The Right Honourable The Earl of Cranbrook GCSI PC |
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Home Secretary | |
In office 17 May 1867 – 3 December 1868 |
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Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister |
The Earl of Derby Benjamin Disraeli |
Preceded by | Spencer Horatio Walpole |
Succeeded by | Henry Bruce |
Lord President of the Council | |
In office 24 June 1885 – 6 February 1886 |
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Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
Preceded by | The Lord Carlingford |
Succeeded by | The Earl Spencer |
In office 3 August 1886 – 18 August 1892 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
Preceded by | The Earl Spencer |
Succeeded by | The Earl of Kimberley |
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster | |
In office 3 – 16 August 1886 |
|
Monarch | Queen Victoria |
Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
Preceded by | Sir Ughtred Kay-Shuttleworth, Bt |
Succeeded by | Lord John Manners |
Personal details | |
Born | 1 October 1814 |
Died | 30 October 1906 | (aged 92)
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) | Jane Orr (d. 1897) |
Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook GCSI PC (1 October 1814 – 30 October 1906), known as Gathorne Hardy until 1878, was a prominent British Conservative politician, a moderate, middle-of-the road Anglican. He held cabinet office in every Conservative government between 1858 and 1892 and notably served as Home Secretary from 1867 to 1868 and as Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1878.
Gathorne Hardy was the third son of John Hardy, of Bradford Manor, and Isabel, daughter of Richard Gathorne. His father was the main owner of the Low Moor ironworks and also represented Bradford in Parliament. He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Oriel College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1840. He established a successful legal practice on the Northern Circuit, being based at Leeds, but was denied when he applied for silk in 1855.
Hardy had unsuccessfully contested Bradford in the 1847 general election. However, after his father's death in 1855 he was able to concentrate fully on a political career, and in 1856 he was elected for Leominster. Only two years later, in 1858, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs in the second administration of the Earl of Derby. He remained in this office until the government fell in June 1859.