Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 2.djvu/155

 his surroundings and to be popular with his schoolfellows. He rose to be head of the school, and in that capacity he made his first reported speech, on the occasion of the resignation of the headmaster, A. C. Tait (afterwards archbishop of Canterbury). Amongst the boys he had been already recognised as the best debater in the school, especially in reply. Though his rise in the school had been rapid, it was not till June 1848 that he achieved positive distinction by winning the prize for the English essay; and shortly afterwards the English prize poem for the year. In 1849 he won the Queen's medal for the English historical essay; and in 1850, the prize for the Latin essay, 'Marcus Tullius Cicero.' In the autumn of 1850, after a couple of months of travel on the continent, Goschen entered Oxford as a commoner of Oriel. He failed to win scholarships at University and Trinity, but in 1852 his college awarded him an exhibition. Though in the technical Oxford sense his 'scholarship' was not considered pre-eminent, he obtained a double first in classical honours, with the general reputation in 1853 of having been 'the best first in.' At the Union he won great fame by his speeches on political and literary subjects ; and in his last year was president of that society. In the previous year he had founded the 'Essay Club,' of which the original members were Arthur Butler, first headmaster of Haileybury, Charles Stuart Parker of University, H. N. Oxenham, the Hon. George Brodrick, W. H. Fremantle of Balliol, and Charles Henry Pearson (cf. Memorials of Charles Henry Pearson, 1900). Having graduated B.A. in 1853, Goschen entered actively into the business of his father's firm, by whom in October 1854 he was sent to superintend affairs in New Granada, now part of the United States of Colombia. After two years in South America he returned home, and on 22 Sept. 1857 married Lucy, daughter of John Dalley, a marriage which greatly conduced to the happiness of his future life. He now energetically devoted himself to business in London, rapidly making a reputation with commercial men, amongst whom he was known as the 'Fortunate Youth.' When only twenty-seven he was made a director of the Bank of England. In 1861 he achieved wider fame by publishing his 'Theory of the Foreign Exchanges' (5th edit. 1864), a treatise which won the attention of financial authorities and business men all over the world, and which has been translated into the principal languages of Europe. In 1863 a vacancy having occurred in the representation of the City of London, Goschen was returned unopposed as a supporter of Lord Palmerston's government. His views were those of a strong liberal, as liberalism was understood in those days ; and he pledged himself to the ballot, abolition of church rates, and the removal of religious disabilities. On the latter subject, the abolition of tests in the universities, he took a leading position in the House of Commons, fiercely contending with Lord Robert Cecil (afterwards Lord Salisbury) [q. v. Suppl. II], who struggled hard to maintain the old close connection between the universities and the Church of England. At the opening of the session of 1864 Goschen achieved a marked success in seconding the address to the speech from the throne. But the pains which he took to distinguish his position in the liberal party, especially as regards foreign policy, from that taken up by Richard Cobden and John Bright, called forth, not unnaturally, vigorous remonstrance from the former (Life, i . 71). Before parliament was dissolved (July 1865), Goschen' s knowledge of commercial matters, his brilliant speech on the address, and his ability in fighting the battle against tests, had given him a good standing in the House of Commons ; and when the new parliament met. Lord Russell, who had succeeded Lord Palmerston as prime minister, invited him to join his ministry as vice-president of the board of trade (November 1865); and two months later to enter his cabinet as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (January 1866). On the same day Lord Hartington (afterwards Duke of Devonshire) [q. v. Suppl. II], with whom in after years Goschen was to be closely associated, entered the cabinet for the first time.

Goschen now retired finally from business and from the firm of Frühling & Göschen, and henceforward devoted himself wholly to a political career. In the short-lived ministry of Lord Russell, and on the front bench of opposition during the Derby-Disraeli government which succeeded it, Goschen took an active part with Gladstone and other leading liberals in the reform struggles of the day. At the dissolution of 1868, standing as a strenuous advocate of Irish disestablishment, he was returned again for the City, this time at the head of the poll; and on Gladstone's forming his first administration, Goschen entered his cabinet as president of the poor law board. There he showed great zeal as a reformer of local