Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/215

 promoter in 1879 of the scheme to erect a statue in Westminster Abbey as a memorial to the Prince Imperial. Owing to opposition in Parliament the statue was eventually placed in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. At the general election of 1880 he stood unsuccessfully as a con- servative for his father's former constituency at Evesham. He was knighted on the resignation of Lord Beaconsfield's government in April 1880.

On 19 April 1883, on the occasion of unveiling Lord Beaconsfield's statue at Westminster on the second anniversary of his death, an article in the 'Morning Post' inaugurated the devotion of that day to an annual national celebration of the states- man's memory. Borthwick also claimed that the Primrose League, the details of which Sir Henry Drummond Wolff [q. v. Suppl. II.] devised, owed its first suggestion to the 'Morning Post.' Borthwick never ceased to take a prominent part in the conduct of the league. When the constituencies were rearranged after the Redistribution Act (1885), Borthwick, who had paid special attention to conservative organisation in Chelsea, became conservative candidate for South Kensington, and was returned by a majority of over 2000 in November. His majority was increased next year, and he was unopposed in 1892. In the House of Commons he played no conspicuous part. His most successful achievement was in 1888, when he carried a measure amending the law of libel in the interest of newspaper editors. The political question to which he attached most importance was that of tariff reform^ which was known while he was in the House of Commons as 'fair trade.' The 'Morning Post' had always opposed free trade from the days when it supported Lord George Bentinck in 1846, and Borthwick never wavered in his convictions. He attached himself closely to Lord Randolph Churchill, whose fortunes he never forsook, and whose fall he always deplored. But he had entered Parliament at a time of life (fifty-five) when it was hardly possible to succeed. In 1887 he was created a baronet on the occasion of Queen Victoria's Jubilee, and in 1895 he retired from the House of Commons on being raised to the peerage as Baron Glenesk. At the same time he made over the control of the 'Morning Post' to his only son, Oliver.

Glenesk's social position grew with the prosperity of his paper. In 1870 he had married Alice, younger daughter of Thomas Henry Lister [q. v.] of Armitage Park, Staffordshire. Her mother, Lady Maria Theresa, was daughter of George Villiers and sister of George William Villiers, fourth earl of Clarendon [q. v.] ; she married after Lister's death Sir George Cornewall Lewis [q. v.] [see ]. Her two daughters were brought up among prominent and interest- ing people, and the elder, Maria Theresa, was first wife of Sir William Harcourt [q. v. Suppl. II], who was thus Borthwick's brother-in-law and became a close friend. Borthwick's wife proved, in spite of bad health, a celebrated hostess. Their first house was in Eaton Place (1871-84). In 1884 they moved to 139 Piccadilly (rebuilt on the site of what was once Lord Byron's house). Two years later they bought a house on Hampstead Heath ; and they long rented Invercauld and Glen Muick in Scotland, where in the autumn they came into close relations with Queen Victoria at Balmoral and exchanged visits with her and other members of the royal family. Finally they bought the Chateau St. Michel at Cannes. In 1898 Lady Glenesk died at Cannes, and Lord Glenesk's activity was afterwards much diminished. A further calamity befell him in the death on 23 March 1905 of his son Oliver (1873-1905), who had controlled the 'Morning Post' since 1895, had temporarily edited it Jan.-June 1895, and had exhibited remarkable ability as a journalist and great powers of initiative and organisation. On his son's death Lord Glenesk, then in his seventy-fifth year, went back to work in the office for his few remaining years. He died in his house in Piccadilly on 24 Nov. 1908, and was buried near his wife at Hampstead. His only other child, Lilias Margaret Frances, married in 1893 Seymour Henry Bathurst, seventh Earl Bathurst, and to her was bequeathed, with his other property, the possession of the 'Morning Post.' A portrait in oils of Borthwick before his ele- vation to the peerage was painted by Carlo Pellegrini [q. v.], 'Ape' of 'Vanity Fair.'

Glenesk was always keenly interested in theatrical matters, and had a wide acquaintance amongst actors and actresses (cf. The Bancrofts, 1909, pp. 312 sq.). He was a prominent member of the Garrick Club. He was closely associated, too, with many public and charitable institutions. In 1885 he succeeded Lord Houghton as president of the Newspaper Press Fund, to which he was a generous benefactor. He was also a liberal supporter of the Newspaper Benevolent Association, the