Transcript

of

The Rt Honble. Lord Sidmouth. [Obituary]

Trans. Devon Assoc., vol. 46, (1914), pp. 44-45.

by

Maxwell Adams (Ed.)

Prepared by Michael Steer

The obituary was read at the Association’s July 1914 Tavistock meeting. The Sidmouth title was created on 12 January 1805 for the former Prime Minister, Henry Addington.  In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titles of Earl of Banbury, Viscount Wallingford and Baron Reading on Addington (an earldom was the customary retirement honour for a former Prime Minister). However, Addington refused the honour and chose to remain in the House of Commons until 1805. His grandson, the third Viscount, William Wells Addington briefly represented Devizes in Parliament. The current holder of the title is the latter's great-great-grandson, the eighth Viscount, who succeeded his father in 2005.  A copy of the Viscount’s portrait may be accessed at the National Portrait Gallery site. The obituary, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

William Wells Addington, third Viscount Sidmouth, who joined the Association in 1898, was the son of the Rev. and Hon. W. Leonard Addington, afterwards second Viscount, and grandson of Mr. Henry Addington, the first Viscount, who had the distinction of being the youngest Speaker of the House of Commons. The third Viscount was born at Scotsbridge near Rickmansworth, Herts, on 25 March, 1824, and spent his early days in the Royal Navy, obtaining his lieutenant's commission in 1846 and retiring after a service of eleven years in 1848, when he married Georgina Susan, daughter of the Hon. and Very Rev. G. W. Pellew, D.D., Dean of Norwich. As the Hon. W. Addington, he represented Devizes in Parliament in 1863-64, and was the last survivor of the first nine officers who received Volunteer Commissions from Queen Victoria, on the in- auguration of the movement in 1852.
He took an active part in public life, was a D.L., and J.P. for Devon and J.P. for Somerset, as well, and was greatly interested in all Church questions and was a member of the Church Reform League. He died at Bournemouth in the ninetieth year of his age, on 28 October, 1913, sincerely regretted by all who knew him and especially by those associated with the parish of Upottery, in which his residence, the Manor House, is situated.