Lord Palmerston, Piccadilly, London, UK
Posted by: 
Team Sieni
N 51° 30.336 W 000° 08.718
30U E 698109 N 5709916
Lord Palmerston (1784-1865), Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary of Great Britain.
Waymark Code: WM1C79
Location: United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/01/2007
Views: 99
Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (see also here,
here and
here) holds the honour of being the oldest British prime minister to take up the office for the first time, which he did in 1855 at the age of 71, having first entered parliament in his early twenties (at the age of 25 he was offered, and declined, the Chancellorship of the Exchequer).
In the twenty or so years before to becoming PM, he held the post of foreign secretary at various times. He was an abrasive (nicknamed "Lord Pumice-Stone") and decisive foreign secretary and his interventionist policies in international affairs typified the
gunboat diplomacy of the time.
At his appointment Palmerston was not a popular choice of PM with Queen Victoria - she had sought his resignation while he was foreign secretary - but during his prime ministership (he was in office at the time of Prince Albert's death) their relationship improved.
The plaque is on the wall Palmerston's home, Cambridge House, a late Palladin style three storey mansion. This was, from just after Palmerston's death in 1865 until 1999, the home of the Naval and Military Club known as the "In and Out" club because of the large "IN" and "OUT" signs on the gateposts. It's not clear to what use the building is presently put. It appears to be awaiting development.