The Marquess of Zetland | |
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| Secretary of State for India and Burma | |
| In office 28 May 1937 – 13 May 1940 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
| Preceded by | New office |
| Succeeded by | Leo Amery |
| Secretary of State for India | |
| In office 7 June 1935 – 28 May 1937 | |
| Monarchs | George V Edward VIII George VI |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Sir Samuel Hoare, Bt |
| Succeeded by | Office renamed Secretary of State for India and Burma |
| Governor of Bengal | |
| In office 26 March 1917 – 28 March 1922 | |
| Governor General | The Viscount Chelmsford |
| Preceded by | The Lord Carmichael |
| Succeeded by | The Earl of Lytton |
| Member of theHouse of Lords Lord Temporal | |
| In office 12 March 1929 – 6 February 1961 Hereditary Peerage | |
| Preceded by | The 1st Marquess of Zetland |
| Succeeded by | The 3rd Marquess of Zetland |
| Member of Parliament forHornsey | |
| In office 5 June 1907 – 6 December 1916 | |
| Preceded by | Charles Balfour |
| Succeeded by | Kennedy Jones |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1876-06-11)11 June 1876 |
| Died | 6 February 1961(1961-02-06) (aged 84) |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Parents |
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| Relatives | John Dundas (brother) Lawrence Dundas (son) Richard Lumley (maternal grandfather) |
| Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Lawrence John Lumley Dundas, 2nd Marquess of Zetland (11 June 1876 – 6 February 1961), styledLord Dundas until 1892 andEarl of Ronaldshay between 1892 and 1929, was a Britishhereditary peer andConservative politician. An expert on India, he served asSecretary of State for India in the late 1930s.
Zetland was born in London in 1876, the eldest surviving son ofLawrence Dundas, 1st Marquess of Zetland, and his wife Lady Lilian Selena Elizabeth Lumley, daughter ofRichard Lumley, 9th Earl of Scarbrough.[1] He was educated atHarrow School andTrinity College, Cambridge.[2] At Cambridge, he was a member of theUniversity Pitt Club.[3]
Lord Ronaldshay was commissioned alieutenant in the North Riding of York Volunteer Artillery. He was on 3 April 1900 appointed an extraaide-de-camp toLord Curzon,Viceroy of India.[4] While working for Curzon in theBritish Raj, Ronaldshay travelled widely through Asia, having experiences which would later inform his fictional and non-fictional writing.[5]
Zetland was returned to Parliament forHornsey in 1907, a seat he held until 1916. Much of his public career centred onBritish India. In September 1912, he was appointed (withLord Islington,Herbert Fisher,Mr Justice Abdur Rahim, and others) as a member of theRoyal Commission on the Public Services in India of 1912–1915.[6] He wasGovernor of Bengal between 1917 and 1922 andSecretary of State for India between 1935 and 1940. Although a member of theConservative Party, his belief was that Indians should be allowed to take ever-increasing responsibility for the government of the country, culminating inDominion status (enjoyed by Canada, Australia, and other formerly self-governing parts of theBritish Empire).
Zetland played an important role in the protracted negotiations which led to theGovernment of India Act 1935, which began, subject to the implacable opposition ofWinston Churchill and the "diehards" to anything that might imperil direct British rule over India, to implement those ideals.
Zetland was also an author:Rab Butler, who served as his Parliamentary Under-Secretary at the India Office, records that he asked how he could understand better his chief's thinking about the future of India and received the answer: "Read my books!" Zetland kept Butler, who had helped to pass the Government of India Act and had enjoyed great influence under Zetland's predecessor Samuel Hoare, at arm's length, requiring him to book an appointment in advance if he wanted to see him. Butler continued to serve under him for another two years, but devotes only a single paragraph to this period in his memoirs.[7]
Zetland was ideally placed as Secretary of State for India to implement the new Act, although the two Viceroys with whom he served, LordsWillingdon andLinlithgow, were rather less idealistic than he. In the event, Willingdon and Linlithgow were proved right when theCongress Party won the 1937 Provincial elections, much to the dismay of Zetland. Zetland's term as Secretary of State — and the experiment with democracy represented by the 1935 Act — came to an end with Churchill's assumption of the Prime Ministership in 1940: Zetland then offered his resignation, feeling that his ideas and Churchill's regarding India were so different that "I could only end by becoming an embarrassment to him." Two months prior to this, on 13 March 1940, Zetland was one of four people shot at theCaxton Hall byIndian nationalistUdham Singh; former lieutenant governor of thePunjab,Michael O'Dwyer, was killed. Zetland suffered only bruising to his ribs (the bullet was found in his clothes) and was able to take his seat in the House of Lords five days later.[8][9]
Zetland, who was known to favour good relations between the UK and Germany, was associated with theAnglo-German Fellowship during the late 1930s.[10]
Zetland was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1922[11] and made aKnight of the Garter in 1942. He also bore the Sword of State at the coronation ofGeorge VI in 1937[12] and wasLord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire between 1945 and 1951.[13] He was electedPresident of the Royal Geographical Society in 1922 and President of theRoyal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland for 1928–31.[14] From 1932 to 1945, he was chairman of theNational Trust.[15]
Lord Ronaldshay married on 3 December 1907 to Cicely Archdale (1886–1973), daughter of Mervyn Henry Archdale. They lived atSnelsmore atChieveley inBerkshire, and had five children:[16]
Lord Zetland died in 1961 at the age of 84 and was succeeded in the marquessate and other titles by his elder and only surviving son,Lawrence. The Marchioness of Zetland died in January 1973.[16]
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| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Hornsey 1907–1916 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Governor of Fort William 1917–1922 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for India 1935–1937 | Succeeded by Secretary of State for India and Burma |
| Preceded by New office | Secretary of State for India and Burma 1937–1940 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of the North Riding of Yorkshire 1945–1951 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by | Marquess of Zetland 1929–1961 | Succeeded by |
