Iddesleigh

Iddesleigh, The Right Hon. Stafford Henry Northcote, Earl of, G.C.B., was born in 1818. After a distinguished career at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, he became private secretary in 1843 to Mr. Gladstone, then President of the Board of Trade. In 1851 he succeeded to the baronetcy, and in 1855 entered Parliament as Conservative member for Dudley. In 1859 he became Financial Secretary to the Treasury under Lord Derby, and gave proof of high administrative talents. In 1866 he accepted the Presidency of the Board of Trade, whence he was transferred two years later to the India Office, where he directed the Abyssinian War with conspicuous skill. Mr. Gladstone, though no longer a political ally, sent him to America in 1871 for the purpose of conducting the Alabama negotiations, and on Mr. Disraeli's return to power in 1874 he was made Chancellor of the Exchequer. On the elevation of his chief to the peerage, he took his place as leader of the House of Commons. After Lord Beaconsfield's death he became Lord Salisbury's partner and possible rival in the control of the party. In 1885 he was created a peer, and in 1886 was invited to accept the direction of Foreign Affairs. He soon resigned office, however, and died suddenly a few days later in 1887.

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