Prime Minister Henry John Temple (Great Britain) Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles

Prime Minister Henry John Temple of Great Britain (1784-1865), popularly known as Lord Palmerston due to his Irish Peerage title as the 3rd Viscount Palmerston, was Britain's Secretary of State for War (1809-1828), Foreign Secretary (1830-1834, 1835-1841, 1846-1851) and Prime Minister (1855-1858, 1859-1865). He held office almost continuously for nearly half a century from 1807 until his death. Because he held an Irish peerage rather than an English one, he was able to sit in the House of Commons. Disliked by Queen Victoria and often abrasive in dealing with foreign governments - he held a lifelong antipathy to the United States - Palmerston was nevertheless effective in promoting British interests. Although he opposed slavery, Palmerston sympathized with the Confederacy on the grounds that a breakup of the United States would benefit Britain.