Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh
Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh GCB PC FRS (27 October 1818 – 12 January 1887), known as Sir Stafford Northcote, 8th Baronet from 1851 to 1885, was a British Conservative politician. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1874 and 1880 and as Foreign Secretary between 1885 and 1886
"Stafford Northcote" redirects here. For other people with that name, see Earl of Iddesleigh.
The Earl of Iddesleigh
Victoria
William Ewart Gladstone
Victoria
The Marquess of Salisbury
27 October 1818
London, England
12 January 1887 (aged 68)
London, England
Cecilia Frances Farrer (died 1910)
10
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]
Background and education[edit]
Northcote (pronounced "Northcut"[2]) was born at Portland 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 the Baring family. His mother was Agnes Mary (died 1840), daughter of Thomas Cockburn and Henrietta Colebrooke, daughter of Robert Colebrooke, MP. His paternal ancestors had long been settled in Devon, tracing their descent from Galfridas de Nordcote who settled there in 1103. The family home was situated at Pynes House northwest of Exeter. Northcote was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford and was called to the bar, Inner Temple, in 1847.
Early political career[edit]
In 1843 Northcote became private secretary to William Ewart Gladstone at the Board of Trade. Northcote was afterwards legal secretary to the board and, after acting as one of the secretaries to the Great Exhibition of 1851, co-operated with Sir Charles Trevelyan in framing the Northcote–Trevelyan Report, which revolutionized the conditions of appointment to the Civil Service. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote (1762–1851), as 8th baronet in 1851. He entered Parliament in 1855 as Conservative Member of Parliament for Dudley with the support of the influential local landowner Lord 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 for Stamford in 1858, a seat that he exchanged in 1866 for North Devon. He was briefly Financial Secretary to the Treasury under the Earl of Derby from January to July 1859.
Other public positions[edit]
Northcote was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1875[6] and Lord 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 also Lord Lieutenant of Devon. He was not a prolific or notable writer, but amongst his works were Twenty Years of Financial Policy (1862), a valuable study of Gladstonian finance, and Lectures and Essays (1887).[7] His Life by Andrew Lang appeared in 1890. Northcote was appointed a CB in 1851 and a GCB in 1880 and was sworn of the Privy 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]