Thomas Spring Rice, Lord Monteagle

Rice, Thomas Spring, Lord Monteagle, a prominent politican, was born in Limerick, 8th February 1790. He was educated at Cambridge, and studied for the Bar. In 1820 he entered Parliament for Limerick, which he continued to represent in the Whig interest until the passing of the Reform Bill in 1832, when he was returned for Cambridge. He sat for that borough until his elevation to the peerage in 1839, lending his support to nearly every liberal measure. He was Under-Secretary for the Home Department in 1827; Secretary of the Treasury from November 1830 to June 1834; Secretary of the Colonies, and a Privy-Councillor, 1834; and Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1835 to 1839, when he was appointed Comptroller of the Exchequer, and raised to the peerage. He never occupied a more prominent place in the public mind than in 1834, when, as an Irishman, he may be said to have led the opposition to O'Connell's motion favouring the Repeal of the Union, on which occasion he replied to O'Connell's argument in a speech of six hours' duration. He frequently acted on royal commissions in matters of art, and gave much attention to the question of decimal coinage. He died at Mount Trenchard, near Limerick, 7th February 1866, aged 75.

Sources

7. Annual Register. London, 1756-1877.

177. Ireland and her Agitators: W.J. O'Neill Daunt. Dublin, 1867.