You don’t expect to find the Prime Minister of
Britain to be buried in a small town in the Lincolnshire countryside do you?
I’d heard Frederick Robinson was though and drove some miles down from
Scarborough to have a look. I found the small town of Nocton
easy to miss and I sped down an “A” road engrossed in an audio book and missed
the turnoff. After a long drive I was disappointed to find the church was locked.
No cars outside either. Surely on a Sunday there’d be a few of the God-Squad
about but there wasn’t. After a stroll round the small cemetery I saw a man in
a full length coat approaching the church. I asked if he was going in.
“Just
for five minutes to turn things off,” he said.
“There’s
a dead prime minister here isn’t there?” I said and before I could ask if I
could look inside he said, “He’s inside. You don’t think they’d buried him out
in the rain do you?” Full-Length-Coat was going into clock tower and said I
could have five minutes. He was very trusting and pointed toward the chancel
down the aisle. While he was up high up polishing the bell I could easily have
stolen some desirable silver candlesticks. The only thing I took were photographs and here they are.
Frederick was Prime Minister for just six months
from 31st August 1827. He was born into a wealth family in London, the second
of three sons born to a Baron and a Lady. A top education at Harrow and St.
John's College in Cambridge followed (he sounds like a swot as he was awarded a
medal for the best Latin ode in 1801.) Swots get things done and Frederick went
into public life than lie in the cream of the gentry. Aged 22 he was private
secretary to the Earl of Hardwicke and aged 24 he entered Parliament and was
elected as MP for Ripon. Aged 30 he was Privy Counsellor and then was appointed
as Vice-President of the Board of Trade by Lord Liverpool (who was the prime
minister at the time.) It wasn’t all work though; he married Lady Sarah Hobart
and they had two sons and a daughter.
Aged 33 he introduced the Corn Laws to Parliament.
This slammed high tariffs on imported grain to British growers, meaning mobs
attacked his house (two people were killed) and soldiers were called to control
the riot. Telling Parliament of the clash Frederick started crying and was
nicknamed “the blubberer” for the rest of his public life. It didn’t stop him
attaining two new jobs as President of the Board of Trade and Treasurer of the
Navy. By 41 he was Chancellor of the Exchequer in charge of millions of pounds
however when his daughter died he asked to be moved into the House of Lords.
How did he become the top dog? The existing prime
minister died and he was asked by George IV to take the role. He did it for a
few months, resigning in January 1828 after a troubled time. His hands were
tied under the control of the King and the government Whigs. By 52 he was Earl
of Ripon and probably did more good than he had as the prime minister,
introducing the Bill for the Abolition of Slavery to the House of Lords and
pushing it through the system.
He died in January 1859 aged 76 and lies here
with his wife. He’s buried here in Lincolnshire (and not in Westminster Abbey)
as he’d lived nearby in Nocton Hall which he had
built when he was 58 years old (now derelict and crumbling.) Full-Length-Coat
descended from the clock tower and turned off all the lights, not even looking
to see if I’d purloined anything. It’s not every day you see a Prime Minister’s
grave is it?
Thought I’d tickle his chin…no
response…
He’d be born here at Newby Hall…
Home nearby was Nocton
Hall…
…now derelect…