William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland
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The Right Honourable The Lord Auckland FRS PC (Ire) |
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| President of the Board of Trade | |
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In office 5 February 1806 – 31 March 1807 |
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| Monarch | George III |
| Prime Minister | The Lord Grenville |
| Preceded by | The Duke of Montrose |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Bathurst |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 3 April 1745 |
| Died |
28 May 1814 (aged 69) Beckenham, Kent |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse(s) | Eleanor Elliot (1758–1818) |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland PC (Ire), FRS (3 April 1745 – 28 May 1814) was a British statesman and diplomat. The subantarctic Auckland Islands group to the south of New Zealand, discovered in 1806, were named after him.
A member of the influential Eden family, Auckland was a younger son of Sir Robert Eden, 3rd Baronet, of Windlestone Hall, County Durham, and Mary, daughter of William Davison. His brothers included Sir Robert Eden, 1st Baronet, of Maryland, Governor of Maryland, and Morton Eden, 1st Baron Henley. He was educated at Durham School, Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the bar, Middle Temple, in 1768.
In 1771 Auckland published Principles of Penal Law, and soon became a recognized authority on commercial and economic questions. In 1772 he took up an appointment as Under-Secretary of State for the North, a post he held until 1778. He was Member of Parliament for from 1774 to 1784 and served as a Lord of Trade from 1776 to 1782. In 1778 he carried an Act for the improvement of the treatment of prisoners, and accompanied the Earl of Carlisle as a commissioner to North America on an unsuccessful mission to bring an end to the American War of Independence. During the War, he was head of the British spies in Europe, his budget reaching £200,000 by 1778. He probably oversaw a small group of intelligence collectors for Lord Suffolk. On his return in 1779 he published his widely read Four Letters to the Earl of Carlisle. In 1780 Auckland became Chief Secretary for Ireland, which he remained until 1782, and was admitted to the Irish Privy Council in 1780. He represented Dungannon in the Irish House of Commons between 1781 and 1783 and was Joint Vice-Treasurer of Ireland between 1783 and 1784. While in Ireland he established the National Bank.
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