Palmerston, Henry Temple, Viscount, 1739-1802

Henry Temple, second Viscount Palmerston (1739-1802), was a politician and traveller. He took his seat in the Irish House of Lords in 1761, but never spoke. In 1762 he was elected for the Cornish pocket borough of East Looe, but was only a very occasional speaker, preferring foreign travel to political duty. He was presented to the French royal family at Versailles in 1762, and in 1763 took a grand tour of Europe, where he met John Wilkes and Voltaire. He returned to his house, Broadlands, in Hampshire, with a collection of antique marbles and sculptures. After his wife's death, he spent five months in 1770 mainly in Switzerland, as well as continuing his social life at home. He had been elected to Almack's in 1765 and the Society of Dilettanti in 1766, and he became a member of the Catch Club in 1771, where he enjoyed singing in the evenings. He also became close friends with Garrick, Reynolds, and Gibbon, and Sir Joseph Banks, the president of the Royal Society, which he joined in 1776.

From the description of Album, 1766-1818. (Unknown). WorldCat record id: 702186256