thumb|right|Quartered arms of George Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon, KG, GCB, PC

George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (12 January 180027 June 1870) was an English diplomat and statesman from the Villiers family. He served a succession of Whig and Liberal administrations. This included as Viceroy in famine-stricken Ireland and, on the first of three occasions as Foreign Secretary, as the United Kingdom's chief representative at the Congress of Paris which ended the Crimean War.

Background and education

Villiers was born in London to Hon. George Villiers and Hon. Theresa Parker, daughter of John Parker, 1st Baron Boringdon. He was the second born, but first surviving, of their 10 children. His father was the third son of Thomas Villiers, 1st Earl of Clarendon (himself the second son of William Villiers, 2nd Earl of Jersey). After the death of his father in 1827, George became heir to the earldom, succeeding his uncle Thomas Villiers, 2nd Earl of Clarendon (1753–1824), who died unmarried; and his uncle John Villiers, 3rd Earl of Clarendon (1757–1838), who died without an heir. In 1820, as the eldest son of an earl's brother of royal descent, he was able to take his MA degree under the statutes of the university then in force.

Career

In the same year, Villiers was appointed attaché to the British embassy at Saint Petersburg. There he remained three years, and gained practical knowledge of diplomacy which would be of use to him later in his life. The Encyclopaedia Britannica stated that he had "received from nature a singularly handsome person, a polished and engaging address, a ready command of languages, and a remarkable power of composition".

Succession to the Earldom, Offices of State in Britain

Villiers received the Grand Cross of the Bath in 1838 in acknowledgment of his services in Spain, and succeeded, on the death of his uncle, to the title of Earl of Clarendon; in the following year, having left Madrid, he married a young widow, Lady Katharine Foster-Barham (née Grimston), eldest daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam. Lord Russell replied: "The course of English benevolence is frozen by insult, calumny and rebellion". In London there was consternation over Irish agitation for repeal of the Act of Union, reports of violence directed against landlords and the attempted rising by the Young Irelanders.

While he was to commute the sentences of the Young Ireland conspirators from hanging to life transportation, Clarendon did take stringent security measures, proclaiming martial law in large parts of the country and persuading Westminster to suspend Habeas Corpus. At the same time, he continued to plead what he saw as Ireland's case.

In the hope of garnering greater English sympathy, in 1849 he hosted Queen Victoria in Ireland. Her visit was deemed a "great popular success". But it appeared to make no impression on Irish policy. Trevelyan, a student of Thomas Malthus, insisted that Ireland be "left to the operation of natural causes"

He attempted a policy of conciliation with the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland. In 1849, he sided with Catholic bishops in their objections to a non-denominational ("godless") scheme for higher education, and when an official inquiry failed to indict the Orange Order for the death of 20 Catholics in the Dolly's Brae affray, he dismissed the magistrate concerned, Lord Roden, and helped bring in the Party Processions Act (1850) to curtail the Protestant association.

  • Lady Constance Villiers (1840–1922), married Frederick Stanley, 16th Earl of Derby
  • Lady Alice Villiers (1841–1897), married Edward Bootle-Wilbraham, 1st Earl of Lathom
  • Lady Emily Theresa (1843–1927), married Odo Russell, 1st Baron Ampthill
  • Edward Hyde, Lord Hyde (30 January 1845 – 26 February 1846), died young
  • Edward Villiers, 5th Earl of Clarendon (1846–1914)
  • Hon. George Patrick Hyde (27 September 1847 – 10 January 1892), married Louisa Maria Maquay, daughter of George Disney Maquay, on 9 October 1884
  • Lady Florence Margaret Villiers (21 September 1850 – 25 August 1851), died in infancy
  • Hon. Sir Francis Hyde Villiers (1852–1925), married Virginia Katharine Smith, daughter of Eric Carrington Smith and Mary Maberly, on 28 June 1876

Notes

Further reading

  • David Steele. "Villiers, George William Frederick, fourth earl of Clarendon" Dictionary of National Biography (2009)
  • Cecil, Algernon. British Foreign Secretaries 1807-1916 (1927) pp 220–255. online
  • Sir Herbert Eustace Maxwell: The Life and letters of George William Frederick 4. Earl of Clarendon. London: Arnold, 1913. online
  • George Villiers Clarendon: First report on the commercial relations between France and Great Britain, addressed to ... the lords of the committee of privy council for trade and plantations: with a supplementary report, by John Bowring. London, 1834