The Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, KG, GCSI, GCIE, PC (11 January 1859 – 20 March 1925) was a British Conservative statesman who served as Viceroy of India and Foreign Secretary. Image File history File links George_Curzon2. ... Image File history File links George_Curzon2. ... The insignia of a knight of the Order of the Garter. ... Insignia of a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India. ... The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Victoria in 1877. ... Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council is a body of advisors to the British Sovereign. ... January 11 is the 11th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1859 (MDCCCLIX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... March 20 is the 79th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (80th in leap years). ... Year 1925 (MCMXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Governor-General of India (or Governor-General and Viceroy of India) was the head of the British administration in India. ... The position of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs was created in the United Kingdoms governmental reorganization of 1782, in which the Northern and Southern Departments became the Home and Foreign Offices. ...

Early life

Curzon was the eldest son and second of eleven children of the 4th Baron Scarsdale (1831–1916), rector of Kedleston in Derbyshire, and his wife Blanche (1837–1875), daughter of Joseph Pocklington Senhouse of Netherhall in Cumberland. His family was of Norman ancestry and had lived on the same site since the twelfth century. His mother, worn out by childbirth, died when George was sixteen; her husband survived her for forty-one years. Neither parent, however, exerted a major influence on Curzon's life. The Baron was an austere and unindulgent father who believed in the long-held family tradition that landowners should stay on their land and not go "roaming about all over the world". He thus had little sympathy for those travels across Asia between 1887 and 1895 which made his son the most travelled man who ever sat in a British cabinet. A more decisive presence in Curzon's childhood was that of his brutal governess, Ellen Mary Paraman, whose tyranny in the nursery stimulated his combative qualities and encouraged the obsessional side of his nature. The word rector (ruler, from the Latin regere) has a number of different meanings, but all of them indicate someone who is in charge of something. ... Kedleston is a village and civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire. ... Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. ... Norman conquests in red. ...

He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford. At Eton (1872-1878) he was a favourite of Oscar Browning, leading to his tutor's eventual dismissal.^[1][2] While at Eton, he was a controversial figure who was liked and disliked with equal intensity by large numbers of masters and other boys. This strange talent for both attraction and repulsion stayed with him all his life: few people ever felt neutral about him. At Oxford he was President of the Canning Club, the Union and the Presidents' Council, and after a brilliant university career - although he failed to achieve a first class degree in Greats, he won the Lothian and Arnold Prizes, the latter for an essay on Sir Thomas More, about whom he confessed to having known almost nothing before commencing study, literally delivered as the clocks were chiming midnight on the day of the deadline - was elected a fellow of All Souls College in 1883. The Kings College of Our Lady of Eton beside Windsor, commonly known as Eton College or just Eton, is a public school (privately funded and independent) for boys, founded in 1440 by King Henry VI. It is located in Eton, Berkshire, near Windsor in England, situated north of Windsor... College name Balliol College Named after John de Balliol Established 1263 Sister College St Johns Master Andrew Graham JCR President Jack Hawkins Undergraduates 403 MCR President Chelsea Payne Graduates 228 Homepage Boatclub Balliol College, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in... The University of Oxford (usually abbreviated as Oxon. ... The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a private debating society in the city of Oxford, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford. ... The Oxford University Student Union is the official student union of the University of Oxford, representing the interests of its members to the university and the outside world. ... Literae Humaniores is the name given to the study of Classics at Oxford and some other universities. ... Portrait of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478–6 July 1535), posthumously known also as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, author, and politician. ... All Souls College (in full: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. ... 1883 (MDCCCLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ...

A teenage spinal injury, incurred while horseback riding, left Curzon in lifelong pain, often resulting in insomnia, and required him to wear a metal corset under his clothes, contributing to an unfortunate impression of stiffness and arrogance. While at Oxford, Curzon was the inspiration for a piece of doggerel which stuck with him in later life:

My name is George Nathaniel Curzon,
I am a most superior person.
My cheeks are pink, my hair is sleek,
I dine at Blenheim twice a week.
Blenheim Palace, The Great Court. ...

