Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea
Encyclopedia
Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea PC (16 September 1810 – 2 August 1861) was an English
statesman
and a close ally and confidante of Florence Nightingale
.
; his mother being the Russian noblewoman Countess Catherine Woronzoff
(or Vorontsov
a), daughter of the Russian ambassador to St James's, Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov
. Educated at Harrow
and Oriel College, Oxford, he made a reputation at the Oxford Union
as a speaker.
as Conservative
member of Parliament
for a division of Wiltshire
in 1832. Under Peel he held minor offices, and in 1845 was included in the cabinet as Secretary at War
, and again held this office from 1852 to 1855, being responsible for the War Office
during the Crimean War
, and again in 1859.
Herbert ran the Pembroke family estates, centred at Wilton House
, Wiltshire, for most of his adult life. His elder half-brother, Robert Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke
(1791–1862), had chosen to live in exile in Paris
after a disastrous marriage in 1814 (annulled 1818) to a Sicilian princess, Ottavia Spinelli (1779–1857), widow of Prince Ercole Branciforte di Butera, and daughter of the Duke of Laurino, and a subsequent liaison with Alexina Gallot, which resulted in four illegitimate children.
It was Sidney Herbert who sent Florence Nightingale
out to Scutari,and with Nightingale led the movement for Army Health and War Office
reform after the war. The hard work entailed caused a breakdown in his health, so that in July 1861, having been created a baron
in the peerage of the United Kingdom
, he had to resign office. He died from Bright's Disease
on the 2nd of August 1861. His statue by Foley was placed in front of the War Office in Pall Mall, London, and after that building's demolition placed next to A.G. Walker's statue of Florence Nightingale in Waterloo Place, adjacent to the Crimean Monument.
, who was unable to get a divorce from an abusive husband, so that the relationship ended in 1846.
In 1846 Sidney Herbert married Elizabeth (b. Richmond, 21 July 1822; d. Herbert House, London, 30 Oct 1911), only dau. of Lt.-Gen. Charles Ash à Court-Repington and niece of William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
. She was a philanthropist, author and translator, and a friend of Benjamin Disraeli, Cardinal Manning and Cardinal Vaughan. After her husband's death, Lady Herbert became an "ardent Ultramontane" Roman Catholic, along with their eldest daughter, Mary.
Sidney and Elizabeth Herbert had seven children:
Sidney Herbert is buried in the church at Wilton
, rebuilt by him in neo-Romanesque style, with a marble monumental effigy of him beside Elizabeth, his wife (who, however, was buried at St Joseph's Missionary College, Mill Hill
, where she was a notable patron).
Herbert Sound
in the Antarctic and Pembroke, Ontario
in Canada are named after Sidney Herbert.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
statesman
Statesman
A statesman is usually a politician or other notable public figure who has had a long and respected career in politics or government at the national and international level. As a term of respect, it is usually left to supporters or commentators to use the term...
and a close ally and confidante of Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
.
Early life
He was the younger son of George Herbert, 11th Earl of PembrokeGeorge Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke
General George Augustus Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke and 8th Earl of Montgomery, KG, PC was a British peer, army officer and politician.-Early life:...
; his mother being the Russian noblewoman Countess Catherine Woronzoff
Catherine Vorontsov
Countess Ekaterina Semyonovna Vorontsova was the daughter of Semyon Vorontsov, Russian ambassador in Britain, and the only sister of Prince Mikhail Vorontsov, Viceroy of New Russia and Caucasus ....
(or Vorontsov
Vorontsov
Vorontsov, also Woronzow, Woroncow is a celebrated Russian family, which attained the dignity of Counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1744 and Serene Princes of the Russian Empire in 1852....
a), daughter of the Russian ambassador to St James's, Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov
Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov
Count Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov was a Russian diplomat whose siblings included Alexander Vorontsov, Elizaveta Vorontsova, and Ekaterina Dashkova...
. Educated at Harrow
Harrow School
Harrow School, commonly known simply as "Harrow", is an English independent school for boys situated in the town of Harrow, in north-west London.. The school is of worldwide renown. There is some evidence that there has been a school on the site since 1243 but the Harrow School we know today was...
and Oriel College, Oxford, he made a reputation at the Oxford Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
as a speaker.
Career
Herbert entered the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
as Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for a division of Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
in 1832. Under Peel he held minor offices, and in 1845 was included in the cabinet as Secretary at War
Secretary at War
The Secretary at War was a political position in the English and later British government, with some responsibility over the administration and organization of the Army, but not over military policy. The Secretary at War ran the War Office. It was occasionally a cabinet level position, although...
