R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross

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Hereditary peerage
Preceded byPeerage created
Succeeded byThe 2nd Viscount Cross
Member of Parliament
for Newton
In office
18 December 1885 – 19 August 1886
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byThomas Legh
Member of Parliament
for South West Lancashire
In office
7 December 1868 – 18 December 1885
Serving with Charles Turner and John Ireland Blackburne
Preceded byConstituency created
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Member of Parliament
for Preston
In office
24 April 1857 – 4 April 1862
Serving with Charles Grenfell
Preceded bySir George Strickland, 7th Baronet
Succeeded bySir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh
Personal details
Born(1823-05-30)30 May 1823
Red Scar, Lancashire
Died8 January 1914(1914-01-08) (aged 90)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
SpouseGeorgiana Lyon (d. 1907)
Alma materUniversity of Cambridge

Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross,

DL (30 May 1823 – 8 January 1914), known before his elevation to the peerage as R. A. Cross, was a British Conservative politician. He was Home Secretary
from 1874 to 1880, and from 1885 to 1886.

Background and education

Cross was born in Red Scar, near

called to the Bar at the Inner Temple in 1849, attaching himself to the Northern Circuit.[1][2]

Political career

R. A. Cross caricatured by Ape (Carlo Pellegrini) in 1874.

Cross entered Parliament as one of two representatives for Preston in 1857, a seat he held until 1862.[3]

In 1868 Cross was elected for South West Lancashire, topping the poll and defeating Gladstone, and continued to represent this constituency until 1885.[3] He then briefly represented Newton,[3] until his elevation to the peerage in 1886.[4]

Cross was

Lord Salisbury's
first government (1885–1886).

In 1886 Cross was raised to the peerage, as Viscount Cross of

County Palatine of Lancaster,[5] He was moved over to the India Office (1886–1892), where he oversaw the passage of the Indian Councils Act 1892. He was very briefly Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in Salisbury's third government (1895–1902) before being elevated to the sinecure post Lord Privy Seal. In 1898 he chaired the Joint Select Committee on Electrical Energy (Generating Stations and Supply), which recommended granting compulsory purchase powers for the building of power stations
. He retired in 1900.

Business interests

After the death of his father-in-law Thomas Lyon (the younger) in 1859, Cross was involved in the affairs of

joint stock company in 1865, of which he acted as deputy chairman. He became its chairman in 1870.[2][7]

In 1884, Cross was elected to the Board of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway,[8] and he remained a Director of that company, and of its successor the Great Central Railway (GCR), until his death.[9] During Board meetings, he would occasionally murmur "Where is the money to come from?"[10] In June 1909, when he was senior Director of the GCR, that railway named one of its class 8D express passenger locomotives The Rt. Hon. Viscount Cross G.C.B., G.C.S.I. in his honour.[11][12]

Family

Cross married Georgiana, daughter of Thomas Lyon of Appleton Hall, in 1852; they had three daughters and four sons.

William Cross, represented Liverpool West Derby in Parliament. The second son, Thomas Richard Cross, died young in 1873;[13] Charles Francis Cross, the third son, was a cleric;[14] and John Edward Cross, the fourth son, was a land agent.[15]

Lady Cross died in January 1907. Lord Cross survived her by seven years and died in January 1914, aged 90. He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his grandson, Richard Assheton Cross, the only son of the Honourable William Cross.

Arms

Coat of arms of R. A. Cross, 1st Viscount Cross
Crest
A Griffin's Head erased Argent gorged with a Double Chain Or therefrom pendant a Mullet pierced Sable in the beak a Passion Nail of the last
Escutcheon
Gules a Cross flory Argent charged with five Passion Nails Sable a Bordure of the second
Supporters
On either side a Pegasus Argent holding in the mouth a Passion Nail Sable the dexter gorged with a Chain Or therefrom pendant a Cross flory Gules the sinister gorged with a Double Chain Or therefrom pendant a Mullet pierced Sable
Motto
Crede Cruci (Trust in the Cross) [16]

References

  1. ^ "Cross, Richard Assheton (CRS842RA)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^
    doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/32644. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  3. ^ a b c Debrett's House of Commons. London: Dean. 1886.
  4. Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715–1886. Oxford: Parker and Co – via Wikisource
    .
  5. ^ "No. 25618". The London Gazette. 20 August 1886. p. 4080.
  6. ^ Burke, Bernard (1863). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. Harrison. p. 919.
  7. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4969-7786-1
    .
  8. ISBN 0-7110-1469-8
    .
  9. ISBN 0-7110-0263-0
    .
  10. ^ Dow 1965, p. 28
  11. ^ Dow 1965, p. 133
  12. ISBN 0-901115-45-2
    .
  13. ^ "Cross, Thomas Richard (CRS872TR)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  14. ^ "Cross, Charles Francis (CRS879CF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  15. ^ "Cross, John Edward (CRS877JE)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  16. ^ "Cross, Viscount (UK, 1886 - 2004)".

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Preston
1857–1862
With: Charles Grenfell 		Succeeded by
New constituency Member of Parliament for South West Lancashire
1868–1885
With: Charles Turner 1868 –1875
John Ireland Blackburne 1875–1885 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Newton
1885–1886 		Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by
Home Secretary

1874–1880 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
Home Secretary

1885–1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Secretary of State for India
1886–1892 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
1895 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Lord Privy Seal
1895–1900 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Cross
1886–1914 		Succeeded by
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