Life and career

He became Assistant Private Secretary to Lord Salisbury in 1885, and in 1886 entered Parliament as Member for the Southport division of south-west Lancashire. His maiden speech, which was chiefly an attack on home rule and Irish nationalism, was regarded in much the same way as his oratory at the Oxford Union: brilliant and eloquent but also presumptuous and rather too self-assured. Subsequent performances in the Commons, often dealing with Ireland or reform of the House of Lords (which he supported), received similar verdicts. He served as Under-Secretary of State for India in 1891-1892 and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1895–1898. Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, KG, GCVO, PC (3 February 1830 – 22 August 1903), known as Lord Robert Cecil before 1865 and as Viscount Cranborne from 1865 until 1868, was a British statesman and Prime Minister on three occasions, for a total of over 13 years. ... 1885 (MDCCCLXXXV) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1886 (MDCCCLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Houses of Parliament, as seen over Westminster Bridge The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom and British overseas territories. ... Southport is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ... Lancashire is a county in North West England, bounded to the west by the Irish Sea. ... Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State for India, 1858-1937, for India and Burma, 1937-1948 to be added Permanent Under-Secretaries of State for India, 1858-1937, for India and Burma, 1937-1948 1858: Sir George Russell Clerk 1860: Herman Merivale 1874: Sir Louis Mallet 1883: (Sir) Arthur Godley 1909... Year 1891 (MDCCCXCI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This is a list of Under-Secretaries of State for Foreign Affairs in the British Foreign Office since 1782. ... Year 1895 (MDCCCXCV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Year 1898 (MDCCCXCVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

In the meantime he had travelled around the world: Russia and Central Asia (1888-9), a long tour of Persia (1889-90), Siam, French Indochina and Korea (1892), and a daring foray into Afghanistan and the Pamirs (1894), and published several books describing central and eastern Asia and related policy issues. A bold and compulsive traveller, fascinated by oriental life and geography, he was awarded the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society for his exploration of the source of the Oxus. Yet the main purpose of his journeys was political: they formed part of a vast and comprehensive project to study the problems of Asia and their implications for British India. At the same time they reinforced his pride in his nation and her imperial mission. Map of Central Asia showing three sets of possible boundaries for the region Central Asia located as a region of the world Central Asia is a vast landlocked region of Asia. ... Motto (official) Esteqlāl, āzādÄ«, jomhÅ«rÄ«-ye eslāmÄ« 1(Persian) Independence, freedom, Islamic Republic (national) Anthem SorÅ«d-e MellÄ«-e Īrān 2 Capital (and largest city) Tehran Official languages Persian Government Islamic Republic  -  Supreme Leader  -  President Establishment  -  Proto-Elamite Period 8000 BCE   -  Middle-Elamite Period... For the country formerly called Siam see Thailand SIAM is an acronym for Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. ... Flag Capital Hanoi Language(s) French Political structure Federation Historical era New Imperialism  - Established 1887  - Addition of Laos 1893  - Vietnam Declaration of Independence September 2, 1945  - Independence of Laos July 19, 1949  - Independence of Cambodia November 9, 1953  - Disestablished 1954 Area  - 1945 750,000 km2 289,577 sq mi Currency... Korea (Korean: 한국 in South Korea or ì¡°ì„  in North Korea, see below) is a geographic area, civilization, and former state situated on the Korean Peninsula in East Asia. ... Located in Central Asia, the Pamir Mountains are formed by the junction of the worlds greatest mountain ranges, a geologic structural knot from which the great Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, and Hindu Kush mountain systems radiate. ... The Royal Geographical Society is a learned society, founded in 1830 with the name Geographical Society of London for the advancement of geographical science, under the patronage of King William IV. It absorbed the Association for Promoting the Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa (founded by Joseph Banks in... The Amu Darya (Darya means river) rises in the Pamirs and flows mainly north-west through the Hindu Kush, Uzbekistan to join the Aral Sea in a large delta. ...

First marriage (1895 - 1906)

