Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook

The Earl of Northbrook  PC, GCSI, FRS
Viceroy of India
In office 3 May 1872 – 12 April 1876
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	The Lord Napier
Succeeded by	The Lord Lytton
Born	22 January 1826 (1826-01-22)
Died	15 November 1904 (1904-11-16) Stratton Park, Hampshire
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Sturt (1827-1867)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Thomas George Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook PC, GCSI, FRS (22 January 1826 – 15 November 1904), was a British Liberal politician and statesman. He was Viceroy of India between 1872 and 1876 and First Lord of the Admiralty between 1880 and 1885.

Background and education

Northbrook was the eldest son of the Francis Baring, 1st Baron Northbrook, by his first wife Jane, daughter of the Hon. Sir George Grey, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford,^[1] where he graduated with honors in 1846.

Political career

Northbrook then entered upon a political career, and was successively private secretary to Henry Labouchere, Sir George Grey, and Sir Charles Wood. In 1857, he was returned to the House of Commons for Penryn and Falmouth, which constituency he continued to represent until he became a peer on the death of his father in 1866. He served under Lord Palmerston as a Lord of the Admiralty between 1857 and 1858, as Under-Secretary of State for War in 1861, as Under-Secretary of State for India between 1861 and 1864, under Palmerston and Lord Russell as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department between 1864 and 1866 and under Russell as Secretary to the Admiralty in 1866.

When William Gladstone acceded to power in 1868, Baring was again appointed Under-Secretary of State for War, and this office he held until February 1872, when he was appointed Viceroy of India. In January 1876, however, he resigned. He had recommended the conclusion of arrangements with Sher Ali which, as has since been admitted, would have prevented the Second Afghan War; but his policy was overruled by the Duke of Argyll, then Secretary of State for India. in 1876 he was created Viscount Baring, of Lee in the County of Kent, and Earl of Northbrook, in the County of Southampton.

From 1880 to 1885 Northbrook held the post of First Lord of the Admiralty in Gladstone's second government. During his tenure of office the state of the navy aroused much public anxiety and led to a strong agitation in favor of an extended shipbuilding programme. The agitation called forth Tennyson's poem The Fleet. In September 1884, Northbrook was sent to Egypt as special commissioner to inquire into its finances and condition. The inquiry was largely unnecessary, all the essential facts being well known, but the mission was a device of Gladstone's to avoid an immediate decision on a perplexing question. Northbrook, after six weeks of inquiry in Egypt, sent in two reports, one general, advising against the withdrawal of the I British garrison, one financial. His financial proposals, if accepted, would have substituted the financial control of Britain for the international control proposed at the London Conference of June-August of the same year, but this was not carried out. When Gladstone formed his third ministry in 1886 Baring held aloof, being opposed to the Home Rule policy of the premier; and he then ceased to take a prominent part in political life. In 1890 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire.

Family

Lord Northbrook married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Charles Sturt and sister of Lord Alington, in 1848. They had two sons and one daughter. She died in June 1867, aged 40. Lord Northbrook remained a widower until his death at Stratton Park, Hampshire, in November 1904, aged 78. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, Francis.^[2]

References

• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica, Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

External links

• Archival material relating to Thomas Baring, 1st Earl of Northbrook listed at the UK National Register of Archives