George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen

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The Earl of Aberdeen

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
In office 19 December 1852 – 30 January 1855
Preceded by	The Earl of Derby
Succeeded by	The Viscount Palmerston

Born	28 January 1784 Edinburgh
Died	14 December 1860 London
Political party	Peelite

George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, KG, KT, PC (28 January 1784 – 14 December 1860) was a Scottish Tory/Peelite politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.

1 Early life
2 Period 1801–1812
3 Official and political career
4 Death, successors to title, and other personal matters
5 See also
6 Succession
7 References

[edit] Early life

Born in Edinburgh on 28 January 1784, he was the eldest son of George Gordon, Lord Haddo. He lost his father in 1791 and his mother in 1795. He was brought up by Henry Dundas, Viscount Melville. He was educated at Harrow, and St John's College, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1804.

[edit] Period 1801–1812

Before this, however, he had become Earl of Aberdeen on his grandfather's death in 1801, and had travelled all over Europe. On his return to England, he founded the Athenian Society. In 1805, he married Catherine Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of Lord Abercorn. In December he took his seat as a Tory Scottish representative peer in the House of Lords. In 1808, he was created a Knight of the Thistle.

[edit] Official and political career

Following the death of his wife in 1812 he joined the Foreign Service. He was appointed ambassador extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary at Vienna, where he signed the Treaty of Toplitz between Britain and Austria in October 1813. He was one of the British representatives at the Congress of Chatillon in February 1814, and at the negotiations which led to the Treaty of Paris in the following May.

Returning home he was created a peer of the United Kingdom as Viscount Gordon, of Aberdeen in the County of Aberdeen (1814), and made a member of the Privy Council. In July 1815 he married Harriet, daughter of John Douglas, and widow of James, Viscount Hamilton. During the ensuing thirteen years Aberdeen took a less prominent part in public affairs.

He served as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster (1828) and Foreign Secretary (1829-30) under Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. He resigned with Wellington over the Reform Bill of 1832. He was Secretary for the Colonies (1834-35) and then Foreign Secretary (1841-46) under Robert Peel. It was during his second stint as Foreign Secretary that he settled two disagreements with the US - the Northeast Boundary dispute by the Webster-Ashburton Treaty (1842), and the Oregon dispute by the Oregon Treaty of 1846. He also worked successfully to improve relationships with France. He again followed his leader and resigned with Peel over the issue of the Corn Laws.

After Peel's death in 1850 he became the recognized leader of the Peelites. His dislike of the Ecclesiastical Titles Assumption Bill, the rejection of which he failed to secure in 1851, prevented him from joining the government of Lord John Russell.

In December 1852, however, be became Prime Minister and headed a coalition ministry of Whigs and Peelites. Although united on free trade and on questions of domestic reform, his cabinet which contained Lord Palmerston and Lord John Russell, was certain to differ on questions of foreign policy.

He entered the country into the Crimean War on the side of the Ottoman Empire following pressure from some of his cabinet. Palmerston, supported by Russell, favoured a more aggressive policy, and Aberdeen, unable to control Palmerston, acquiesced.

However the war proved his downfall. As reports returned detailing the mis-management of the conflict Russell resigned; and on 29 January 1855 a motion for the appointment of a select committee to enquire into the conduct of the war, was carried by a large majority. Treating this as a vote of confidence Aberdeen resigned.

[edit] Death, successors to title, and other personal matters

He died in London on 14 December 1860, and was buried in the family vault at Stanmore.

By his first wife he had one son and three daughters, all of whom predeceased their father. By his second wife, who died in August 1833, he left four sons and one daughter. His eldest son, George John James, succeeded as 5th Earl; his second son was General Sir Alexander Hamilton-Gordon, K.C.B.; his third son was the Reverend Douglas Hamilton-Gordon; and his youngest son Arthur Hamilton, was created Baron Stanmore in 1893.

Aberdeen was a distinguished scholar. His private life is believed to be exemplary by the standards of the day. His manner was lofty and reserved, and as a speaker he was ponderous rather than eloquent. It is said that he lacked strength and his foreign policy was essentially one of peace and non-intervention.

On his death his title passed to his son George Hamilton-Gordon (1816-1864) whose eldest son George Hamilton-Gordon (1841-1870) became the 6th earl. When he was drowned at sea, he was succeeded by his brother John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon (1847-1934), a prominent Liberal politician, who was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland in 1886, Governor-General of Canada (1893-1898), and again the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman formed his ministry at the close of 1905. He was made Marquess of Aberdeen and Temair on 4 January 1916.

In 1994 novelist, columnist and politician Ferdinand Mount used George Gordon's life as the basis for a historical novel -Umbrella.

[edit] See also

Aberdeen Ministry

[edit] Succession

Political offices
Preceded by The Lord Bexley	Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster 1828	Succeeded by Charles Arbuthnot
Preceded by The Earl of Dudley	Foreign Secretary 1828–1830	Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by Thomas Spring Rice	Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1834–1835	Succeeded by The Lord Glenelg
Preceded by The Viscount Palmerston	Foreign Secretary 1841–1846	Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by The Earl of Derby	Leader of the House of Lords 1852–1855	Succeeded by The Earl Granville
Preceded by The Earl of Derby	Prime Minister of the United Kingdom 1852–1855	Succeeded by The Viscount Palmerston
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by none last incumbent Sir Arthur Paget	British Ambassador to Austria 1813–1814	Succeeded by The Lord Stewart
Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by George Gordon	Earl of Aberdeen 1801–1860	Succeeded by George Hamilton-Gordon
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by New Creation	Viscount Gordon 1814–1860	Succeeded by George Hamilton-Gordon