Curzon's wife, Mary Victoria Leiter (1887) by Alexandre Cabanel

In 1895 he married Mary Victoria Leiter, the beautiful daughter of Levi Ziegler Leiter, a Chicago millionaire of German Lutheran origin and a cofounder of the department store Field & Leiter (now known as Marshall Field). She had a long and nearly fatal illness near the end of summer 1904, from which she never really recovered. Falling ill again in July 1906, she died on the 18th of that month in her husband's arms, 36 years old.^[3] It was the greatest personal loss of his life. She was buried in the church at Kedleston, where Curzon designed his memorial for her, a lovely Gothic chapel added to the north side of the nave. Although he was neither a devout nor a conventional churchman, Curzon retained a simple religious faith; in later years he sometimes said that he was not afraid of death because it would enable him to join Mary in heaven. Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File linksMetadata No higher resolution available. ... 1887 (MDCCCLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Saturday (click on link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar. ... Alexandre Cabanel, Self Portrait (1847). ... // Mary Victoria Leiter, wife of Lord Curzon-Viceroy of India. ... Levi Ziegler Leiter was a Chicago businessman and partner of Marshall Field who co-founded what became the Marshall Field and Company retail empire. ... Flag Seal Nickname: The Windy City Motto: Urbs In Horto (Latin: City in a Garden), I Will Location Location in Chicagoland and northern Illinois Coordinates , Government Country State Counties United States Illinois Cook, DuPage Mayor Richard M. Daley (D) Geographical characteristics Area     City 606. ... Lutheranism describes those churches within Christianity that were reformed according to the theological insights of Martin Luther in the 16th century. ... Marshall Fields State Street Store interior, about 1910 Marshall Field and Company is a department store. ...

They had three daughters during a firm and happy marriage: Mary Irene (who inherited her father's Barony of Ravensdale and was created a life peer in her own right), Cynthia (first wife of Sir Oswald Mosley), and Alexandra Naldera (wife of Edward "Fruity" Metcalfe, the best friend, best man and equerry of Edward VIII; best known as Baba Metcalfe, she later became a mistress of her brother-in-law Oswald Mosley, as did her stepmother, Grace Curzon. Mary Irene had a short affair with Mosley before either were married. Mary Irene Curzon, 2nd Baroness Ravensdale (January 20, 1896 - February 9, 1966) was the eldest child of George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Mary Victoria Leiter, a daughter of Levi Zeigler Leiter. ... Baron Ravensdale, of Ravensdale in the County of Derbyshire, is a peerage title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... Lady Cynthia Blanche Mosley (23 August 1898–16 May 1933) was a British politician, the second eldest of the Curzon sisters and the first wife of fascist Sir Oswald Mosley, Bt. ... Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (November 16, 1896 – December 3, 1980), was a British politician known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. ... The Master of the Horse was (and in some cases, is) a historical position of varying importance in several European nations. ... Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; later The Prince Edward, Duke of Windsor; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972) was King of Great Britain, Ireland, the British Dominions beyond the Seas, and Emperor of India from the death of his father, George V (1910–36), on 20... Sir Oswald Ernald Mosley, 6th Baronet (November 16, 1896 – December 3, 1980), was a British politician known principally as the founder of the British Union of Fascists. ... Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, John Singer Sargent, 1925 Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston (1879 - 1958) was born Grace Elvina Hinds in Alabama, U.S.A., the daughter of J. Monroe Hinds (James M. Hinds?), former United States Minister to Brazil. ...

Viceroy of India (1899–1905)

Lord Curzon of Kedleston and the Maharaja of Baroda pose with hunted tigers

In January 1899 he was appointed Viceroy of India. He was created a Peer of Ireland as Baron Curzon of Kedleston, in the County of Derby, on his appointment. This was the last peerage to be created in the Peerage of Ireland, the appointment taking this form, it was understood, in order that he might remain free during his father's lifetime to re-enter the House of Commons. Image File history File links Lord_Curzon_Hunting_1901. ... Image File history File links Lord_Curzon_Hunting_1901. ... Binomial name Panthera tigris (Linnaeus, 1758) Distribution of tigers in 1900 (red) and 1990 (green) Synonyms Felis tigris Linnaeus, 1758 Tigris striatus Severtzov, 1858 Tigris regalis pink, 1867 Tigers (Panthera tigris) are mammals of the Felidae family and one of four big cats in the Panthera genus. ... The Governor-General of India (or Governor-General and Viceroy of India) was the head of the British administration in India. ... The Peerage of Ireland the term used for those peers created by British monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

Reaching India shortly after the suppression of the frontier risings of 1897–1898, he paid special attention to the independent tribes of the north-west frontier, inaugurated a new province called the North West Frontier Province, and pursued a policy of forceful control mingled with conciliation. The only major armed outbreak on this frontier during the period of his administration was the Mahsud Waziri campaign of 1901. North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) is geographically the smallest of the four provinces of Pakistan. ...

