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- BIOGRAPHY
Richard Le Poer Trench, 2nd Earl of Clancarty, was an outstanding diplomat who performed an instrumental role at the Congress of Vienna which ended the Napoleontic Wars, invented Belgium and the Netherlands, awarded Capetown to the English and substantially changed the frontiers of Europe. He succeeded to the peerage in 1805.In 1807 he was appointed to the Privy Council, a group entrusted with Britain's foreign and domestic policies. From 1812-1814, the Earl occupied the post of Master of the Mint, the highest officer in the royal mint and a position that entitled him to sit in on cabinet meetings.
From 29 September 1812 to 24 January 1818 he was President of the Board of Trade, another cabinet level position, that put him in charge of developing Britain's international trade. This coincided with a European recession that followed the end of the Napoleontic Wars. In Ireland, the Earl was known as _Fair Landlord_, refusing to allow his tenants to sub-let (cutting out the dreaded middlemen famous for their extorting high rents on behalf of absentee landlords) and employing vast numbers of people throughout the region. Many were involved in remodelling Galballly House in 1819. A staunch Protestant, the Earl was opposed to any form of rights for Cahtolics including his vote against the Catholic Emancipation bill. His initial opposition to the Act of Union was softened to a Yes vote when he was offered the lucrative office of the Postmaster General.
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