1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Taunton, Henry Labouchere, Baron

TAUNTON, HENRY LABOUCHERE, Baron (1798–1869), English politician, came of a 'French Huguenot family, which, on leaving France, settled in Holland. His father, Peter Caesar Laboucherc, merchant, was a partner in the wealthy Amsterdam banking firm of Hope & Company;^[1] he went to live in England, and married a daughter of Sir Francis Baring. Henry was his elder son, while a younger son, John, was the father of the later well-known Radical member of parliament and proprietor of Truth, Henry Labouchere (b. 1831). He was educated at Winchester and Christ Church, Oxford, and entered the House of Commons as a Whig in 1826. From 1830 to 1858 he sat for Taunton, Somerset. After filling various minor offices, he became president of the Board of Trade in 1830–41; and in 1846 he was chief secretary for Ireland. In 1847–52 he was again president of the Board of Trade, and from 1855 to 1858 secretary of state for the colonies. In 1859 he was created Baron Taunton, but on his death, on the 13th of July 1869, the title became extinct.

1. The Amsterdam Hopes were descended from Henry Hope, son of a Scottish merchant, and younger brother of Sir Thomas Hope (d. 1646), the famous Scottish lord-advocate, ancestor of the earls of Hopetoun (marquess of Linlithgow, q.v.). Among his descendants was Thomas Hope (1770–1831), father of A. J. Beresford-Hope (1820–1887), politician and author.