John Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton


John Somerset Pakington, 1st Baron Hampton, , known as Sir John Pakington, Bt, from 1846 to 1874, was a British Conservative politician.

Background and education

Born John Somerset Russell, Hampton was the son of William Russell and Elizabeth Pakington, the member of a prominent Worcestershire family. Elizabeth was the sister and heiress of Sir John Pakington, the 8th and last Baronet Pakington of Ailesbury. John Somerset was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford and assumed in 1830 by Royal Licence the surname of Pakington in lieu of his patronymic on inheriting the estates of his maternal uncle. These included Westwood House in Worcestershire and Pakington moved in there with his first wife in 1832.

Political career

Pakington was elected at the fourth attempt as the Tory Member of Parliament for Droitwich in 1837, a seat he held until 1874. He was given office by Sir Robert Peel in 1841 and created in 1846 first Baronet Pakington of the second creation, of Westwood in the County of Worcester. He next served under Lord Derby as Secretary of State for War and the Colonies in 1852 and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year. The government lasted only a year and in opposition he developed an interest in education reform, introducing in 1855 an unsuccessful Education Bill which foreshadowed the 1870 Act.
With the Tories back in power he again held office under Lord Derby as First Lord of the Admiralty from 1858 to 1859 and from 1866 to 1867. As First Lord he commissioned the first ironclad warship, HMS Warrior, launched in 1860. Under Derby and his successor Benjamin Disraeli he was Secretary of State for War from 1867 to 1868. He was appointed a GCB in 1859.
Hampton lost his seat in the Commons in the 1874 election and was raised to the peerage as Baron Hampton, of Hampton Lovett and of Westwood in the County of Worcester.

Other public appointments

Hampton served for many years as chairman of the Worcestershire Quarter Sessions. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in Jun, 1858. He was also President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1861 to 1863 and Chief Civil Service Commissioner from 1875 until his death.

Family

Lord Hampton married firstly Mary, daughter of Moreton Aglionby Slaney, on 14 August 1822. After her death in 1843 he married secondly Augusta, daughter of the Right Reverend George Murray, on 2 June 1844. After her death in 1848 he married thirdly Augusta Anne, daughter of Thomas Champion de Crespigny, and widow of Thomas Davies, MP, on 5 June 1851. Lord Hampton died at his London home in April 1880, aged 81, and was succeeded by his son from his first marriage, John Slaney Pakington.