William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland - Definition and Overview

William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland (1745 - 1814), English statesman, son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Bart., of Windlene Hall, Durham, and of Mary, daughter of William Davison.

The future Lord Auckland received his education at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1768. In 1771 published Principles of Penal Law, and soon became a recognized authority on commercial and economic questions. In 1772 he took up an appointment as an under-Secretary of State. He represented New Woodstock in the parliaments of 1774 and 1780, and Heytesbury in those of 1784 and 1790. In 1776 he became a commissioner on the Board of Trade and Plantations.

In 1778 he carried an Act for the improvement of the treatment of prisoners, and accompanied the earl of Carlisle as a comissioner to North America on an unsuccessful mission to settle certain disputes with certain colonists there. On his return in 1779 he published his widely-read Four Letters to the Earl of Carlisle, and in 1780 became Chief Secretary for Ireland.

He gained election to the Irish House of Commons as the member for Dungannon and became a member of the Irish Privy Council. While in Ireland he established the National Bank.

This article incorporates text from the public domain 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica.