ter of the Right Hon. Hercules Langford Rowley, was born 29 Sept. 1781. He was brother of Sir Edward Michael Pakenham [q. v.], and brother-in-law of the great Duke of Wellington. He was appointed ensign 40th foot on 23 July 1803, became lieutenant 3 Feb. 1804, was transferred to the 95th rifles (now the rifle brigade) in April the same year, and obtained his company there in 2 Aug. 1805. He served in the expedition to Copenhagen and in Portugal, where he was slightly wounded at Obidos 16–17 Aug. 1808. ‘He is really one of the best officers of riflemen I have seen,’ wrote Sir Arthur Wellesley, recommending him for promotion (Gurwood, Wellington Despatches, iii. 129). He was promoted to a majority in the 7th West India regiment 30 Aug. 1810, remained with the Peninsular army, and was assistant adjutant-general of Picton's division up to the fall of Badajos, where he was severely wounded (gold cross for Busaco, Fuentes d'Onoro and Ciudad Rodrigo, and Badajos). After being repeatedly recommended for promotion, he was made a brevet lieutenant-colonel 27 April 1812, was appointed lieutenant-colonel 26th Cameronians 3 Sept. 1812, and transferred as captain and lieutenant-colonel to the Coldstream guards 25 July 1814, from which he retired on half-pay in 1817. He was made brevet colonel and aide-de-camp to the king 27 May 1825, became a major-general 10 Jan. 1837, was appointed colonel 43rd light infantry 9 Sept. 1844, commanded the Portsmouth district from 1843 to 1846, and became a lieutenant-general 9 Nov. 1846. He was made C.B. 4 June 1815, K.C.B. 19 July 1838, and had the Peninsular silver medal and Roleia and Vimeiro clasps. He died suddenly at his residence, Langford Lodge, co. Antrim, on 7 March 1850.
Pakenham married, in November 1817, Emily, fourth daughter of Thomas Stapylton, lord Le Despenser, and had issue six sons (one of whom was killed at Inkerman and another at the relief of Lucknow) and three daughters.
[Burke's Peerage, under ‘Longford;’ Army Lists; Gurwood's Wellington Despatches, vols. iii. iv. and v.; Naval and Military Gazette, 16 March 1850.]
PAKENHAM, Sir RICHARD (1797–1868), diplomatist, the fifth son of Admiral Sir Thomas Pakenham [q. v.], by his wife, Louisa, daughter of the Right Hon. John Staples, was born at Pakenham Hall, Castle Pollard, in Westmeath, on 19 May 1797. He completed his education at Trinity College, Dublin, and, apparently without waiting to take a degree, entered the foreign office on 15 Oct. 1817 as attaché to his uncle, the Earl of Clancarty, at the Hague. His next appointment was as secretary to the legation in Switzerland (26 Jan. 1824). Promoted on 29 Dec. 1826 to the same position in Mexico, he was made minister plenipotentiary to the United Mexican States on 12 March 1835. In this capacity he seems to have been popular and efficient. Perhaps the most troublesome of his negotiations was for the abolition of the slave trade: the Mexican government objected to the right of search, and the negotiations dragged on for four years, but he obtained the treaty in 1841. He was in Mexico during the war between that kingdom and France, and in February 1839 was despatched to Vera Cruz, with the object of trying to effect a reconciliation between the two countries. On 13 Dec. 1843, while on leave in England, he was made a privy councillor, and on 14 Dec. appointed envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary to the United States of America. Here some thorny questions awaited him. One of his first duties was to take up that of the Oregon boundary. In this negotiation, though he did not carry the British points, he obtained the approval of his government. The attitude of Great Britain regarding Texas proved of greater difficulty. The relations between the two governments were not very cordial, and irritation was easily provoked on both sides. Pakenham left Washington on leave of absence in May 1847, and, after remaining in Europe for an unusually prolonged period, ultimately preferred to retire on pension rather than return to the States. He resumed his career on 28 April 1851 as envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at Lisbon. Here his diplomatic work was less arduous, and he rapidly ingratiated himself with the royal family of Portugal. In May 1855 he came to England on leave, and at his own request, on 28 June, retired on pension, but almost immediately (on 7 Aug.) was sent back to Lisbon on a special mission to congratulate Pedro V on attaining his majority. He returned to England once more in October 1855, was awarded a diplomatic pension of the second class, and retired to Coolure, Castle Pollard, where he died, unmarried, on 28 Oct. 1868.
[Foreign Office List, 1868; Times, 31 Oct. 1868; Burke's Peerage, s.v. ‘Longford;’ official information.]
PAKENHAM, Sir THOMAS (1757–1836), admiral, third son of Thomas Pakenham, first lord Longford, was born on 29 Sept. 1757. He entered the navy in 1771 on board
