Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
The Earl of Plymouth | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Paymaster General | |
| In office December 1890 – 11 August 1892 | |
| Monarch | Queen Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Jersey |
| Succeeded by | Charles Seale-Hayne |
| First Commissioner of Works | |
| In office 11 August 1902 – 4 December 1905 | |
| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Arthur Balfour |
| Preceded by | Aretas Akers-Douglas |
| Succeeded by | Lewis Vernon Harcourt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 27 August 1857 |
| Died | 6 March 1923 (aged 65) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse | Alberta Paget (1863-1944) |
Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth, GBE, CB, PC (27 August 1857 – 6 March 1923), known as The Lord Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician. He was the founding President of the London Society.
Background
Plymouth was born at John Street, Berkeley Square, London,[1] the son of the Hon. Robert Windsor-Clive, son of the Hon. Robert Clive and Harriett, 13th Baroness Windsor, daughter of Other Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth. His mother was Lady Mary Selina Louisa, daughter of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford. In 1869 he succeeded his grandmother in the barony of Windsor.[2] He was educated at Eton College and admitted to St John's College, Cambridge in 1875. He graduated B.A. in 1878, M.A. in 1891, and was awarded an honorary LL.D by the university in 1900.[3]
Landowner
As Lord Windsor he commissioned Bodley and Garner to build a new country house at his estate in Hewell Grange near Tardebigge, Worcestershire, which was completed in 1884–1891. The estate had been a seat of the Windsor family since the 16th century (his family tie to The Windsors was via his paternal grandmother. He was not a Windsor by birth, but a Clive by his father. His grandmother put a hyphen in her name upon her marriage and her son carried it on, but putting a hyphen in your name does not change the male line you descend from). There are several ruins of earlier houses on the estate, and a large number of listed buildings, structures and statues.[4]
The Windsor-Clives also lived at St Fagans Castle near Cardiff, mainly during the summer months.[5] The sixteenth-century house is now part of the National Museum of Wales, to which it was donated following the death of the 2nd Earl, and is furnished and decorated as it would have been during their residence.
Political career
As Lord Windsor he served under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster General between 1890 and 1892 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1891.[6] Under Arthur Balfour he was First Commissioner of Works between 11 August 1902 and the Liberal election in 1905,[7] during which period he was responsible for the transformation of The Mall into a processional carriageway and passed the plans for the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace.[8]
In 1905 the earldom of Plymouth held by his great-grandfather (which had become extinct in 1843) was revived when he was created Viscount Windsor, of St Fagans in the County of Glamorgan, and Earl of Plymouth, in the County of Devon.[9]
Apart from his career in national politics he was Mayor of Cardiff from 1895 to 1896. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1905 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1918, as well as an Officer of the French Legion of Honour[1] and was at one time Chairman of the Union of Conservative Associations.[citation needed]
Other public appointments
Lord Plymouth was also Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire from 1890 to his death, and High Steward of Cambridge University from 1919.
Lord Plymouth served in the Worcestershire Yeomanry, being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1878, and promoted Lieutenant (1880) and Major (1885), and was its Lieutenant-Colonel commanding from 1893 to 1906.[1] He was also Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Glamorganshire Artillery Volunteers from 1890, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, later redesignated 8th Battalion, of the Worcestershire Regiment from 1891, and the Glamorganshire Yeomanry from 1901 to his death,[1] as well as of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Welch Regiment between 1896 and 1908.[10]
He was Sub-Prior Order of St John of Jerusalem. In February 1900 he was appointed a Trustee of the National Gallery,[11] and he served as the first President of The Concrete Institute (now the Institution of Structural Engineers) between 1908 and 1910. In 1913 he was responsible for purchasing The Crystal Palace for the nation.[citation needed] He served twice as President of the Cambrian Archaeological Society, first in 1899, and again in 1912.
In 1913 Lord Plymouth hosted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll (sister of the late King Edward VII) at his Worcestershire seat, Hewell Grange. On 23 April 1913, he accompanied the Duke and Duchess to Birmingham. There, he opened the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Ladywood and then unveiled the statue to King Edward VII in Victoria Square, Birmingham. In 1918 he became the first President of the newly formed Birmingham Civic Society.[citation needed]
Family
In 1883, Lord Plymouth married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline, who was the daughter of Sir Augustus Paget, and born in 1863. They had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son Other Robert Windsor-Clive, Viscount Windsor (1884–1908), predeceased him, as did his third son, Lieutenant Archer Windsor-Clive, of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, killed in Action at Landrecies holding the line during the Retreat from Mons;.[12] Archer briefly played cricket for Glamorgan.[13] Lord Plymouth died suddenly in March 1923, aged 65, at his home in Great Cumberland Place, London, and was buried at Tardebigge, Worcestershire.[1] He was succeeded in the earldom by his second son, Ivor. The Countess of Plymouth died in August 1944, aged 81,[2] and was buried next to her husband and their son Other Robert (1884–1908).
References
- ^ a b c d e The Complete Peerage, Volume XII, Part II. St Catherine's Press. 1959. p. 802.
- ^ a b thepeerage.com Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
- ^ "Windsor-Clive, Robert George (CLV875RG)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ Good Stuff IT Services. "Search: +Hewell +Grange". British Listed Buildings. Retrieved 18 April 2012.
- ^ National Museum of Wales. Accessed 26 March 2016
- ^ "No. 26139". The London Gazette. 27 February 1891. p. 1096.
- ^ "Mr Balfour´s Ministry - full list of appointments". The Times. No. 36842. London. 9 August 1902. p. 5. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ "Death of the Earl of Plymouth - Vacancy in the Ludlow Division". Shrewsbury Chronicle. 9 March 1923. p. 8.His succeeding son had to vacate his parliamentary seat for Ludlow.
- ^ "No. 27865". The London Gazette. 19 December 1905. p. 9084.
- ^ Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1920. Kelly's. p. 1304.
- ^ "Appoinment". The Times. No. 36076. London. 27 February 1900. p. 9. template uses deprecated parameter(s) (help)
- ^ http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205390993
- ^ Cricinfo. Accessed 26 March 2016
External links
| International | |
|---|---|
| People | |
- Use dmy dates from April 2011
- 1857 births
- 1923 deaths
- People educated at Eton College
- Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge
- Companions of the Order of the Bath
- Earls of Plymouth
- Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire
- Lord-Lieutenants of Glamorgan
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Presidents of the Institution of Structural Engineers
- United Kingdom Paymasters General
- Mayors of Cardiff
- Worcestershire Yeomanry officers
- Earls in the Peerage of the United Kingdom