, and again held this office from 1852 to 1855, being responsible for the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
during the Crimean War
Crimean War
The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...
, and again in 1859.
Herbert ran the Pembroke family estates, centred at Wilton House
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....
, Wiltshire, for most of his adult life. His elder half-brother, Robert Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke
Robert Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke
Robert Henry Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke and 9th Earl of Montgomery was a British nobleman in line for great estates and position as head of the distinguished Herbert family and heir to the earldom of Pembroke, but lived an irregular life in exile after a dissolute youth.-Early years:Herbert...
(1791–1862), had chosen to live in exile in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
after a disastrous marriage in 1814 (annulled 1818) to a Sicilian princess, Ottavia Spinelli (1779–1857), widow of Prince Ercole Branciforte di Butera, and daughter of the Duke of Laurino, and a subsequent liaison with Alexina Gallot, which resulted in four illegitimate children.
It was Sidney Herbert who sent Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale OM, RRC was a celebrated English nurse, writer and statistician. She came to prominence for her pioneering work in nursing during the Crimean War, where she tended to wounded soldiers. She was dubbed "The Lady with the Lamp" after her habit of making rounds at night...
out to Scutari,and with Nightingale led the movement for Army Health and War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
reform after the war. The hard work entailed caused a breakdown in his health, so that in July 1861, having been created a baron
Baron
Baron is a title of nobility. The word baron comes from Old French baron, itself from Old High German and Latin baro meaning " man, warrior"; it merged with cognate Old English beorn meaning "nobleman"...
in the peerage of the United Kingdom
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, when it replaced the Peerage of Great Britain...
, he had to resign office. He died from Bright's Disease
Bright's disease
Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....
on the 2nd of August 1861. His statue by Foley was placed in front of the War Office in Pall Mall, London, and after that building's demolition placed next to A.G. Walker's statue of Florence Nightingale in Waterloo Place, adjacent to the Crimean Monument.
Family
In the early 1840s, Herbert had an affair with the noted society beauty and author Caroline NortonCaroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton was a famous British society beauty, feminist, social reformer, and author of the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and Marriage:...
, who was unable to get a divorce from an abusive husband, so that the relationship ended in 1846.
In 1846 Sidney Herbert married Elizabeth (b. Richmond, 21 July 1822; d. Herbert House, London, 30 Oct 1911), only dau. of Lt.-Gen. Charles Ash à Court-Repington and niece of William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury
William à Court, 1st Baron Heytesbury GCB PC , known as Sir William à Court, Bt, from 1817 to 1828, was a British diplomat and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...
. She was a philanthropist, author and translator, and a friend of Benjamin Disraeli, Cardinal Manning and Cardinal Vaughan. After her husband's death, Lady Herbert became an "ardent Ultramontane" Roman Catholic, along with their eldest daughter, Mary.
Sidney and Elizabeth Herbert had seven children:
- George Robert Charles HerbertGeorge Herbert, 13th Earl of PembrokeGeorge Robert Charles Herbert, 13th Earl of Pembroke, 10th Earl of Montgomery , known as The Lord Herbert of Lea from 1861 to 1862, was a British Conservative politician...
(1850–1895), who succeeded in the title and later became the 13th Earl of Pembroke, and the barony is now merged in that earldom. - Sidney HerbertSidney Herbert, 14th Earl of PembrokeSidney Herbert, 14th Earl of Pembroke, 11th Earl of Montgomery GCVO, PC , styled The Honourable Sidney Herbert between 1861 and 1895, was a British politician and peer.-Background and education:...
(1853–1913), also a Member of Parliament, who succeeded his brother as the 14th Earl of Pembroke. - William Reginald Herbert, b. 1854, lost at sea aboard HMS Captain (1869)HMS Captain (1869)HMS Captain was an unsuccessful warship built for the Royal Navy due to public pressure. She was a masted turret ship, designed and built by a private contractor against the wishes of the Controller's department...
, aged 17. - Michael Henry HerbertMichael Henry HerbertSir Michael Henry Herbert, KCMG, CB, PC) , was a British diplomat and ambassador.-Career:Herbert was brought up at the family house at Wilton House, in Wiltshire...
