Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Halifax
GCB PC
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
6 July 1846  21 February 1852
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister Lord John Russell
Preceded by Henry Goulburn
Succeeded by Benjamin Disraeli
Personal details
Born (1800-12-20)20 December 1800
Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England
Died 8 August 1885(1885-08-08) (aged 84)
Hickleton Hall, Doncaster, England
Nationality British
Political party Whig
Spouse(s) Lady Mary Grey (d. 1884)
Alma mater Oriel College, Oxford

Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax, GCB, PC (20 December 1800 – 8 August 1885), known as Sir Charles Wood, 3rd Bt between 1846 and 1866, was a British Whig politician and Member of Parliament. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846 to 1852.

Background

Halifax was the son of Sir Francis Wood, 2nd Baronet, and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Buck. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics.

Political career

A Liberal and Member of Parliament from 1826 to 1866, Wood served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord John Russell's government (1846 –1852), where he opposed any further help for Ireland during the Great Famine there. The extreme parsimony of the British Government towards Ireland while Wood was in charge of the Treasury greatly enhanced the suffering of those affected by famine. Wood believed in the economic policy of Laissez-faire and preferred to leave the Irish to starve rather than 'undermine the market' by allowing in cheap imported seed.[1] In his 1851 budget, Sir Charles liberalized trade, reduced taxes on imports duties and encouraged consumer goods. Disraeli, a former protectionist, would after Peel's death transform the party into a complex party machine that embraced free trade. In a speech an interim financial statement on 30 April 1852, Disraeli referred to Wood's influence on economic policy, setting a trend for the way budgets are presented in the Commons.[2] Tariff reduction led to a noticeable increase in consumption: the Conservatives moved from Derby-Bentinck protectionism towards a new politics during 1852. For Wood, a dry old stick, Disraeli was 'petulant and sarcastic,' qualities he disliked.[3]

Wood later served as President of the Board of Control under Lord Aberdeen (1852–1855), as First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Palmerston's first administration (1855–1858), and as Secretary of State for India in Palmerston's second government (1859––1866). He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1846, and in 1866 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Halifax, of Monk Bretton in the West Riding of the County of York.[4] After the unexpected death of Lord Clarendon necessitated a reshuffle of Gladstone's first cabinet, Halifax was brought in as Lord Privy Seal, serving from 1870 to 1874, his last public office.

Wood's despatch

Main article: Wood's despatch

As the President of the Board of Control, Wood did a yeoman's job in spreading education in India when in 1854 he sent a despatch to Lord Dalhousie, the then Governor-General of India. It was recommended therein that:

  1. An education department was to be set in every province.
  2. Universities on the model of the London university be established in big cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
  3. At least one government school be opened in every district.
  4. Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.
  5. The Indian natives should be given training in their mother tongue also.

In accordance with Wood's despatch, Education Departments were established in every province and universities were opened at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857 and in Punjab in 1882 and at Allahbad in 1887.

Family

Lord Halifax married Lady Mary Grey (3 May 1807 –6 July 1884), fifth daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey on 29 July 1829. They had four sons and three daughters:[5]

Lady Halifax died in 1884. Lord Halifax survived her by just over a year and died in August 1885, aged 84. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Charles, who was the father of E. F. L. Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax.

References

  1. Woodham Smith, Cecil, (1962) The Great Hunger. Penguin Books ISBN 9780140145151
  2. Hurd & Young, p.116.
  3. Hurd & Young, p.121.
  4. Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax of Monk Bretton. http://thepeerage.com/p4559.htm#i45588
  5. The Peerage, entry for 1st Viscount Halifax
An 1873 portrait of Lord Halifax by Anthony de Brie.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax.

Bibliography

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
William Duncombe
Charles Tennyson
Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
1826–1831
With: George Heneage 1826–1830
George Harris from 1830
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John Villiers Shelley
George Harris
Preceded by
John Calcraft
James Ewing
Member of Parliament for Wareham
1831–1832
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John Hales Calcraft
New constituency Member of Parliament for Halifax
1832–1865
With: Rawdon Briggs to 1835
James Stuart-Wortley 1835–1837
Edward Protheroe 1837–1847
Henry Edwards 1847–1852
Francis Crossley 1852–1959
James Stansfeld from 1859
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Edward Akroyd
James Stansfeld
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John Greenwood
Reginald Vyner
Member of Parliament for Ripon
1865–1866
With: Robert Kearsley
Succeeded by
Robert Kearsley
Lord John Hay
Political offices
Preceded by
Edward Ellice
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
1832–1834
Succeeded by
Sir George Clerk, Bt
Preceded by
George Robert Dawson
First Secretary of the Admiralty
1835–1839
Succeeded by
Richard More O'Ferrall
Preceded by
Henry Goulburn
Chancellor of the Exchequer
1846–1852
Succeeded by
Benjamin Disraeli
Preceded by
John Charles Herries
President of the Board of Control
1852–1855
Succeeded by
Robert Vernon Smith
Preceded by
Sir James Graham, Bt
First Lord of the Admiralty
1855–1858
Succeeded by
Sir John Pakington, Bt
Preceded by
Lord Stanley
Secretary of State for India
1859–1866
Succeeded by
The Earl de Grey
Preceded by
The Earl of Kimberley
Lord Privy Seal
1870–1874
Succeeded by
The Earl of Malmesbury
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Viscount Halifax
1866–1885
Succeeded by
Charles Lindley Wood
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Francis Wood
Baronet
(of Barnsley) 
1846–1885
Succeeded by
Charles Lindley Wood
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