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The Earl of Halifax | |
|---|---|
 Halifax in 1947 | |
| Prime Minister of the United Kingdom | |
| In office 10 May 1940 – 1 June 1942 | |
| Monarch | George VI |
| Preceded by | Neville Chamberlain |
| Succeeded by | Winston Churchill |
| Leader of the House of Lords | |
| In office 22 November 1935 – 21 February 1938 | |
| Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
| Preceded by | Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry |
| Succeeded by | The Earl Stanhope |
| Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
| In office 21 February 1938 – 10 May 1940 | |
| Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
| Preceded by | Anthony Eden |
| Succeeded by | Anthony Eden |
| Secretary of State for War | |
| In office 7 June 1935 – 22 November 1935 | |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham |
| Succeeded by | Duff Cooper |
| Lord President of the Council | |
| In office 28 May 1937 – 9 March 1938 | |
| Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
| Preceded by | Ramsay MacDonald |
| Succeeded by | Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham |
| Lord Privy Seal | |
| In office 22 November 1935 – 28 May 1937 | |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry |
| Succeeded by | Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr |
| Chancellor of the University of Oxford | |
| In office 1933–1959 | |
| Preceded by | Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon |
| Succeeded by | Harold Macmillan |
| Viceroy and Governor-General of India | |
| In office 3 April 1926 – 18 April 1931 | |
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister |
|
| Preceded by | Rufus Isaacs, 1st Earl of Reading |
| Succeeded by | Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon |
| Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries | |
| In office 6 November 1924 – 4 November 1925 | |
| Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | Noel Buxton |
| Succeeded by | Walter Guinness |
| President of the Board of Education | |
| In office 24 October 1922 – 22 January 1924 | |
| Prime Minister | Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin |
| Preceded by | H. A. L. Fisher |
| Succeeded by | Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet |
| Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
| In office 1 April 1921 – 24 October 1922 | |
| Prime Minister | David Lloyd George |
| Preceded by | Leo Amery |
| Succeeded by | William Ormsby-Gore |
| Member of the House of Lords | |
Lord Temporal | |
| as a hereditary peer 5 December 1925 – 23 December 1959 | |
| Preceded by | Created Baron Irwin in 1925 (inherited his father's titles in 1934) |
| Succeeded by | Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax |
| Member of Parliament for Ripon | |
| In office 10 February 1910 – 5 December 1925 | |
| Preceded by | H. F. B. Lynch |
| Succeeded by | John Hills |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Edward Frederick Lindley Wood 16 April 1881 Powderham Castle, Exminster, England |
| Died | 23 December 1959 (aged 78) Garrowby, England |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 5, including Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax, and Richard Wood, Baron Holderness |
| Parents | |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, TD, PC (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as the Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and the Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 1930s. He held several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of Viceroy of India from 1926 to 1931 and of Foreign Secretary between 1938 and 1940. He was one of the architects of the policy of appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1936–1938, working closely with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. After Kristallnacht on 9–10 November 1938 and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he was 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 Chamberlain's resignation early in May 1940, Halifax effectively declined the position of prime minister as he felt that Winston Churchill would be a more suitable war leader (Halifax's membership in the House of Lords was given as the official reason). A few weeks later, with the Allies nearing catastrophic defeat and British forces falling back to Dunkirk, Halifax favoured approaching Italy to see if acceptable peace terms could be negotiated. He was overruled by Churchill after a series of stormy meetings of the War cabinet. From 1941 to 1946, he served as British Ambassador to the United States.