The Earl of Iddesleigh | |
|---|---|
 Iddesleigh in 1870s | |
| First Lord of the Treasury | |
| In office 29 June 1885 – 1 February 1886 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | 3rd Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Succeeded by | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
| In office 21 February 1874 – 21 April 1880 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | Benjamin Disraeli |
| Preceded by | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Succeeded by | William Ewart Gladstone |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 3 August 1886 – 12 January 1887 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Rosebery |
| Succeeded by | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| President of the Board of Trade | |
| In office 6 July 1866 – 8 March 1867 | |
| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Earl of Derby |
| Preceded by | Thomas Milner Gibson |
| Succeeded by | The Duke of Richmond |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 October 1818 (1818-10-27) London, England |
| Died | 12 January 1887(1887-01-12) (aged 68) London, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Cecilia Frances Farrer (died 1910) |
| Children | 10 |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of IddesleighGCB PC FRS (27 October 1818 – 12 January 1887), known asSir Stafford Northcote, 8th Baronet from 1851 to 1885, was a BritishConservative politician. He wasChancellor of the Exchequer between 1874 and 1880,First Lord of the Treasury between 1885 and 1886 and asForeign Secretary between 1886 and 1887.
According to Nigel Keohane, historians have portrayed him "as a man who fell short of the ultimate achievement of being prime minister largely because of personal weakness, and lack of political virility and drive."[1]
Northcote (pronounced "Northcut"[2]) was born atPortland Place, Marylebone, London, on 27 October 1818.[3] He was the eldest son of Henry Stafford Northcote (1792–1850), eldest son of Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, 7th Baronet and Jacquetta Baring, a member of theBaring family. His mother was Agnes Mary (died 1840), daughter of Thomas Cockburn of the famed Cockburn of Henderland family and Henrietta Colebrooke,natural daughter ofRobert Colebrooke, MP. His paternalNorthcote ancestors had long been settled inDevon, tracing their descent from Galfridas de Nordcote who settled there in 1103. The family home was situated atPynes House northwest ofExeter. Northcote was educated atEton andBalliol College, Oxford and wascalled to the bar,Inner Temple, in 1847.
In 1843 Northcote became private secretary toWilliam Ewart Gladstone at the Board of Trade. Northcote was afterwards legal secretary to the board and, after acting as one of the secretaries to theGreat Exhibition of 1851, co-operated withSir Charles Trevelyan in framing theNorthcote–Trevelyan Report, which revolutionized the conditions of appointment to the Civil Service. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote (1762–1851), as 8thbaronet in 1851. He entered Parliament in 1855 asConservativeMember of Parliament forDudley with the support of the influential local landownerLord Ward.[4] However, tensions between Northcote and Lord Ward soon arose, in particular over a vote over conflict with China in which the two men supported opposite sides in the vote.[5] Northcote subsequently decided not to contest Dudley again and stood unsuccessfully for North Devon in 1857. He returned to Parliament the following year, when he was elected forStamford in 1858, a seat that he exchanged in 1866 forNorth Devon. He was brieflyFinancial Secretary to the Treasury under theEarl of Derby from January to July 1859.
Steadily supporting his party, he becamePresident of the Board of Trade in 1866,Secretary of State for India in 1867 andChancellor of the Exchequer in 1874. In 1870, during the interval between the last two appointments, he was the Governor of theHudson's Bay Company, North America's oldest company (established by anEnglishroyal charter in 1670), when itsold the Northwest Territories to Canada. Northcote was one of the commissioners for the settlement of theAlabama Claims with the United States, culminating with theTreaty of Washington in 1871.
OnBenjamin Disraeli's elevation to theHouse of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876, Northcote became Leader of the Conservatives in the Commons. As a finance minister, he largely continued the lines of policy laid down by Gladstone. However, he distinguished himself by his dealings with the debt, especially his introduction of the newsinking fund in 1876 by which he fixed the annual charge for the debt in such a way as to provide for a regular series of payments off the capital.
His temper as leader was, however, too gentle to satisfy the more ardent spirits among his own followers. Party cabals (in whichLord Randolph Churchill took a leading part) led to Northcote's elevation to the Lords in 1885, whenLord Salisbury became prime minister. Taking the titles ofEarl of Iddesleigh andViscount St Cyres, he was included in the cabinet asFirst Lord of the Treasury. In Lord Salisbury's 1886 ministry he becameForeign Secretary, but the arrangement was not a comfortable one, and his resignation had just been decided upon when on 12 January 1887, he died very suddenly at the First Lord of the Treasury's official residence,10 Downing Street.
Northcote was elected aFellow of the Royal Society in 1875[6] andLord Rector of Edinburgh University in 1883, in which capacity he addressed the students on the subject of "Desultory Reading". From 1886 to 1887 he was alsoLord Lieutenant of Devon. He was not a prolific or notable writer, but amongst his works wereTwenty Years of Financial Policy (1862), a valuable study of Gladstonian finance, andLectures and Essays (1887).[7] HisLife by Andrew Lang appeared in 1890. Northcote was appointed aCB in 1851 and aGCB in 1880 and was sworn of thePrivy Council in 1866.He was one of only two people to hold the office of First Lord of the Treasury without ever being Prime Minister.[8]
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Northcote married Cecilia Frances Farrer (died 1910), daughter of Thomas Farrer and sister ofThomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer, in 1843. They had seven sons and three daughters. His eldest son,Walter, 2nd Earl of Iddesleigh, was a member of the House of Lords. His second son,Henry, 1st Baron Northcote, wasGovernor-General of Australia. Another son,Amyas, later became known as a writer ofghost stories.[9]
In the aftermath of theBritish Expedition to Abyssinia, Northcote built up a small but prestigious collection of Ethiopian artefacts that is now in theBritish Museum.[10]
The 1881 Census shows him living next door toLord Randolph Churchill MP and family, at 30St James Place, Westminster.[citation needed]
The New Zealand suburbs ofNorthcote inAuckland, andNorthcote in Christchurch are named after Northcote.[11][12] As is the administrative headquarters of Exeter University, Northcote House.The unincorporated community ofNorthcote, Minnesota was named for him.Northcote Road in Battersea, London seems to also have been named after him.
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Iddesleigh, Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 280.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forDudley 1855–1857 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Stamford 1858–1866 With:Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cranborne from 1865) | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Devonshire North 1866–1885 With:Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1859 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | President of the Board of Trade 1866–1867 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Secretary of State for India 1867–1868 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Chancellor of the Exchequer 1874–1880 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Leader of the House of Commons 1876–1880 | |
| Preceded by | First Lord of the Treasury 1885–1886 | |
| Preceded by | Foreign Secretary 1886–1887 | Succeeded by |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Conservative Leader of the Commons 1876–1885 | Succeeded by |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by | Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1883–1887 | Succeeded by |
| Honorary titles | ||
| Preceded by | Lord Lieutenant of Devon 1886–1887 | Succeeded by |
| Baronetage of England | ||
| Preceded by Stafford Henry Northcote | Baronet (of Hayne) 1851–1887 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Earl of Iddesleigh 1885–1887 | Succeeded by |
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