Viscount Sidmouth, of Sidmouth in the County of Devon, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1805 for the former Prime Minister, Henry Addington. In May 1804, King George III intended to confer the titles of Earl of Banbury, Viscount Wallingford and Baron Reading on Addington (an earldom was the custormary retirement honour for a former Prime Minister). However, Addington refused the honour and chose to remain in the House of Commons until 1805, when he joined William Pitt the Younger's government as Lord President of the Council with the lesser title of Viscount Sidmouth. His grandson, the third Viscount, briefly represented Devizes in Parliament. The current holder of the title is the latter's great-great-grandson, the eighth Viscount, who succeeded his father in 2005.
Anthony Addington, father of the first Viscount, was a distinguished physician. Henry Unwin Addington, nephew of the first Viscount, was a diplomat and civil servant.
The family seat was Upottery Manor, Devon (sold in 1953).
Read more about Viscount Sidmouth: Viscounts Sidmouth (1805)
Famous quotes containing the word viscount:
“It wounds a man less to confess that he has failed in any pursuit through idleness, neglect, the love of pleasure, etc., etc., which are his own faults, than through incapacity and unfitness, which are the faults of his nature.”
—William Lamb Melbourne, 2nd Viscount (1779–1848)