His deep mistrust of Russian intentions led him to encourage British trade in Persia, paying a visit to the Persian Gulf in 1903. At the end of that year, he sent a military expedition into Tibet led by Francis Younghusband, ostensibly to forestall a Russian advance. After bloody conflicts with Tibet's poorly-armed defenders, the mission penetrated to Lhasa, where a treaty was signed in September 1904. No Russian presence was found in Lhasa. Map of the Persian Gulf. ... {{Warbox| conflict=The British Expedition to Tibet Tibet is kool ! ... Tibet (older spelling Thibet; Tibetan: བོད་; Wylie: Bod; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified and Traditional Chinese: 西藏, Hanyu Pinyin: XÄ«zàng; also referred to as 藏区 (Simplified Chinese), 藏區 (Traditional Chinese), ZàngqÅ« (Hanyu Pinyin), see Name section below) is a plateau region in Central Asia and the indigenous home to the Tibetan people. ... Colonel Sir Francis Edward Younghusband (31 May 1863 - 31 July 1942) was a British Army officer, explorer, and spiritualist. ... Lhasa (Tibetan: ལྷ་ས་; Wylie: lha sa; Lhasa dialect IPA: [; Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; pinyin: ), sometimes spelled Llasa, is the traditional capital of Tibet and the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

Within India, Lord Curzon of Kedleston appointed a number of commissions to inquire into Indian education, irrigation, police and other branches of administration, on whose reports legislation was based during his second term of office as viceroy. Reappointed Governor-General in August 1904, he presided over the partition of Bengal (July 1905), which roused such bitter opposition among the people of the province that it was later revoked (1912). The Partition of Bengal in 1905, was made on 16 October by then Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon. ...

Also, a major famine coincided with Curzon's time as viceroy. Large parts of India were affected and millions died, but Curzon is nowadays criticised for having done little to fight the famine.^[4] There were 14 famines in India between 11th and 17th century (Bhatia, 1985). ...

A difference of opinion with the British military Commander-in-Chief in India, Lord Kitchener, regarding the position of the military member of council in India, led to a controversy in which Lord Curzon of Kedleston failed to obtain support from the home government. He resigned in August 1905 and returned to England. The Earl Kitchener Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener, KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC (24 June 1850 – 5 June 1916) was an Irish-born British Field Marshal, diplomat and statesman popularly referred to as Lord Kitchener. ...

During his tenure, Curzon undertook the restoration of the Taj Mahal, and expressed satisfaction that he had done so. The Taj Mahal, viewed from the Northern bank of the Yamuna river. ...

Representative peer for Ireland (1908)

In 1908, Curzon was elected a representative peer for Ireland, and thus relinquished any idea of returning to the House of Commons. In 1909-1910 he took an active part in opposing the Liberal government's proposal to abolish the legislative veto of the House of Lords, and in 1911 was created Baron Ravensdale, of Ravensdale in the County of Derby, with remainder (in default of heirs male) to his daughters, Viscount Scarsdale, of Scarsdale in the County of Derby, with remainder (in default of heirs male) to the heirs male of his father, and Earl Curzon of Kedleston, in the County of Derby, with the normal remainder, all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He served in Lloyd George's War Cabinet as Leader of the House of Lords from December 1916. Despite his continued opposition to votes for women (he had earlier headed the Anti-Suffrage League), the House of Lords voted conclusively in its favour. The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801. ... David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor, OM, PC (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was a British statesman who guided Britain and the British Empire through World War I and the postwar settlement as the Liberal Party Prime Minister, 1916-1922. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar). ... The term womens suffrage refers to an economic and political reform movement aimed at extending suffrage — the right to vote — to women. ... The Anti-Suffrage League was an organization that was opposed to womens suffrage. ...

Second marriage (1917)

Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston

After a long affair with the romance novelist Elinor Glyn, Curzon married, in 1917, the former Grace Elvina Hinds, the wealthy Alabama-born widow of Alfred Hubert Duggan; in later years wags joked that despite his political disappointments Curzon still enjoyed "the means of Grace". Elinor Glyn, who was staying with Curzon at the time, read of his engagement in the morning newspapers. Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... Elinor Glyn (October 17, 1864 - September 23, 1943), born Nellie Sutherland in Jersey, was the author of It, Three Weeks, Beyond the Rocks, and other novels in a similarly softcore vein. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the 13-day slower Julian calendar (see: 1917 Julian calendar). ... Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston, John Singer Sargent, 1925 Grace Elvina, Marchioness Curzon of Kedleston (1879 - 1958) was born Grace Elvina Hinds in Alabama, U.S.A., the daughter of J. Monroe Hinds (James M. Hinds?), former United States Minister to Brazil. ... Official language(s) English Capital Montgomery Largest city Birmingham Area  Ranked 30th  - Total 52,419 sq mi (135,765 km²)  - Width 190 miles (306 km)  - Length 330 miles (531 km)  - % water 3. ...

