Stafford Northcote

File:1st Earl of Iddesleigh.jpg

The Rt Hon. The Earl of Iddesleigh

Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh GCB PC (1818–1887), was British statesman who served under two of Britain's most influential Prime Ministers, William Ewart Gladstone and Disraeli's.

Early Life

Northcote was born in London on 27 October 1818. His ancestors had long been settled in Devon, tracing their descent from Galfridas de Nordcote who settled there in 1103. he was born 23 Portland Place in London, the eldest son of Sir. Stafford Northcote. His mother was Agnes Cockburn of the famed famil of Cockburn of Henderland.

Gladstone days

After a successful career at Balliol College, Oxford, he became in 1843 private secretary to William Ewart Gladstone at the board of trade. He 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 report which revolutionized the conditions of appointment to the Civil Service. He succeeded his grandfather, Sir Stafford Henry Northcote, as 8th baronet in 1851. He entered Parliament in 1855 as Conservative Member of Parliament for Dudley, and was elected for Stamford in 1858, a seat which he exchanged in 1866 for North Devon.

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 the interval between these last two appointments he was the president of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1870, when they gave the Northwest Territories to Canada, and one of the commissioners for the settlement of the Alabama difficulty at the Treaty of Washington with the United States in 1871.

Working with Disraeli

On Disraeli's elevation to the House of Lords as Earl of Beaconsfield in 1876 he became leader of the Conservative party in the Commons. As a finance minister he was largely dominated by the lines of policy laid down by Gladstone; but 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, and party cabals (in which Lord Randolph Churchill, who had made a dead set at the "old gang," took a leading part) led to Sir Stafford's elevation to the Lords in 1885, when Lord Salisbury became prime minister. Taking the titles of Earl of Iddesleigh and Viscount St Cyres, he was included in the cabinet as First Lord of the Treasury. In Lord Salisbury's 1886 ministry he became Foreign Secretary, but the arrangement was not a comfortable one, and his resignation had just been decided upon when on 12 January 1887 he died very suddenly at Lord Salisbury's official residence in Downing Street.

Outside of Government

Lord Iddesleigh was elected lord rector of the University of Edinburgh in 1883, in which capacity he addressed the students on the subject of "Desultory Reading". 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). His Life by Andrew Lang appeared in 1890. Lord Iddesleigh married in 1843 Cecilia Frances Farrer (d. 1910) (sister of Thomas, 1st Lord Farrer), by whom he had seven sons and three daughters. His second son, Henry, 1st Baron Northcote, was Governor-General of Australia 1904–1908.

Life at No. 10 Downing Street

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: John Benbow	Member of Parliament for Dudley 1855–1857	Succeeded by: Henry Sheridan
Preceded by: John Inglis	Member of Parliament for Stamford 1858–1866	Succeeded by: Sir John Charles Dalrymple Hay
Preceded by: Sir Thomas Dyke-Acland, 11th Bt.	Member of Parliament for North Devon 1866–1885	Succeeded by: John Moore-Stevens
Political offices
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	Succeeded by: William Ewart Gladstone
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
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 Northcote	Baronet (of Hayne) 1851–1887	Succeeded by: Walter Northcote
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by: New Creation	Earl of Iddesleigh 1885–1887	Succeeded by: Walter Northcote

Credits

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