{{Short description|British politician and naval officer}} {{use British English|date=August 2019}} {{use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = Admiral | name = Henry Meynell | honorific_suffix = | image = Admiral Henry Meynell.jpg | alt = | caption = | office = Member of Parliament <br> for Lisburn | term_start = 16 June 1826 | term_end = 5 August 1847 | predecessor = Horace Seymour | successor = Horace Seymour | birth_date = 24 August 1789 | birth_place = | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1865|03|24|1789|08|24}} | death_place = Grand Hotel du Louvre, Paris, France | death_cause = | resting_place = Ashley, Staffordshire, England | alma_mater = | birth_name = | party = Conservative/Tory | other_party = | parents = | spouse = | children = <!--Military service--> | allegiance = United Kingdom | branch = Royal Navy | service_years = 1803–1865 | rank = Admiral | commands = HMS ''Arrogant''<br/>HMS ''Cornwallis''<br/>HMS ''Jupiter''<br/>HMS ''Newcastle'' | battles = {{Tree list}} *Napoleonic Wars **Walcheren campaign {{tree list/end}} }}
'''Henry Meynell''' (24 August 1789 – 24 March 1865)<ref name="leighrayment">{{cite web |last1=Rayment |first1=Leigh |title=The House of Commons: Constituencies beginning with "L" |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Lcommons3.htm|website=Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page |accessdate=24 August 2019|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20180911195229/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Kcommons2.htm|archivedate=11 September 2018 |url-status=usurped |date=30 August 2018 }}</ref> was a British Conservative and Tory politician and naval officer.<ref name="hop">{{cite web |last1=Farrell |first1=Stephen |title=MEYNELL, Henry (1789–1865), of 35 Grosvenor Street, Mdx. |url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1820-1832/member/meynell-henry-1789-1865 |website=The History of Parliament |accessdate=24 August 2019 |editor-last= Fisher |editor-first = D. R. }}</ref><ref name="stookssmith1842">{{cite book|last1=Smith|first1=Henry Stooks|title=The Register of Parliamentary Contested Elections|date=1842|publisher=Simpkin, Marshall & Company|page=233|edition=Second|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VQgHAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA233|accessdate=6 October 2018 |via = Google Books}}</ref>
==Family and early life== Meynell was the second son of Hugo Meynell of Quorndon Hall, Leicestershire—himself son of his namesake, Hugo Meynell—and Elizabeth Ingram née Shepheard, daughter of Charles Ingram, 9th Viscount of Irvine. He was educated at Harrow School from 1797, alongside John Spencer, 3rd Earl Spencer.<ref name="hop"/>
==Naval career== In 1803, he entered the Royal Navy as a first-class volunteer, initially serving on the ''Isis'' in Newfoundland until 1805. He gradually rose up the ranks, first to midshipman in 1805, on the ''Pomone'' and ''Captain'' at Lisbon and home, as well on the ''Boreas'' and ''Lavinia'' in British waters and the Mediterranean.<ref name="hop"/>
He was then elevated lieutenant in 1809, where he joined the ''Theban'' in 1810, assisting with the capture of a French merchant brig near Dieppe in 1811, and then surviving the ship's wreck in 1812 during a storm while it was en route to India. Shortly after, he was nominated acting commander of the ''Arrogant'' at Bombay, and then made commander of the ''Cornwallis'' in 1813. Later that year, he was made acting captain of the ''Jupiter'', before moving to the ''Newcastle'' in 1815, where he was confirmed as captain in 1816. During this latter period, he is said to have attracted the attention of Napoleon, whom Meynell described as having "refined manners and gentlemanly bearing, joined with the frankness and openness of a sailor".<ref name="hop"/>
He was seemingly paid off in September 1817, and then never returned to the seas despite expressing an interest to do so in 1821. However, by 1851, he was appointed as a rear-admiral, and then rose further to vice-admiral in 1857, and admiral in 1862.<ref name="hop"/>
==Political career== The cessation of his naval career led to Meynell being appointed as a gentleman usher quarterly waiter to George IV upon his coronation, with likely thanks due to Francis Ingram-Seymour-Conway, 2nd Marquess of Hertford, the Lord Chamberlain, and his wife, the regent's mistress.<ref name="hop"/>
Meynell was then elected Tory MP for Lisburn at the 1826 general election and held the seat until 1847 when he did not seek re-election.<ref name="stookssmith1842"/> During this period, he generally voted against Catholic relief and against the repeal of the Test Acts, and was mistakenly expected to vote for Catholic emancipation, when he in fact cast his vote in the opposite way on at least three occasions.<ref name="walker">{{cite book|editor1-last=Walker|editor1-first=B.M.|title=Parliamentary Election Results in Ireland, 1801-1922|date=1978|publisher=Royal Irish Academy|location=Dublin|isbn=0901714127}}</ref><ref name="hop"/>
Upon his retirement, he lived a "quite, unobtrusive life", eventually dying at the Grand Hotel du Louvre, Paris in March 1865, and then buried at the family vault in Ashley, Staffordshire.<ref name="hop"/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-henry-meynell | Mr Henry Meynell }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = Horace Seymour }} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Lisburn | years = 1826–1847 }} {{s-aft| after= Horace Seymour }}
{{s-end}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meynell, Henry}} Category:UK MPs 1826–1830 Category:UK MPs 1830–1831 Category:UK MPs 1831–1832 Category:UK MPs 1832–1835 Category:UK MPs 1835–1837 Category:UK MPs 1837–1841 Category:UK MPs 1841–1847 Category:Irish Conservative Party MPs Category:Tory MPs (pre-1834) Category:1789 births Category:1865 deaths Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for County Antrim constituencies (1801–1922) Category:People educated at Harrow School Category:Royal Navy officers