His wife had three children from her first marriage. Despite fertility-related operations and several miscarriages, she was never able to give Curzon the son and heir he desperately desired, a fact that eroded their marriage, which ended in separation, though not divorce.

Foreign Secretary (1919–24)

Appointed Foreign Secretary from January 1919, Curzon gave his name to his line which became the British government's proposed Soviet-Polish boundary, the Curzon Line of December 1919. Although during the subsequent Russo-Polish War Poland conquered ground in the east, Poland was shifted westwards after the Second World War, leaving the Curzon Line approximately the border between Poland and its eastern neighbors today. The Curzon Line was a demarcation line proposed in 1919 by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, as a possible armistice line between Poland, to the west, and Soviet Russia to the east, during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–20. ... The Curzon Line was a demarcation line proposed in 1919 by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, as a possible armistice line between Poland, to the west, and Soviet Russia to the east, during the Polish-Soviet War of 1919–20. ...

Curzon did not have Lloyd George's support. The Prime Minister thought him overly pompous and self-important, and it was said that he used him as if he were using a Rolls-Royce to deliver a parcel to the station; Lloyd George said much later that Churchill treated his Ministers in a way that Lloyd George would never have treated his; "They were all men of substance — well, except Curzon." ^[5] Curzon nevertheless helped in several Middle Eastern problems: He negotiated Egyptian independence (granted in 1922); resolved an insurrection in the mandated territory of Iraq (by sending T. E. Lawrence to report and adopting his recommendations which were to grant internal self government under the rule of King Faisal) and divided the British Mandate of Palestine, creating the Kingdom of Jordan for Faisal's brother, which may also have delayed the problems there. // T. E. Lawrence in the white silk robes of the Sherifs of Mecca. ... There were numerous monarchs known as King Faisal, including: King Faisal of Saudi Arabia King Faisal I of Iraq King Faisal II of Iraq This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Flag Britain unilaterally closed the territory east of the Jordan River (Transjordan) to Jewish settlement and organized Transjordan as an autonomous state in 1923. ...

Curzon was largely responsible for the first Armistice Day ceremonies on 11 November 1919. These included the plaster Cenotaph, designed by the noted British architect Sir Edwin Lutyens, for the Allied Victory parade in London, and it was so successful that it was reproduced in stone, and still stands. In 1921 he was created Earl of Kedleston, in the County of Derby, and Marquess Curzon of Kedleston. November 11 is the 315th day of the year (316th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 50 days remaining. ... Year 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar). ... The Cenotaph, London A ceremony at the Cenotaph, London, on Sunday 12th June 2005, remembering Irish war dead Memorial Cenotaph, Hiroshima, Japan A cenotaph is a tomb or a monument erected in honor of a person or group of persons whose remains are elsewhere. ... Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE (29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was a leading 20th century English architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. ...

Unlike many leading Conservative members of Lloyd George's Coalition Cabinet, Curzon ceased to support Lloyd George over the Chanak Crisis and had just resigned when the Conservative backbenchers voted at the Carlton Club Meeting to end the Coalition in October 1922. Curzon thus able to remain Foreign Secretary when Andrew Bonar Law formed a purely Conservative ministry. In 1922-3 Curzon had to negotiate with France after French troops occupied the Ruhr to enforce the payment of German reparations; he described the French Prime Minister (and former President) Raymond Poincaré as a "horrid little man". Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a Conservative Party British statesman and Prime Minister. ...

The Conference of Lausanne was Curzon's finest moment as foreign secretary. Through diplomatic skill and force of personality, he dominated the eleven weeks of the proceedings, dealing with his allies, France and Italy, as shrewdly as he managed the Turks. His achievements were embodied in the Treaty of Lausanne of 1923 which secured the freedom of the straits, achieved a relatively high level of regional stability, and, by restoring Turkish sovereignty to the Turkish heartland, enabled the new country to make the transition from enfeebled empire to nation state. It was the most successful and the most lasting of the post-war treaties. The Conference of Lausanne was a 1922--23 peace conference held in Lausanne, in order to write a new treaty with Turkey, which, under the new government of Kemal Pasha, did not recognise the Treaty of Sèvres. ... Borders as shaped by the treaty The Treaty of Lausanne (July 24, 1923) was a peace treaty that settle a part of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire that reflected the consequences of the Turkish Independence War between Allies of World War I and Turkish national movement, (Grand National Assembly...

