Hobhouse , Henry , 1776-1854 , civil servant and archivist

Henry Hobhouse was born near Castle Cary, Somerset, and educated at Eton and at Brasenose College, Oxford. He subsequently studied law and was called to the bar in 1801. Hobhouse became a civil servant, working sucessively as Solicitor to HM Customs, Treasury Solicitor and Permanent Under-Secretary to the Home Department, from which he retired in 1827. In 1826 he had become Keeper of the State Papers, where his main task was superintending the publication of The State Papers of Henry VIII (11 volumes, 1830-1852). The State Papers Office was absorbed by the Public Record Office in 1854, the year of both Hobhouse's death and of the birth of his grandson and namesake, the politician Henry Hobhouse.