[1st Earl of Crewe]. English statesman and writer, born on the 12th of January 1858, being the son of Lord Houghton, and was educated at Harrow and Trinity, Cambridge. In 1880 he married Sibyl Marcia Graham, who died in 1887, leaving him with two daughters. He inherited his father’s literary tastes, and published Stray Verses in 1890, besides other miscellaneous literary work. A Liberal in politics, he became private secretary to Lord Granville when secretary of state for foreign affairs (1883–1884), and in 1886 was made a lord-in-waiting. In the Liberal administration of 1892–1895 he was lord-lieutenant for Ireland, having Mr. John Morley as chief secretary. In 1895 he was created 1st earl of Crewe, his maternal grandfather, the 2nd Baron Crewe, having left him his heir. In 1899 he married Lady Margaret Primrose, daughter of the 5th earl of Rosebery. In 1905 he became lord president of the council in the Liberal government; and in 1908, in Mr. Asquith’s cabinet, he became secretary of state for the colonies and Liberal leader in the House of Lords. He remained leader of the House of Lords through Mr. Asquith’s first administration, and during the Coalition Government of 1915–16. Though he was not Lord Granville’s equal in the difficult and delicate task of endeavouring to win the peers’ assent to a succession of unpalatable measures of Radical reform, he contrived, by his courtesy and charm, to retain their liking and respect throughout the critical period beginning with the budget of 1909. He succeeded Lord Morley at the India Office in November 1910, and attended, as Secretary of State, the King and Queen on their visit to India in the winter of 1911–12. He was responsible for the high acts of policy announced at the Delhi Durbar; the removal of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi, and the reunion of the two Bengals under a Governor-in-Council. At the coronation of King George he was promoted to a marquessate. In the first Coalition Government he was Lord President of the Council. He followed Mr. Asquith in declining to take office under Mr. Lloyd George; and after his resignation he continued to lead the independent Liberal opposition in the Lords. (See authored articles: Théodore de Banville, Victor Cherbuliez, Victor de Laprade.) See also “Seven Years” and “A Harrow Grave in Flanders.”