On Andrew Bonar Law's retirement as Prime Minister in May 1923, Curzon was passed over for the job in favour of Stanley Baldwin, despite having written Bonar Law a lengthy letter earlier in the year complaining of rumours that he was to retire in Baldwin's favour, and listing the reasons why he should have the top job. Many reasons are often cited for this decision - taken on the private advice of leading members of the party including former Prime Minister Arthur Balfour - but amongst the most prominent are that Curzon's character was objectionable, that it was felt to be inappropriate for the Prime Minister to be a member of the House of Lords when Labour, who had few peers, had by then become the main opposition party in the Commons (though this did not prevent Lord Halifax being considered for the premiership in 1940, possibly with a special Act to allow him to sit in the House of Commons; in 1963 Lords Home and Hailsham were only able to be candidates owing to recent legislation permitting them to disclaim their peerages) and that in a democratic age it would be dangerous for a party to be led by a rich aristocrat. A letter purporting to detail the opinions of Bonar Law but in actuality written by Baldwin sympathisers was delivered to the King's Private Secretary Lord Stamfordham, though it is unclear how much impact this had in the final outcome. Balfour advised the monarch that it was essential for the prime minister to be in the House of Commons, but in private admitted that he was prejudiced against Curzon. George V, who shared this prejudice, was grateful for the advice and authorized Stamfordham to summon the foreign secretary to London and inform him that Baldwin would be chosen. Curzon travelled by train assuming he was to be appointed Prime Minister, and is said to have burst into tears when told the truth. He later described Baldwin as "a man of the utmost insignificance", although he served under Baldwin and proposed him for leadership of the Conservative Party. Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a Conservative Party British statesman and Prime Minister. ... Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC (3 August 1867 – 14 December 1947) was a British statesman and thrice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. ... The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and is also commonly referred to as the Lords. The Sovereign, the House of Commons (which is the lower house of Parliament and referred to as the Commons), and the Lords together comprise the Parliament. ...

Curzon remained Foreign Secretary under Baldwin until the government fell in January 1924. When Baldwin formed a new government in November 1924, he did not reappoint Curzon as Foreign Secretary but instead as Lord President of the Council. Curzon held this post until the following March. That month, while staying the night at Cambridge, he suffered a severe haemorrhage of the bladder. He was taken to London the next day, and on 9 March an operation was performed. But he knew it was the end, that the suffering and overburdened body, which he had pushed so hard for so long, was giving up. He died in London on 20 March 1925 at the age of sixty-six. His coffin, made from the same tree at Kedleston that had encased Mary, was taken to Westminster Abbey and from there to his ancestral home, where he was interred beside Mary in the family vault on 26 March. Upon his death the Barony, Earldom and Marquessate of Curzon of Kedleston and the Earldom of Kedleston became extinct, whilst the Viscountcy and Barony of Scarsdale were inherited by a nephew and the Barony of Ravensdale by his eldest daughter. The Office of Lord President of the Council is a British cabinet position, the holder of which acts as presiding officer of the Privy Council. ... The Collegiate Church of St Peter, Westminster, which is almost always referred to by its original name of Westminster Abbey, is a mainly Gothic church, on the scale of a cathedral (and indeed often mistaken for one), in Westminster, London, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. ...

Another interesting achievement was to purchase and restore Bodiam Castle in Sussex and bequeath it to the National Trust.

He left a will.^[6]

Titles

Upon his father's death in 1916, he became 5th Baron Scarsdale, in the Peerage of Great Britain. The title had been created in 1761. Viscount Scarsdale and Baron Scarsdale are titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Peerage of Great Britain, respectively. ... The Peerage of Great Britain comprises all extant peerages created in the Kingdom of Great Britain after the Act of Union 1707 but before the Act of Union 1800. ...

