Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 43.djvu/100

  Burke's Peerage and Extinct Baronetage; Foster's Alumni Oxonienses; State Papers, Treasury, 1697–1702 lxii. 79, 1708–1714 cxxxv. 9, cliii. 7, clxxii. 8; Additional MS. (Brit. Mus.) 24121, f. 142; Tanner MSS. (Bodleian) cccv. 231; Notes and Queries, 1st ser. i. 367, 2nd ser. iii. 46, 7th ser. ii. 447; Tindal's continuation of Rapin, iv. 212, 358–9; Wyon's History of Queen Anne, i. 216–17, 390–1, 481; Wills's Sir Roger de Coverley; information furnished by Lord Hampton, the Rev. Edwin Lewis, and Miss Porter.]  PAKINGTON, JOHN SOMERSET, first (1799–1880), born on 20 Feb. 1799, was the son of William Russell of Powick Court, Worcestershire, by his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Herbert Perrott Pakington, bart., of Westwood Park in the same county. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, where he matriculated on 13 Feb. 1818, but did not graduate. On the death of his maternal uncle, Sir John Pakington, bart., in January 1830, the baronetcy became extinct, and the estates descended to him and his aunt, Anne Pakington (who died unmarried in 1846), as coheirs-at-law [see under (1671–1727)]. On 14 March 1831 he assumed the surname of Pakington in lieu of Russell (London Gazette, 1831, pt. i. p. 496). He unsuccessfully contested, in the conservative interest, East Worcestershire in December 1832, and West Worcestershire in May 1833 and January 1835. At the general election in July 1837 he was returned to parliament for Droitwich, and continued to represent that borough until the dissolution in January 1874. He spoke for the first time in the House of Commons, in the debate on Canadian affairs, on 22 January 1838 (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. xl. 346–52). In the session of 1840 he successfully carried through the house a bill for the amendment of the Sale of Beer Act, the principle of which was that no one should be allowed to sell intoxicating liquors unless he had a definite rating qualification (3 and 4 Vict. c. 61). While supporting the vote of want of confidence in the whig ministry on 29 Jan. 1840, he blamed the government for their ‘concessions to the democratic spirit which had recently been making such strides,’ and declared the adoption of the penny post to be ‘a most unworthy bidding for popularity’ (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. li. 754–60). In the following session he obtained the appointment of a select committee to inquire into the state of the colony of Newfoundland (ib. lvii. 705–714); and in the session of 1844 his bill for amending the law respecting the office of county coroner was passed (7 and 8 Vict. c. 92). He cordially supported the second reading of Peel's Maynooth College Bill on 15 April 1845 (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. lxxix. 718–22), but voted against the bill for the repeal of the corn laws in the following session. On 13 July 1846 he was created a baronet of the United Kingdom. In the session of 1847 he introduced a bill for the more speedy trial and punishment of juvenile offenders (ib. xc. 430–437), which received the royal assent in July of that year (10 and 11 Vict. c. 82). On 7 Feb. 1848 he was nominated a member of the select committee appointed to inquire into the condition and prospects of sugar and coffee planting in the East and West Indies, of which Lord George Bentinck was the chairman (Parl. Papers, 1847–8, vol. xxiii. pts. i.–iv.; see, Lord George Bentinck: a Political Biography, 1852, pp. 529–550), and on 3 July 1848 he was defeated in his attempt to impose a differential duty on sugar of 10s. per cwt. in favour of the British colonies by a majority of 62 (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. c. 4–10, 14, 78). In the session of 1849 he successfully carried through the Commons a bill for the prevention of bribery at elections (ib. cii. 1041–50), which was, however, thrown out in the lords (ib. cvii. 1116). His Larceny Summary Jurisdiction Bill was passed in the following session (13 and 14 Vict. c. 37). On the formation of Lord Derby's first administration, in February 1852, Pakington was admitted to the privy council and appointed secretary for war and the colonies (London Gazette, 1852, i. 633–4). As colonial secretary he had charge of the bill for granting a representative constitution to the colony of New Zealand (15 and 16 Vict. c. 72), which he introduced into the House of Commons on 3 May 1852 (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. cxxi. 102–119, 136–8). On the defeat of the government in December 1852, he retired from office with the rest of his colleagues. He was appointed a member of the committee of inquiry into the condition of the army before Sebastopol on 23 Feb. 1855 (Parl. Papers, 1854–5, vol. ix.). On 16 March following he introduced an education bill, which contained the germ of the present system of school boards (Parl. Debates, 3rd ser. cxxxvii. 640–72). It met with little favour from his own party, and Lord Robert Cecil (the present Marquis of Salisbury) declared that, ‘as far as religious instruction was concerned, he looked upon the bill as the secular system in disguise’ (ib. cxxxvii. 685). In February 1857 Pakington again introduced an education bill (ib. cxliv. 776–85), but subsequently withdrew it. He voted for the third reading of the Oaths Bill on 25 June 1857, against the members of his own party (ib. cxlvi. 367). Early in the following session he obtained