William Huskisson - Biography

British statesman, born at Birch Moreton Court, Worcestershire, 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.

William Huskisson (11 March 1770 – 15 September 1830), was a British statesman, financier, and Member of Parliament for serveral constituencies, including Liverpool.

Biography

William Huskisson was born at Birtsmorton Court, Worcestershire.

Once in London, Huskisson quickly gained an additional two powerful political patrons: Henry Dundas, the Home Secretary, and William Pitt the Younger, the Prime Minister.

After the death of Canning in the same year Huskisson accepted the secretaryship of the colonies under Lord Goderich, an office which he continued to hold in the new cabinet formed by the Duke of Wellington in the following year. After succeeding with great difficulty in inducing the cabinet to agree to a compromise on the corn laws, Huskisson finally resigned office in May 1828 on account of a difference with his colleagues in regard to the disfranchisement of East Retford.

Death

Huskisson was the first person in world history to be fatally injured in a railway accident.

While attending the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, Huskisson rode down the line in the same train as the Duke of Wellington.

After the accident, the wounded Huskisson was taken by a train (driven by George Stephenson himself) to Eccles, where he died a few hours later.

Family history

William Huskisson was the son of William and Elizabeth Huskisson of Staffordshire stock.

On 6 April 1799, William Huskisson married Emily Milbanke, the youngest daughter of Admiral Mark Milbanke, the commander-in-chief at Portsmouth.

William Huskisson's half-brother Thomas Huskisson was a captain of the Royal Navy, an eyewitness of Trafalgar, and was appointed as the Paymaster of the Navy.

Major offices

Parliament of Great Britain
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: Sir James Erskine, Bt Viscount Howard of Morpeth	Member of Parliament for Morpeth 1796–1802 with Viscount Howard of Morpeth	Succeeded by: Viscount Howard of Morpeth William Ord
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: John Eliot William Eliot	Member of Parliament for Liskeard 1804–1807 with William Eliot	Succeeded by: William Eliot Viscount Hamilton
Preceded by: John Hiley Addington James Adams	Member of Parliament for Harwich 1807–1812 with John Hiley Addington	Succeeded by: John Hiley Addington Nicholas Vansittart
Preceded by: George White-Thomas James du Pre	Member of Parliament for Chichester 1812–1823 with Earl of March 1812–1819, Lord John Lennox 1819–1823	Succeeded by: Lord John Lennox William Stephen Poyntz
Preceded by: Isaac Gascoyne George Canning	Member of Parliament for Liverpool 1823–1830 with Isaac Gascoyne	Succeeded by: Isaac Gascoyne William Ewart
Political Offices
Preceded by: The Lord Glenbervie	First Commissioner of Woods and Forests 1814–1823	Succeeded by: Charles Arbuthnot
Preceded by: Frederick John Robinson	President of the Board of Trade 1823–1827	Succeeded by: Charles Grant
	Treasurer of the Navy 1823–1827
Preceded by: The Viscount Goderich	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1827–1828	Succeeded by: Sir George Murray
Preceded by: George Canning	Leader of the House of Commons 1827–1828	Succeeded by: Sir Robert Peel