In 1898 he became Baron Curzon of Kedleston, in the Peerage of Ireland, as this enabled him to return to the House of Commons. Viscount Scarsdale and Baron Scarsdale are titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Peerage of Great Britain, respectively. ... The Peerage of Ireland the term used for those peers created by British monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. ... The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. ...

In 1911 he was created Earl Curzon of Kedleston, Viscount Scarsdale, and Baron Ravensdale, all in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. Viscount Scarsdale and Baron Scarsdale are titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Peerage of Great Britain, respectively. ... Viscount Scarsdale and Baron Scarsdale are titles in the Peerage of the United Kingdom and Peerage of Great Britain, respectively. ... Baron Ravensdale, of Ravensdale in the County of Derbyshire, is a peerage title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ... The Peerage of the United Kingdom comprises most peerages created in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland after the Act of Union in 1801. ...

In 1921 he was created Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Earl of Curzon The title of Marquess Curzon of Kedleston was created in the Peerage of the United Kingdom in 1921 for the Foreign Secretary, the Earl Curzon of Kedleston. ... Viscount Scarsdale, of Scarsdale in the County of Derby, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. ...

Assessment

Few statesmen have experienced such changes in fortune in both their public and their personal lives. Curzon's career was an almost unparalleled blend of triumph and disappointment. Although he was the last and in many ways the greatest of Victorian viceroys, his term of office ended in resignation, empty of recognition and devoid of reward. After ten years in the political wilderness, he returned to government yet, in spite of his knowledge and experience of the world, he was unable to assert himself fully as foreign secretary until the last weeks of Lloyd George's premiership. And finally, after he had restored his reputation at Lausanne, his ultimate ambition was thwarted by George V.

There was a feeling after his death that Curzon had failed to reach the heights that his youthful talents had seemed destined to reach. This sense of opportunities missed was summed up by Winston Churchill in his book Great Contemporaries (1937): Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, KG, OM, CH, TD, FRS, PC (Can) (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British politician, soldier in the British Army, orator, and strategist, and is studied as part of the modern British and world history. ...

The morning had been golden; the noontide was bronze; and the evening lead. But all were polished till it shone after its fashion.

It is believed that his name was given to a new school built in 1938 - Curzon Crescent Nursery School, Willesden, Middlesex, due to the area's links with All Souls.

Notes

1. ^ ". . . Oscar Browning (1837-1923), who had been sacked from Eton in September 1875 under suspicion of paederasty, partly because of his involvement with young George Nathaniel Curzon" in Michael Kaylor, Secreted Desires 2006 p.98
2. ^ "His intimate, indiscreet friendship with a boy in another boarding-house, G. N. Curzon [...] provoked a crisis with [Headmaster] Hornby [….] Amid national controversy he was dismissed in 1875 on the pretext of administrative inefficiency but actually because his influence was thought to be sexually contagious" in Richard Davenport-Hines, Oscar Browning DNB)
3. ^ Maximilian Genealogy Master Database, Mary Victoria LEITER, 2000[1]
4. ^ Mike Davis (scholar): Late Victorian Holocausts
5. ^ Michael Foot: Aneurin Bevan
6. ^ The London Gazette, 3 Nov., 1911., retrieved 4/9/2007[2]

Mike Davis (born 1946) is an American social commentator, urban theorist, and sociographer. ... Late Victorian Holocausts - El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World is a book by Mike Davis concerning the connection between a set of large famines in the late 1870s and again in the late 1890s and a meteorological phenomenon called ENSO, the El Ni...

Bibliography

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George Nathaniel Curzon's writings:

