Nigel Aston & Clarissa Campbell Orr 
An Enlightenment Statesman in Whig Britain 
Lord Shelburne in Context, 1737-1805

A new assessment of the life and political career of Lord Shelburne, prime minister 1782-83, and of the context in which he lived.


Lord Shelburne, Prime Minister in 1782-83, was a profoundly important politician, whose achievements included the negotiation of the peace with the newly-independent United States. This book constitutes a major and long overdue reappraisal of the politician considered by Disraeli to be the ‘most neglected Prime Minister’.

The book indicates, caters for, and leads the revival of interest in high politics, including its gendered aspects. It covers Shelburne’s friends, his finances, and his politics, and places him carefully within both an international and a national context. For the first time his complicated but compelling family life, his satisfying relations with women, andhis Irish ancestry are presented as essential factors for understanding his public impact overall. Shelburne was a politician, patron, and cultural leader whose relationship to many of the ideas, influences, and individuals of the European Enlightenment are also emphasised.

The book is thoroughly up to date, written by leading authorities in the field, and predominantly based on unpublished primary research. Shelburne and his circle constituted oneof the most important [and progressive] elements in British and European politics during the second half of the eighteenth century, and the book will appeal to all readers interested in the Enlightenment.


NIGEL ASTON is Reader in Early Modern History in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Leicester; CLARISSA CAMPBELL ORR is Reader in Enlightenment, Gender and Court Studies at Anglia Ruskin University.

Table of Content

Petty and Fitzmaurice: Lord Shelburne and his brother – Nigel Aston

Aunts, wives and courtiers: the ladies of Bowood – Clarissa Campbell Orr

A Christian Whig: Lord Shelburne and the Latitudinarian Tradition –

Lord Shelburne, finance and Sir Francis Baring – John Orbell

Shelburne – a Chathamite in opposition and in government 1760-1782? – Frank O’Gorman

Shelburne and Ireland: politician, patriot, absentee – Martyn J. Powell

Lord Shelburne’s ministry, 1782-83; ‘A very good list’ – John Cannon

Shelburne, the European powers and the peace of 1783 – Andrew Stockley

‘Opening the door to truth and liberty’: Bowood’s French connection –

Lord Shelburne’s constitutional views in 1782-83 – Edmond Dziembowski

Jeremy Bentham at Bowood – Emmanuelle de Champs

Shelburne and perpetual peace: small states, commerce and international relations within the Bowood circle – Richard Whatmore