George Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon
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George Herbert Hyde Villiers, 6th Earl of Clarendon KG, PC (June 7, 1877 – December 13, 1955), known as Lord Hyde from 1877 to 1914, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Governor-General of the Union of South Africa from 1931 to 1937.
Clarendon was the only son of Edward Hyde Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon and his wife Lady Caroline Elizabeth Agar, daughter of James Agar, 3rd Earl of Normanton. George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, three times Foreign Secretary, was his grandfather. Clarendon took his seat on the Conservative benches in the House of Lords on his father's death in 1914. When Andrew Bonar Law became Prime Minister in 1922 he appointed Clarendon Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (government chief whip in the House of Lords), a position he also held under Stanley Baldwin until January 1924, and again from December 1924 to 1925. He then served as the first Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs until 1927. In 1931 Clarendon was appointed Governor-General of South Africa, in which position he remained until 1937. He later held the court position of Lord Chamberlain of the Household between 1938 to 1952. He was admitted to the Privy Council in 1931 and made a Knight of the Garter in 1937.
Lord Clarendon married Adeline Verena Ishbel Cocks, daughter of Herbert Haldane Somers Cocks, in 1905. He died in December 1955, aged 78. His eldest son George Villiers, Lord Hyde, had been killed in a shooting accident in 1935 and he was succeeded in the earldom by his grandson George Frederick Laurence Hyde Villiers.
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by The Lord Colebrooke |
Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1922–1924 |
Succeeded by — |
| Preceded by — |
Captain of the Gentlemen-at-Arms 1924–1925 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Plymouth |
| Preceded by New office |
Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs 1925–1927 |
Succeeded by The Lord Lovat |
| Preceded by The Earl of Athlone |
Governor-General of South Africa 1931–1937 |
Succeeded by Sir Patrick Duncan |
| Preceded by The Earl of Cromer |
Lord Chamberlain 1938–1952 |
Succeeded by The Earl of Scarbrough |
| Other Offices | ||
| Preceded by Joseph Albert Pease |
Chairman of the BBC Board of Governors 1927 - 1930 |
Succeeded by John Henry Whitley |
| Peerage of Great Britain | ||
| Preceded by Edward Villiers |
Earl of Clarendon 1914–1955 |
Succeeded by George Villiers |
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Categories: Peerage of Great Britain earl stubs | South African politician stubs | Governors-General of South Africa | Knights of the Garter | Earls in the Peerage of Great Britain | 1877 births | 1955 deaths | Recipients of the Royal Victorian Chain | BBC Governors | Bailiffs Grand Cross of the Order of St John
