Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne
Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, KG, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, PC (14 January 1845 – 3 June 1927), was a British statesman who served successively as Governor General of Canada, Viceroy of India, Secretary of State for War and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
The Marquess of Lansdowne
Canadian: John A. Macdonald
British:
William Ewart Gladstone
The Marquess of Salisbury
14 January 1845
London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
3 June 1927 (aged 82)
Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ireland
Liberal (until 1886)
Liberal Unionist (1886-1912)
Conservative (1912-1927)
In 1917, during the First World War, he wrote the "Lansdowne Letter", advocating in vain a compromise peace. A millionaire, he had the distinction of having held senior positions in Liberal and Conservative Party governments.[1]
Governor General of Canada, 1883–1888[edit]
Lord Lansdowne was Governor General during turbulent times in Canada. His Protestant Irish connections made him unpopular with the Catholic Irish element.[11] He was appointed GCMG in January 1884.[12]
Prime Minister Sir John A. Macdonald's government was in its second term and facing allegations of scandal over the building of the railway (the Pacific Scandal), and the economy was once again sliding into recession. The North-West Rebellion of 1885 and the controversy caused by its leader, Louis Riel, posed a serious threat to the equilibrium of Canadian politics.[13] To calm the situation, he travelled extensively throughout Western Canada in 1885 and met many of Canada's First Nations peoples. He publicly objected to the treatment of the Indigenous by Indian Agents, and supported Chiefs Crowfoot and Poundmaker.[14] His experiences in Western Canada gave Lansdowne a great love of the Canadian outdoors and the physical beauty of Canada. He was an avid fisherman and was intensely interested in winter sports. His love of the wilderness and the Canadian countryside led him to purchase a second residence (first Cascapedia House, built in 1880, later renamed Lorne Cottage, and then New Dereen Camp, built in 1884[15]) on the Cascapédia River in the Gaspé Peninsula, Quebec.[13] The same area was previously used by the past Viceroy of Canada, John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll, and his wife, Princess Louise, the daughter of Queen Victoria.[14]
Lansdowne proved to be an adept statesman in helping to settle a dispute over fishing rights between Canada and the United States in 1886–1887.[13] He successfully negotiated a new trade agreement with U.S. President Grover Cleveland (though it later failed to pass in the Senate). He was also a supporter of scientific development and presided over the inaugural session of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in 1884. In Quebec, he was very popular, as he spoke French fluently, which gained him the admiration of French-Canadians, and a big round of applause during his first speech.[14] His French came from his maternal grandfather, Count Charles de Flahaut, who had been a French general to Napoleon Bonaparte. Lord Lansdowne also made multiple speeches at the Citadelle of Quebec, near Château Frontenac, and joined the Montreal Winter Carnival, making him and his wife, the first vice-royal couple to skate at that event.[14]
Lansdowne departed Canada "with its clear skies, its exhilarating sports, and within the bright fire of Gatineau logs, with our children and friends gathered round us" to his regret.[13] He gave his wife a great deal of the credit for his success in Canada. One of her happiest and most successful endeavours at Rideau Hall was a party that she threw for 400 Sunday school children. Lady Lansdowne was decorated with the Order of Victoria and Albert and the Imperial Order of the Crown of India. Lord Lansdowne's military secretary, Lord Melgund, later became Lord Minto and served as Governor General between 1898 and 1904. Parc Lansdowne and Lansdowne Avenue in Westmount, Montreal, next to Westmount Park, was named in his honor, as well as Lansdowne Ridge and Upper-Lansdowne, both located on Westmount's summit next to Villa Sainte-Marcelline and Saint Joseph's Oratory.[16][5]
Viceroy of India, 1888–1894[edit]
Lord Lansdowne was appointed Viceroy of India the same year that he left Canada. In December 1888 he was appointed GCSI [17] and GCIE [18] The office, which he held from 1888 to 1894,[1] was offered to him by the Conservative prime minister, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury of Hatfield House, and marked the pinnacle of his career. He worked to reform the army, police, local government and the mint. There was an Anglo-Manipur War in 1890 in which Manipur was subjugated. Lansdowne securing the death penalty for the instigator in the face of considerable opposition from Britain. His attempt in 1893 to curtail trial by jury was, however, overruled by home government. He returned to England in 1894. His policies exacerbated tensions between Hindu and Muslims.[19]
Secretary of State for War, 1895–1900[edit]
Upon his return, as a Liberal Unionist, he aligned with the Conservative Party. Prime Minister Lord Salisbury appointed Lansdowne to the post of Secretary of State for War in June 1895. The unpreparedness of the British Army during the Second Boer War brought calls for Lansdowne's impeachment in 1899. His biographer, P. B. Waite, considers that he was unjustly criticised for British military failures, but ever the good minister, he took full responsibility and said nothing.[1][13]
Death[edit]
Lord Lansdowne died at Clonmel, Ireland on 3 June 1927 at the age of 82.[13] The probate on his estate was granted with the value sworn at £1,044,613 (equivalent to about £66,300,000 in 2021) in land and another £233,888 in other assets.[27] His widow died in 1932, and their tombs are in the churchyard at Derry Hill, near their Bowood estate in Wiltshire.[28]
Henry Petty-FitzMaurice married Lady Maud Evelyn Hamilton, a daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn and his wife Lady Lady Louisa Jane Russell, daughter of John Russell, 6th Duke of Bedford in 1869. The couple had four children:[1]
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