Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh

Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh

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

Northcote (pronounced "Northcut"

Steadily supporting his party, he became President of the Board of Trade in 1866, Secretary of State for India in 1867 and Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1874. In 1870, during the interval between the last two appointments, he was the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company, North America's oldest company (established by an English royal charter in 1670), when it sold the Northwest Territories to Canada. Northcote was one of the commissioners for the settlement of the Alabama Claims with the United States, culminating with the Treaty of Washington in 1871.

On Benjamin Disraeli's elevation to the House 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 new sinking 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 which

Family and personal life

Northcote married Cecilia Frances Farrer (died 1910), daughter of Thomas Farrer and sister of Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer, in 1843. They had seven sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Walter Northcote, 2nd Earl of Iddesleigh was a member of the House of Lords. His second son, Henry, 1st Baron Northcote, was Governor-General of Australia. Another son, Amyas, later became known as a writer of ghost stories.^[9]

In the aftermath of the

The 1881 Census shows him living next door to Lord Randolph Churchill MP and family, at 30 St James Place, Westminster.^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

The New Zealand suburbs of Northcote in Auckland, and Northcote in Christchurch are named after Northcote.^[11][12]

References

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Iddesleigh, Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 280.

Further reading

• Cooke, A. B. “A Conservative Party Leader in Ulster: Sir Stafford Northcote’s Diary of a Visit to the Province, October 1883.” Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. Section C: Archaeology, Celtic Studies, History, Linguistics, Literature, vol. 75, (1975), pp. 61–84, online.
• Iddesleigh, Stafford Henry Northcote. "Speech of the Rt. Hon. Sir Stafford Northcote, to the Working-Men’s Conservative Association of Edinburgh" (Edinburgh Conservative Association, 1876), pp. 1–12, online

• Keohane, Nigel Thomas. "The Lost Leader: Sir Stafford Northcote and the Leadership of the Conservative Party, 1876–85." Parliamentary History 27.3 (2008): 361-379.
• Lang, Andrew. Life, Letters, and Diaries of Sir Stafford Northcote, First Earl of Iddesleigh (1891) online
• Swartz, Marvin. The politics of British foreign policy in the era of Disraeli and Gladstone (London: Macmillan, 1985).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh.

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Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Iddesleigh
• The Rowers of Vanity Fair – Northcote, Stafford Henry (Earl of Iddesleigh)

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Benbow	Member of Parliament for Dudley 1855–1857	Succeeded by Henry Brinsley Sheridan
Preceded by Lord Robert Cecil John Inglis	Member of Parliament for Stamford 1858–1866 With: Lord Robert Cecil (Viscount Cranborne from 1865)	Succeeded by Viscount Cranborne Sir John Dalrymple-Hay, Bt
Preceded by Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt	Member of Parliament for Devonshire North 1866–1885 With: Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt	Succeeded by Sir Thomas Dyke Acland, Bt John Moore-Stevens
Political offices
Preceded by George Alexander Hamilton	Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1859	Succeeded by Samuel Laing
Preceded by Thomas Milner Gibson	President of the Board of Trade 1866–1867	Succeeded by The Duke of Richmond
Preceded by The Marquess of Salisbury	Secretary of State for India 1867–1868	Succeeded by The Duke of Argyll
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1874–1880	Succeeded by William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by Benjamin Disraeli	Leader of the House of Commons 1876–1880
Preceded by William Ewart Gladstone	First Lord of the Treasury 1885–1886
Preceded by The Earl of Rosebery	Foreign Secretary 1886–1887	Succeeded by The Marquess of Salisbury
Party political offices
Preceded by Benjamin Disraeli	Conservative Leader in the Commons 1876–1885	Succeeded by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
Preceded by The Earl of Beaconsfield	Leader of the British Conservative Party 1881–1885 with The Marquess of Salisbury	Succeeded by The Marquess of Salisbury
Academic offices
Preceded by Earl of Rosebery	Rector of the University of Edinburgh 1883–1887	Succeeded by The Marquess of Lothian
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Somerset	Lord Lieutenant of Devon 1886–1887	Succeeded by The Lord Clinton
Baronetage of England
Preceded by Stafford Henry Northcote	Baronet (of Hayne) 1851–1887	Succeeded by Walter Stafford Northcote
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Earl of Iddesleigh 1885–1887	Succeeded by Walter Stafford Northcote