George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford

George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford (22 February 1830 – 28 March 1898), styled Viscount Enfield between 1860 and 1886, was a British Liberal politician.

The Earl of Strafford
"Answers questions"
Viscount Enfield as caricatured by Adriano Cecioni in Vanity Fair. September 1872
Under-Secretary of State
for Foreign Affairs
In office
9 January 1871 – 17 February 1874
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone
Preceded byArthur Otway
Succeeded byHon. Robert Bourke
Under-Secretary of State for India
In office
1 September 1880 – 16 January 1883
MonarchVictoria
Prime MinisterWilliam Ewart Gladstone
Preceded byThe Marquess of Lansdowne
Succeeded byJohn Kynaston Cross
Personal details
Born22 February 1830 (1830-02-22)
Died28 March 1898 (1898-03-29) (aged 68)
Westminster, London, England
NationalityBritish
Political partyLiberal
Spouse(s)Lady Alice Egerton
(d. 1928)
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

Background and education

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Byng was the eldest son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford and his wife, Lady Agnes, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey.[1] He was educated at Eton and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1852.[2]

Political career

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In 1852 Byng entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for Tavistock, a seat he held until 1857,[3] when he became MP for Middlesex.[4] He served under Lord Russell as Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board between 1865 and 1866 and under William Ewart Gladstone as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1871 and 1874.[5]

In 1874, Lord Enfield left the House of Commons when he was defeated at the general election, but was then called up to the House of Lords in his father's barony of Strafford.[6] He again held office under Gladstone as a Lord-in-waiting in 1880 and as Under-Secretary of State for India between 1880 and 1883.[5]

Lord Strafford was also First Civil Service Commissioner from 1880 to 1888[2] and Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex from 1884 to 1888.[5] When the first Middlesex County Council was formed in 1889, he was chosen as a County Alderman, serving until 1895.[7] Throughout his political career, he served with the part-time Royal West Middlesex Militia, becoming Lieutenant-Colonel on 30 October 1853 when his father was the Colonel. On 21 September 1871 he took over from his father as Honorary Colonel of the regiment, being succeeded in his turn by his younger brother Henry on 15 June 1878.[8]

In 1886, he succeeded his father in the earldom of Strafford.

Interests

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He was the third President of the Folklore Society, serving in that role between 1885 and 1888. It has been argued that his links with the Society should be seen more as "aristocratic patronage" rather than active research interest in the topic.[9]

Family

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Lord Strafford married Lady Alice Harriet Frederica, eldest daughter of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, on 25 July 1854. They had no children. He died at the family home in St. James's Square in March 1898, aged 68, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Henry. The Countess of Strafford died in December 1928.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b Lundy, Darryl. "p. 1110 § 11096 George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford". The Peerage.[unreliable source]
  2. ^ a b "Obituary – The Earl of Strafford". The Times. No. 35476. London. 29 March 1898. p. 10.
  3. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Tain Burghs to Tipperary North". Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Mayo to Minehead". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  5. ^ a b c Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, [page needed]
  6. ^ "No. 24068". The London Gazette. 24 February 1874. p. 827.
  7. ^ The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex : 76 Years of Local Government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965. Middlesex County Council. 1965. p. 10.
  8. ^ Lt-Col H.G. Hart, The New Annual Army List, and Militia List (various dates from 1840).
  9. ^ Nicolaisen, W. F. H. (1 June 2003). "Presidential Preferences". Folklore. 114 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1080/0015587032000059852. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 216643770.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Tavistock
18521857
With: Samuel Carter 1852–1853
Robert Phillimore 1853–1857
Sir John Trelawney 1857
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Middlesex
18571874
With: Robert Hanbury 1857–1867
Henry Labouchere 1867–1868
Lord George Hamilton 1868–1874
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board
1865–1866
Succeeded by
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
1871–1874
Succeeded by
Preceded by Under-Secretary of State for India
1880–1883
Succeeded by
Government offices
Preceded by First Civil Service Commissioner
1880–1888
Succeeded by
Honorary titles
Preceded by Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex
1884–1898
Succeeded by
New post President of Middlesex County Cricket Club
1866 – 1876 and 1877 – 1898
Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Earl of Strafford
1886–1898
Succeeded by
Baron Strafford
(writ in acceleration)

1874–1898