• Curzon, Russia in Central Asia in 1889 and the Anglo-Russian Question, (1889) Frank Cass & Co. Ltd., London (reprinted Cass, 1967), Adamant Media Corporation ISBN 978-1402175435 (February 27, 2001) Reprint (Paperback) Details
• Curzon, Persia and the Persian Question (1892) Longmans, Green, and Co., London and New York.; facsimile reprint:
  • Volume 1 (Paperback) by George Nathaniel Curzon, Adamant Media Corporation ISBN 978-1402161797 (October 22, 2001) Abstract
  • Volume 2 (Paperback) by George Nathaniel Curzon, Adamant Media Corporation ISBN 978-1402161780 (October 22, 2001) Abstract
• Curzon, Problems of the Far East (1894; new ed., 1896) George Nathaniel Curzon Problems of the Far East. Japan -Korea - China, reprint, ISBN 1-402-18480-8, ISBN 978-1402184802 (December 25, 2000) Adamant Media Corporation (Paperback)Abstract
• Curzon, "The Pamirs and the Source of the Oxus", 1897, The Royal Geographical Society. Geographical Journal 8 (1896): 97-119, 239-63. A thorough study of the region’s history and people and of the British - Russian conflict of interest in Turkestan based on Curzon’s travels there in 1894.,Reprint (paperback) Adamant Media Corporation, ISBN 978-1402159831 (April 22, 2002)Abstract
• Curzon, The Romanes Lecture 1907, "FRONTIERS", By the Right Honorable Lord Curzon of Kedleston G.C.S.I., G.C.I.E., P.C., D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., All Souls College, Chancellor of the University, Delivered in the Sheldonian Theater, Oxford, November 2, 1907full text.
• Curzon, "Tales of Travel" First published by Hodder & Stoughton 1923, (Century Classic Ser.) London, Century. 1989, Facsimile Reprint. ISBN 0-7126-2245-4, Soft Cover. Reprint with Foreword by Lady Alexandra Metcalfe, Introduction by Peter King. A slection of Curzon's travel writing including essays on Egypt Afghanistan Persia Iran India Iraq Waterfalls etc. 12 + 344p., Includes the future viceroy’s escapade into Afghanistan to meet the “Iron Emir”, Abdu Rahman Khan, in 1894.
• Curzon, "Travels with a Superior Person", London, Sidgwick & Jackson. 1985, Reprint. ISBN 978-0283992940, Hardcover,Details A selection from Lord Curzon's travel books between 1889 and 1926, "The quintessence of late Victorian travel writing and a delight for modern readers " Illustrated with 90 contemporary photographs most of them from Curzon's own collection. Includes "Greece in the Eighties" pp.78-84, " Edited by Peter King. Introduced by Elizabeth Longford. 191p. illus. maps on endpapers.

Year 1889 (MDCCCLXXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1892 (MDCCCXCII) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1894 (MDCCCXCIV) was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... 1897 (MDCCCXCVII) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Insignia of a Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India. ... The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Victoria in 1877. ... PC may stand for: Personal computer, IBM PC, or PC compatible (the latter is the computer-component of the computing platform that makes up the majority of todays desktop and laptop computers). ... Legum Doctor (English: Doctor of Laws; abbreviated to LL.D.) In the UK the LL.D. is a higher doctorate awarded on the basis of exceptionally insightful and distinctive publications, containing significant and original contributions to the science or study of law. ... The Royal Society of London is claimed to be the oldest learned society still in existence and was founded in 1660. ... Year 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link displays 1985 Gregorian calendar). ...

Scholarly articles

• Ronaldshay, Earl of (1927) "The life of Lord Curzon. Vol. 1-2." (London)
• Carrington Michael, a PhD thesis, "Empire and authority: Curzon, collisions, character and the Raj, 1899–1905.", discusses a number of interesting issues raised during Curzon's Viceroyalty, (Available through British Library).
• Goudie A. S. (July 1980) "George Nathaniel Curzon: Superior Geographer", The Geographical Journal, Vol. 146, No. 2 pp. 203-209, doi:10.2307/632861Abstract
• Gilmour David, "CURZON: Imperial Statesman" (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, $24.) George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925), the last Victorian viceroy of India, was certainly a self-serving, egocentric rat. But Gilmour’s fresh appraisal reminds us that Lord Curzon also restored India’s greatest monuments; reformed its currency, universities and railways; and reorganized its irrigation system.

Year 1927 (MCMXXVII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link displays the 1980 Gregorian calendar). ...

References

• Mosley, Leonard Oswald. The glorious fault: The life of Lord Curzon
• Nicolson, Harold. Curzon: the last phase
• Gilmour, David (2003). Curzon - Imperial Statesman. Farrar, Straus and Giroux / John Murray. ISBN 0-7195-5547-7. Retrieved on 2006-05-25. 
• This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.

Farrar, Straus and Giroux is a book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... is the 145th day of the year (146th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Encyclopædia Britannica, the 11th edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

External links

• Problems of the Far East: Japan - Korea - China by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston at archive.org
• Modern parliamentary eloquence; the Rede lecture, delivered before the University of Cambridge, November 6, 1913 by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston at archive.org
• Russia In Central Asia In 1889 by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston at archive.org
• War poems and other translations by George Curzon, 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston at archive.org