TRENCH, Frederick William (?1777-1859), of Heywood, Queen's Co.

Published in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1790-1820, ed. R. Thorne, 1986
Available from Boydell and Brewer

Constituency

Dates

1806 - Jan. 1807
21 Feb. 1812 - 1812
3 Dec. 1819 - 1832
1835 - 1847

Family and Education

b. ?1777, 1st s. of Michael Frederick Trench of Heywood by Anne Helena, da. and h. of Patrick Stewart of Killymoon, co. Tyrone. educ. Drogheda; Trinity, Dublin 1793; Trinity Coll. Camb. 6 Apr. 1797, aged 19; L. Inn 1797. unm. suc. fa. 1836; kntd. 22 Feb. 1832; KCH 1832.

Offices Held

Ensign and lt. 1 Ft. Gds 1803, lt. and capt. 1807; q.m.g.’s staff, Sicily 1807, Walcheren 1809, Cadiz 1811; maj. and asst. q.m.g., Kent 1811; lt.-col. and dep. q.m.g., Holland 1813; half-pay 1813; col. and a.d.c. to the King 1825; maj.-gen. 1837, lt.-gen. 1846, gen. 1854.

Storekeeper of Ordnance 1829-30; sec. to master-gen. of Ordnance Dec.-1834-Apr. 1835, Sept. 1841-July 1846.

Biography

Trench, a third cousin of Richard Trench*, 2nd Earl of Clancarty, was returned on the Hawkins interest at Mitchell, but soon afterwards vacated the seat, probably in anticipation of his appointment to Sicily. He was elected for Dundalk on the interest of Lord Roden after his return from the Peninsula. He voted for Grattan’s motion for a committee on Roman Catholic disabilities, 24 Apr., Parnell’s motion on Irish tithes, 23 June, and Stuart Wortley’s motion for a stronger administration, 21 May 1812. Consequently, at the general election a few months later, Peel, then Irish secretary, expressed satisfaction at Roden’s evident refusal to re-elect him. Trench then asked Lord Grenville for aid in securing a seat, but Grenville, declining to have anything to do with ‘the traffic for seats in Parliament’, merely referred him to William Henry Fremantle*, ‘that I may not appear to close the door to him against all means of learning whether there is any quarter within your knowledge to which he can apply to treat for himself, if he is determined so to do’. Trench, however, returned to active service.1

In December 1819, Trench secured the vacant seat for Cambridge on the interest of the 5th Duke of Rutland, whose great friend he claimed to have been since about 1804. He came in as a supporter of administration, but soon earned ministers’ disfavour by suggesting to George IV expensive schemes for a new palace in Hyde Park. Arbuthnot referred obliquely to him as ‘a gentleman who fancies himself a man of taste’. Subsequently he suggested other metropolitan improvements, including the embanking of the Thames. He was closely associated with the Duke of Rutland in promoting the much criticized Wellington Memorial at Hyde Park Corner. Greville referred to him as ‘that impudent Irish pretender’.2 No speech of his is reported before 1820. Trench died 6 Dec. 1859.

Ref Volumes: 1790-1820

Author: M. H. Port

Notes

  • 1. Add. 40280, f. 72; Fortescue mss, Grenville to Fremantle, 27 Dec. 1812.
  • 2. Add. 38380, f. 171; 40181, f. 323; Croker Pprs. ed. Jennings, ii. 238; Greville Mems. ed. Strachey and Fulford, iv. 70.