William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 1779 – 24 November 1848) was a British Whig statesman who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). He is best known for his intense and successful mentoring of Queen Victoria in the ways of politics, when she was between the ages of 18 and 21. Historians have concluded that Melbourne does not rank highly as a Prime Minister, for there were no great foreign wars or domestic issues to handle, he lacked major achievements, and he enunciated no grand principles. "But he was
Elizabeth Lamb, Viscountess Melbourne boy's godfather. Later in life, Lady Melbourne formed a friendship with the poet Lord Byron. She became his confidante during his affair with her daughter-in-law Lady Caroline Lamb. Although she approved of her son's marriage on social grounds, Lady Melbourne disliked Caroline intensely and their relationship was always bad. By contrast she liked Byron, and blamed him neither for having the affair with Caroline, nor for ending it. Byron later married Lady Melbourne's niece, Anne Isabella Milbanke. Lord Melbourne was made a peer of the United Kingdom as Baron Melbourne of Melbourne in 1815. Lady Melbourne died on 6 April