ROCKINGHAM, CHARLES WATSON WENT WORTH, 2ND MARQUESS OF (1730-1782), twice prime minister of England, was the son of Thomas Watson Wentworth (c. 169o 1750), who was created earl of Melton in 1733 and marquess of Rockingham in 1746.
Charles Watson Wentworth was educated at Westminster school and St. John's College, Cambridge. In 1751 he became lord-lieutenant of the North and East Ridings of Yorkshire and a lord of the bedchamber, and in 1760 was made a knight of the Garter. In May 1762 the king's favourite, the earl of Bute, became first lord of the treasury, and the marquess of Rocking ham was amongst those who in the following year were dismissed from their lord-lieutenancies. In July 1765 Lord Rockingham formed his first administration with General Conway and the duke of Grafton as secretaries of state. The cabinet seemed stronger than it really was, for it was divided by intestine quarrels, and the earl of Chatham refused to have anything to do with it. In
May 1766 the duke of Grafton, a far abler man than Rockingham, though neither so conciliatory in his manners nor so generally popular, seceded from the government, and in August 1766 he succeeded his former chief as first lord of the treasury and prime minister. Lord Rockingham again became prime minister in 1782, with Fox and Shelburne (afterwards marquess of Lans downe) as secretaries of state. This time he enjoyed office for but a few weeks, for he died on July 1, 1782. He left no issue, and his titles became extinct.
See Memoirs of the Marquis of Rockingham and his Contempo raries, by George Thomas, earl of Albemarle (2 vols., 1852) ; Horace Walpole's Memoirs of the reign of George III., edited by G. F. R. Barker (1894) ; and the other letters, papers and diaries of the time.