as MP in 1820 and goes on to deal briefly with the achievements of his political life. (6) In The Dictionary of Irish Biography(7) Thomas Spring Rice is not even mentioned and in A Dictionary of Irish History Since 1800 8) he is described, incorrectly, as a Tory MP. The outline of his life given in this book is extremely short and unhelpful. On the Irish side the reason for this neglect is not difficult to understand. Spring Rice was a landlord, a Protestant and a passionate supporter of the Union of Ireland with Britain. Therefore, he is outside the nationalist, separatist, anti-landlord traditions which have dominated the writing of Irish history since 1922. The neglect he has suffered in Great Britain, arises, I believe, from the fact that he was not a member of one of its great noble families and he never became prime minister. The highest position he held was that of chancellor of the exchequer at a period of great economic difficulty and social unrest. It seems that he is consigned to oblivion because his policies did nothing to deal with the enormous problems of a disappearing gold reserve; an almost total stoppage of credit facilities from the banks and a consequent huge rise in unemployment. Because of the almost total neglect of this interesting man I felt that it would be more useful to attempt to look at his life in general rather than take one particular aspect and look at it in exhaustive detail. | |
| dc.description.status | Not peer reviewed | en |
| dc.description.version | Accepted Version | en |
| dc.format.mimetype | application/pdf | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | Murphy, C. M. 1991. The life and politics of Thomas Spring Rice 1st Baron of Monteagle of Brandon 1790-1866. MRes Thesis, University College Cork. | |
| dc.identifier.endpage | 254 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://hdl.handle.net/10468/18139 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.publisher | University College Cork | en |
| dc.rights | © 1991, Charlotte Mary Murphy. | en |
| dc.rights.uri | https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ | |
| dc.subject | Thomas Spring Rice | en |
| dc.subject | Baron Monteagle of Brandon | en |
| dc.title | The life and politics of Thomas Spring Rice 1st Baron of Monteagle of Brandon 1790-1866 | en |
| dc.type | Masters thesis (Research) | en |
| dc.type.qualificationlevel | Masters | en |
| dc.type.qualificationname | MRes - Master of Research | en |
