Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, GCB, PC, (30 March 1785 – 24 September 1856) was a British Army officer and politician. After serving in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo Campaign he became Secretary at War in Wellington's ministry. After a tour as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1830 he became Secretary at War again in Sir Robert Peel's cabinet. He went on to be Governor-General of India at the time of the First Anglo-Sikh War and then Commander-in-Chief of the Forces during the Crimean War.
The Viscount Hardinge
William Wilberforce Bird
As Acting Governor-General
24 September 1856 (aged 71)
Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England
Lady Emily Jane Stewart
4
United Kingdom
1799–1856
Early life[edit]
The son of the Rev, Henry Hardinge, Rector of Stanhope,[1] and his wife Frances Best, he was educated at Durham School and Sevenoaks School.[2] Hardinge entered the British Army on 23 July 1799 as an ensign in the Queen's Rangers,[3] a corps then stationed in Upper Canada.[4] He was promoted to lieutenant by purchase in the 4th Regiment of Foot on 27 March 1802[5] and transferred to the 1st Regiment of Foot on 11 July 1803[6] before becoming a captain of a company by purchase in the 57th Regiment of Foot on 21 April 1804.[7] In February 1806 he was sent to the newly formed Staff College at High Wycombe.[8]
Viscount Hardinge's Annuity Act 1846
An Act to enable the Right Honourable Henry Viscount Hardinge to receive the full Benefit of an Annuity of Five thousand Pounds granted to him by the East India Company.
9 & 10 Vict. c. 21
18 June 1846
An act to settle an Annuity on Viscount Hardinge, and the Two next surviving Heirs Male of the Body of the said Viscount Hardinge to whom the Title of Viscount shall descend, in consideration of his great and brilliant Services.
9 & 10 Vict. c. 31
27 July 1846
In 1821 he married Lady Emily Jane, seventh daughter of Robert Stewart, 1st Marquess of Londonderry.[4] They had two sons, and two daughters:
His elder son, Charles Stewart, who had been his private secretary in India, was the 2nd Viscount Hardinge. The younger son of the 2nd Viscount, Charles Hardinge (b. 1858), became a prominent diplomat, and was appointed Viceroy of India in 1910, being created Baron Hardinge of Penshurst.[38]