Goschen

Goschen, GEORGE JOACHIM, English statesman, son of a London merchant of German extraction, was born in London, August 10, 1831, and was educated at Rugby and Oriel. He is LL.D., D.C.L., F.R.S., and P.C. In 1863 he wrote on exchange, and entered parliament as a Liberal for the City of London. When Lord Russell, after Palmerston's death, reorganised the Liberal ministry, he appointed Goschen Vice-president of the Board of Trade, November 1865. In the following January the latter entered the cabinet in consequence of his appointment as chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. When Gladstone became prime-minister in 1868, Goschen took office as President of the Poor-law Board, but three years later became the head of the Admiralty, which post he retained until the fall of the Gladstone ministry in 1874. Goschen's next public work was the regulation, in conjunction with Joubert, of the Egyptian finances (1876). Then in 1878 he represented Great Britain at the international monetary conference held at Paris, and, two years afterwards, as ambassador extraordinary to the Porte, enforced on Turkey the fulfilment towards Greece of the treaty of Berlin. He strenuously opposed Home Rule; in 1887-92 was Unionist Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in 1888 converted part of the National Debt. In 1895-1900, as First Lord of the Admiralty, he made provision for increasing the navy. He has published works on finance (Foreign Exchanges, 16th ed. 1894), education, &c., and has been Lord Rector of Aberdeen and Edinburgh Universities. He sat for London, 1863-80; Ripon, 1880-85; East Edinburgh, 1885-86; and St George's, Hanover Square, 1887-1900, when he retired from public life. His grandfather was the famous Leipzig bookseller, Georg Joachim Goschen (1752-1828).