Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

The Right Honourable The Viscount Palmerston KG GCB PC FRS
Lord Palmerston c. 1857
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 12 June 1859 – 18 October 1865
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Earl of Derby
Succeeded by	The Earl Russell
In office 6 February 1855 – 19 February 1858
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
Succeeded by	The Earl of Derby
Leader of the Opposition
In office 19 February 1858 – 11 June 1859
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Derby
Preceded by	The Earl of Derby
Succeeded by	The Earl of Derby
Home Secretary
In office 28 December 1852 – 6 February 1855
Prime Minister	The Earl of Aberdeen
Preceded by	Spencer Horatio Walpole
Succeeded by	Sir George Grey, Bt
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 6 July 1846 – 26 December 1851
Prime Minister	Lord John Russell
Preceded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
Succeeded by	The Earl Granville
In office 18 April 1835 – 2 September 1841
Prime Minister	The Viscount Melbourne Sir Robert Peel, Bt
Preceded by	The Duke of Wellington
Succeeded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
In office 22 November 1830 – 15 November 1834
Prime Minister	The Earl Grey The Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	The Earl of Aberdeen
Succeeded by	The Earl Granville
Personal details
Born	(1784-10-20)20 October 1784 Westminster, Middlesex, England
Died	18 October 1865(1865-10-18) (aged 80) Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
Political party	Tory (1806–1822) Whig (1822–1859) Liberal (1859–1865)
Spouse(s)	Emily Lamb (m. 1839)
Alma mater	University of Edinburgh, University of Cambridge
Religion	Church of England
Signature

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, KG, GCB, PC, FRS (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who served twice as Prime Minister in the mid-19th century. For most of 1830 to 1865 he dominated British foreign policy when Britain was at the height of her power. Popularly nicknamed "Pam" and "The Mongoose", he was in government office almost continuously from 1807 until his death in 1865, beginning his parliamentary career as a Tory, switching to the Whigs in 1830, and concluding it as the first Prime Minister of the newly-formed Liberal Party from 1859.

He succeeded to his father's Irish peerage in 1802. He became a Tory MP in 1807, and was made Secretary at War in 1809, responsible for the finances of the army. He held the job until 1828, entering the cabinet in 1827 when George Canning became Prime Minister. Less than a year later he resigned with other Canningites.

In opposition he switched his focus to foreign policy, and he was Foreign Secretary (1830-4, 1835–41 and 1846–51) when the Whigs were in power, dealing with a succession of crises in Europe and beyond. Some of his aggressive actions, now sometimes termed liberal interventionist, were highly controversial at the time, and remain so today. In 1852 he became Home Secretary in Aberdeen's coalition government, the Peelites having insisted on Russell getting the Foreign Office. He passed various social reforms but opposed electoral ones. When public discontent over the Crimean War brought the government down in 1855, Palmerston was found to be, despite the Queen's distrust of him, the only Prime Minister who could sustain a majority in Parliament. He had two periods in office, 1855–1858 and 1859–1865, before dying at almost 81, a few months after winning a general election with an increased majority. He remains, to date, the last Prime Minister to die in office.