(The Hon. Sir Michael Herbert, KCMG, CB, PC) (1857–1904), a diplomat who ended his career as British AmbassadorAmbassadorAn ambassador is the highest ranking diplomat who represents a nation and is usually accredited to a foreign sovereign or government, or to an international organization....
to the USA in Washington DC in succession to Lord Pauncefote, after whom the town of HerbertHerbert, Saskatchewan-External links:* http://www.virtualmuseum.ca/pm.php?id=story_line&lg=English&fl=&ex=00000155&sl=2346&pos=1* http://www.townofherbertsk.ca/herbert/index.html...
in SaskatchewanSaskatchewanSaskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
, CanadaCanadaCanada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, is named. He m. 1888 Lelia ('Belle'), daughter of Richard Thornton Wilson, Sr., a New York banker and cotton broker, and had (with one other son) Sir Sidney Herbert, 1st BaronetSir Sidney Herbert, 1st BaronetSir Sidney Herbert, 1st Baronet was a British Conservative Party politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1922 to 1931 and 1932 to 1939....
. - Mary Catherine (1849–1935), who m. 1873 the great modernist theologian, Baron (FreiherrFreiherrThe German titles Freiherr and Freifrau and Freiin are titles of nobility, used preceding a person's given name or, after 1919, before the surname...
) Friedrich von HügelFriedrich von HügelFriedrich von Hügel was an influential Austrian Roman Catholic layman, religious writer, Modernist theologian and Christian apologist....
. - Elizabeth Maud (1851–1933), who m. 1872 the composer, Sir Charles Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
, 1st BaronetBaronetA baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
(son of Thomas Gambier ParryThomas Gambier ParryThomas Gambier Parry, J.P.,D.L., was an English artist and art collector. He is best remembered for his development of the Gambier Parry process of fresco painting....
), of HighnamHighnamHighnam is a village and civil parish on the outskirts of the city of Gloucester. It is three miles northwest of the city on the A40, on its way to Ross, west of Alney Island and Over Bridge. The parish includes the villages of Lassington and Over...
Court, near GloucesterGloucesterGloucester is a city, district and county town of Gloucestershire in the South West region of England. Gloucester lies close to the Welsh border, and on the River Severn, approximately north-east of Bristol, and south-southwest of Birmingham....
. - Lady Constance GwladysLady Constance GwladysLady Constance Gladys was a British patron of the arts.-Biography:She was born in 1859 to Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea. She married St George Lowther, 4th Earl of Lonsdale and after his death she married Frederick Robinson, 2nd Marquess of Ripon . They had no children. She died in...
(1859–1917), who m. 1st 1878 St George Henry Lowther, 4th Earl of Lonsdale (issue, 1 daughter) and m. 2ndly 1885 Frederick Oliver Robinson, the Earl de Grey, later 2nd and last Marquess of RiponMarquess of RiponMarquess of Ripon was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1870 for the Liberal politician George Robinson, 2nd Earl of Ripon. The Robinson family descended from William Robinson , a wealthy York merchant, Lord Mayor and Member of Parliament for York...
(no issue).
Sidney Herbert is buried in the church at Wilton
Wilton House
Wilton House is an English country house situated at Wilton near Salisbury in Wiltshire. It has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years....
, rebuilt by him in neo-Romanesque style, with a marble monumental effigy of him beside Elizabeth, his wife (who, however, was buried at St Joseph's Missionary College, Mill Hill
Mill Hill
Mill Hill is a place in the London Borough of Barnet. It is a suburb situated 9 miles north west of Charing Cross. Mill Hill was in the historic county of Middlesex until it was absorbed by London...
, where she was a notable patron).
Herbert Sound
Herbert Sound
Herbert Sound is a sound in Antarctica extending from Cape Lachman and Keltie Head on the northwest to the narrows between The Naze and False Island Point on the southeast, separating Vega Island from James Ross Island and connecting Prince Gustav Channel with Erebus and Terror Gulf...
in the Antarctic and Pembroke, Ontario
Pembroke, Ontario
Pembroke is a city in the province of Ontario, Canada, at the confluence of the Muskrat River and the Ottawa River in the Ottawa Valley...
in Canada are named after Sidney Herbert.
See also
- Crimean War MemorialCrimean War MemorialThe Crimean War Memorial is located on Waterloo Place, at the junction of Lower Regent Street and Pall Mall in London, about a quarter of the way from the Duke of York Column to Piccadilly Circus....
- Mount MerrionMount MerrionMount Merrion is an area of Dublin, Ireland. It is roughly 7 kilometres south of the city centre. It is situated on and around a hill of the same name.-Location and access:...
- Royal Herbert Hospital
Sources
- Sir Tresham Lever, The Herberts of Wilton (Murray, 1967)
- Burke's PeerageBurke's PeerageBurke's Peerage publishes authoritative, in-depth historical guides to the royal and titled families of the United Kingdom, such as Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, and of many other countries. Founded in 1826 by British genealogist John Burke Esq., and continued by his son, Sir John...
, 107th edition - Mark Bostridge, Florence Nightingale. The Woman and Her Legend (Viking, 2008)