Page:The Complete Peerage Ed 2 Vol 3.djvu/513

 CRANBROOK 493 CRANBROOK OF HEMSTED VISCOUNTCY. I. Gathorne Hardy (afterwards, by Royal lic.(') . II May 1878, Gathorne-Hardy), 3rd and yst. s. of 1- i»7»- John H., of Dunstall Hall, co. Stafford, by Isabel, da. of FART DOM Richard Gathorne, of Kirkby Lonsdale, Westmorland, being br. of Sir John Hardy, Bart., so cr. 23 Feb. 1876. I. 1892. He was b. i Oct. 18 14, at Bradford, co. York; ed. at Shrewsbury school; matric. at Oxford (Oriel Coll.) 22 Nov. 1832, 2nd class classics and B.A. 1836, M.A. 1861, being cr. D.C.L., 13 June 1866. Barrister of the Inner Temple 1840, becoming a Bencher 1868; was M.P. (Conservative) for Leominster, 1856-65, and for Oxford Univ. 1865-78; Under Sec. for Home Department, 1858-59; P.C. 6 July 1866; Pres. of the Poor Law Board, 1866-67; Home Sec. May 1867 to Dec. 1868; Sec. for War, Feb. 1874 to Apr. 1878, and for a fortnight Jan. 1886; Sec. for India, 1878-80. On 4 May 1878, he was cr. VISCOUNT CRAN- BROOK OF HEMSTED, Kent.C) G.C.S.I. (extra) 20 Apr. 1880; Lord President of the Council (') June 1885 to Feb. 1886, and again Aug. 1886 to Aug. 1892, having been Chanc. of the Duchy of Lancaster for a fortnight in Aug. 1886. He was cr., 22 Aug. 1892, BARON MEDWAY OF HEMSTED PARK, co. Kent, and EARL OF CRANBROOK. He »;., 29 Mar. 1838, Jane, da. of James Orr, of Ballygowan and Hollywood House, CO. Down, by Jane, da. of Richard Stewart, of Ballymena, co. Antrim. She, who was Q.., d. 13 Nov. 1897, at Hemsted Park. Admon. 2 Jan. 1898, at ;{^ 1,059. He d. there 30 Oct., and was bur. 3 Nov. 1906, at Benenden, Kent, aged 92. Will pr. over ^{^274,000 gross. ('^) (") His mother, being one of a large family of sons and daughters, in no way represented the very respectable yeoman family of Gathorne, and he himself, the 3rd son of such mother, apparently derived no property from her or from it. (*>) This was one of the peerages conferred at the instance of Lord Salisbury on leaving office. See note sub I Baron Llangattock. (') For this and other great offices of state see vol. ii, Appendix D. C^) " Gathorne Hardy, first Earl of Cranbrook, was not quite in the front rank of Victorian statesmen. He was not of the stuff of which Prime Ministers are made, though he might have made a more capable and vigorous leader of the House of Com- mons than Stafford Northcote, who was preferred to him when Disraeli went to the House of Lords. But he was a very eminent public man of his day, a strong, capable, and painstaking Minister, sagacious in counsel and powerful in debate, a tower of strength to his party, a very ready help to his colleagues in all emergencies, a Minister who early won the full confidence and warm personal regard of Queen Victoria and thoroughly justified both throughout a long and varied official career, a man of en- gaging personal character, of strong family affections, and of exemplary conduct in all the relations of private life. Always ready, always combative, very often cogent and even eloquent, and never quailing before the most redoubtable of his adversaries, lucid in exposition and versatile in debate, he stood forth as a Minister of high mettle and capacity and as a powerful Parliamentary force." (TAf Tima, 24 Mar. 1910). A memoir of him, in 2 vols, ed. by his son, Alfred Gathorne-Hardy, was published in 1910. V.G.