George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Strafford
The Right Honourable The Earl of Strafford
	"Answers questions"; Viscount Enfield as caricatured by Adriano Cecioni in Vanity Fair. September 1872
Under-Secretary of State ; for Foreign Affairs
	In office; 9 January 1871 – 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Arthur Otway
Succeeded by	Hon. Robert Bourke
Under-Secretary of State for India
	In office; 1 September 1880 – 16 January 1883
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	The Marquess of Lansdowne
Succeeded by	John Kynaston Cross
Personal details
Born	22 February 1830
Died	28 March 1898 (aged 68); Westminster, London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lady Alice Egerton ; (d. 1928)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford (22 February 1830 – 28 March 1898), styled Viscount Enfield between 1860 and 1886, was a British Liberal politician.

Background and education[edit]

Byng was the eldest son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford and his wife, Lady Agnes, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey.^[1] He was educated at Eton and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1852.^[2]

Political career[edit]

In 1852 Byng entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for Tavistock, a seat he held until 1857,^[3] when he became MP for Middlesex.^[4] He served under Lord Russell as Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board between 1865 and 1866 and under William Ewart Gladstone as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1871 and 1874.^[5]

In 1874, Lord Enfield left the House of Commons when he was defeated at the general election, but was then called up to the House of Lords in his father's barony of Strafford.^[6] He again held office under Gladstone as a Lord-in-waiting in 1880 and as Under-Secretary of State for India between 1880 and 1883.^[5]

Lord Strafford was also First Civil Service Commissioner from 1880 to 1888^[2] and Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex from 1884 to 1888.^[5] When the first Middlesex County Council was formed in 1889, he was chosen as a County Alderman, serving until 1895.^[7] Throughout his political career, he served with the part-time Royal West Middlesex Militia, becoming Lieutenant-Colonel on 30 October 1853 when his father was the Colonel. On 21 September 1871 he took over from his father as Honorary Colonel of the regiment, being succeeded in his turn by his younger brother Henry on 15 June 1878.^[8]

In 1886, he succeeded his father in the earldom of Strafford.

Interests[edit]

He was the third President of the Folklore Society, serving in that role between 1885 and 1888. It has been argued that his links with the Society should be seen more as "aristocratic patronage" rather than active research interest in the topic.^[9]

Family[edit]

Lord Strafford married Lady Alice Harriet Frederica, eldest daughter of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, on 25 July 1854. They had no children. He died at the family home in St. James's Square in March 1898, aged 68, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Henry. The Countess of Strafford died in December 1928.^[1]

References[edit]

^ ^a ^b Lundy, Darryl. "p. 1110 § 11096 George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford". The Peerage.^{[unreliable source]}
^ ^a ^b "Obituary – The Earl of Strafford". The Times. No. 35476. London. 29 March 1898. p. 10.
^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Tain Burghs to Tipperary North". Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Mayo to Minehead". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ ^a ^b ^c Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}
^ "No. 24068". The London Gazette. 24 February 1874. p. 827.
^ The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex : 76 Years of Local Government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965. Middlesex County Council. 1965. p. 10.
^ Lt-Col H.G. Hart, The New Annual Army List, and Militia List (various dates from 1840).
^ Nicolaisen, W. F. H. (1 June 2003). "Presidential Preferences". Folklore. 114 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1080/0015587032000059852. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 216643770.

External links[edit]

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Strafford

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Hon. Edward Russell Samuel Carter	Member of Parliament for Tavistock 1852 – 1857 With: Samuel Carter 1852–1853 Robert Phillimore 1853–1857 Sir John Trelawney 1857	Succeeded by Sir John Trelawney Lord Arthur Russell
Preceded by Lord Robert Grosvenor Robert Hanbury	Member of Parliament for Middlesex 1857 – 1874 With: Robert Hanbury 1857–1867 Henry Labouchere 1867–1868 Lord George Hamilton 1868–1874	Succeeded by Lord George Hamilton Octavius Coope
Political offices
Preceded by Charles Gilpin	Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board 1865–1866	Succeeded by Ralph Anstruther Earle
Preceded by Arthur Otway	Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1871–1874	Succeeded by Hon. Robert Bourke
Preceded by The Marquess of Lansdowne	Under-Secretary of State for India 1880–1883	Succeeded by John Kynaston Cross
Government offices
Preceded by The Lord Hampton	First Civil Service Commissioner 1880–1888	Succeeded by Sir George Webbe Dasent
Honorary titles
Preceded by The Duke of Wellington	Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex 1884–1898	Succeeded by The Duke of Bedford
New post	President of Middlesex County Cricket Club 1866 – 1876 and 1877 – 1898	Succeeded by Edward Walker
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by George Byng	Earl of Strafford 1886–1898	Succeeded by Henry Byng
Preceded by George Byng	Baron Strafford (writ in acceleration) 1874–1898	Succeeded by Henry Byng

[thepeerage.com-1] Lundy, Darryl. "p. 1110 § 11096 George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford". The Peerage.^{[unreliable source]}

[obit-2] "Obituary – The Earl of Strafford". The Times. No. 35476. London. 29 March 1898. p. 10.

[3] "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Tain Burghs to Tipperary North". Archived from the original on 15 July 2018. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[4] "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Mayo to Minehead". Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 5 December 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

[debrett-5] Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, ^{[page needed]}

[6] "No. 24068". The London Gazette. 24 February 1874. p. 827.

[7] The County Council of the Administrative County of Middlesex : 76 Years of Local Government, 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1965. Middlesex County Council. 1965. p. 10.

[8] Lt-Col H.G. Hart, The New Annual Army List, and Militia List (various dates from 1840).

[9] Nicolaisen, W. F. H. (1 June 2003). "Presidential Preferences". Folklore. 114 (1): 1–12. doi:10.1080/0015587032000059852. ISSN 0015-587X. S2CID 216643770.

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