Herbert, SIDNEY, LORD HERBERT OF LEA

Herbert, SIDNEY, LORD HERBERT OF LEA, minister and statesman, was the son of the eleventh Earl of Pembroke by his second wife, the daughter of Count Woronzow, and was born at Richmond, 16th September 1810. Educated at Harrow and at Oriel College, Oxford, he devoted himself to public life, and entered the House of Commons in 1832 as member for South Wilts, which he represented until his elevation to the peerage in 1861. He began his political career as a Conservative, and was Secretary to the Admiralty in Sir R. Peel's administration from 1841 to 1845, when he became Secretary-at-war. It fell to him to oppose Mr Cobden's motion for a select committee to inquire into the effect of the corn laws. He went out of office with his party in 1846. In 1852 he was again Secretary-at-war, under the Aberdeen ministry, and, in consequence, the 'horrible and heart-rending sufferings' of the army before Sebastopol were laid in a great degree at his door. He was for a few weeks Colonial Secretary in the first administration of Lord Palmerston in 1855, and Secretary-at-war in his second administration in 1859. Great improvements in the sanitary condition and education of the army, the amalgamation of the Indian with the royal army, and the organisation of the volunteer force signalised his army administration. He largely reformed the War Office, and was devoting himself with equal zeal and intelligence to his ministerial duties when, owing to failing health, he resigned his seat in the House of Commons, and in 1861 was called to the Upper House, under the title of Baron Herbert of Lea. He died August 2, 1861. He was heir-presumptive to the earldom of Pembroke, and his son (1850-95, author of South Sea Bubbles) became in 1862 thirteenth earl.