Item 1968-004/001/(1)/2 - Front of envelope autographed by John Cam Hobhouse Broughton, baron, to Rev. Henry Harvey : p. 5v

John Cam Hobhouse was a British politician and writer born in 1786. While at Trinity College he became friends with Lord Byron, and accompanied him in his journeys. On his return Hobhouse became a member of The Rota, a dinner club for the promotion of political reforms. In 1819 he contested the parliamentary seat of Westminster. About this time he wrote several political pamphlets, one of which, "A Trifling Mistake," resulted in his imprisonment on December 14, 1819, at Newgate until the dissolution of parliament on February 29, 1820. In 1820, he entered Parliament, sitting for Westminster. Hobhouse is credited with the invention of the phrase His Majesty's (Loyal) Opposition made in 1826 during a speech in the House of Commons. After the Whigs gained power in 1830 he served under Lord Grey as Secretary at War between 1832 and 1833, as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1833 and as First Commissioner of Woods and Forests in 1834. He was later President of the Board of Control under Lord Melbourne between 1835 and 1841 and under Lord John Russell between 1846 and 1852. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1832 and raised to the peerage as Baron Broughton, of Broughton-de-Gyfford in the County of Wiltshire, in 1851. In 1852 he was also made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB). He published Journey through Albania (1813), Historical Illustrations of the Fourth Canto of Childe Harold (1818), and Recollections of a Long Life (1865), for private circulation. In 1909 his daughter, Lady Dorchester, published extracts of his diaries, correspondence, and memoranda under the title of Recollections from a Long Life. Hobhouse died in June 1869. His barony died with him, as he had no male heirs, whilst the baronetcy created for his father passed to Broughton's nephew, Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse.