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Lord Irwin

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Halifax
KG OM GCSI GCMG GCIE TD PC
1st Earl of Halifax 1947.jpg
The Earl of Halifax in 1947
20th Viceroy and Governor-General of India
In office
3 April 1926 – 18 April 1931
Monarch George V
Prime Minister
Preceded by The Earl of Reading
Succeeded by The Earl of Willingdon
Secretary of State for War
In office
7 June 1935 – 22 November 1935
Monarch George V
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by The Viscount Hailsham
Succeeded by Duff Cooper
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office
21 February 1938 – 22 December 1940
Prime Minister
Preceded by Anthony Eden
Succeeded by Anthony Eden
British Ambassador to the United States
In office
1940–1946
Monarch George VI
President
Prime Minister
Preceded by The Marquess of Lothian
Succeeded by The Lord Inverchapel
Leader of the House of Lords
In office
22 November 1935 – 21 February 1938
Monarch
Prime Minister
  • Stanley Baldwin
  • Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by The Marquess of Londonderry
Succeeded by The Earl Stanhope
In office
3 October 1940 – 22 December 1940
Monarch George VI
Prime Minister Winston Churchill
Preceded by The Viscount Caldecote
Succeeded by The Lord Lloyd
Lord President of the Council
In office
28 May 1937 – 9 March 1938
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by Ramsay MacDonald
Succeeded by The Viscount Hailsham
Lord Privy Seal
In office
1935–1937
Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by The Marquess of Londonderry
Succeeded by The Earl De La Warr
Chancellor of the University of Oxford
In office
1933–1959
Preceded by The Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Succeeded by Harold Macmillan
Personal details
Born Edward Frederick Lindley Wood
(1881-04-16)16 April 1881
Powderham Castle, Devon, England
Died 23 December 1959(1959-12-23) (aged 78)
Garrowby Hall, Yorkshire, England
Nationality British
Spouse(s) Lady Dorothy Evelyn Augusta Onslow
Religion Anglo-Catholic

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, TD, PC (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), styled Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was one of the most senior British Conservative politicians of the 1930s. He held several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of Viceroy of India from 1925 to 1931 and of Foreign Secretary between 1938 and 1940. He is regarded as one of the architects of the policy of appeasement prior to the Second World War, although after Hitler's occupation of the rump of Czechoslovakia in March 1939 he was also one of those who pushed for a new policy of attempting to deter further German aggression by promising to go to war to defend Poland.

On Neville Chamberlain's resignation early in May 1940, Halifax effectively declined the position of Prime Minister despite widespread support across the political spectrum, as he felt that Churchill would be a more suitable war leader (his membership of the House of Lords was given as the official reason). A few weeks later, with the Allies facing apparently catastrophic defeat and British forces falling back on Dunkirk, Halifax favoured approaching Italy to see if acceptable peace terms could be negotiated, but was overruled by Churchill after a series of stormy meetings of the War Cabinet. From 1941 to 1946, he served as British Ambassador in Washington.


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