Dufferin

Dufferin, The Right Hon. Frederick Temple Hamilton-Blackwood, K.P., G.C.B., G.C.S.I., G.C.M.G., G.C.I.E., Marquis of Dufferin and Earl of Ava, only son of the fourth Irish Baron Dufferin, was born in 1826, and educated at Eton and Christchurch, Oxford, succeeding to his father's title in 1841. On his mother's side he was descended from the famous wit and politician, Richard Brinsley Sheridan. In 1846-7 he visited the faminestricken districts of Ireland, and wrote a valuable account of all he saw. For some years he was a lord-in-waiting, but in 1855 began his diplomatic career by accompanying Lord John Russell in his mission to Vienna. In 1864 he became Under-Secretary for India, being transferred to the War Office in 1866. On the accession of Mr. Gladstone to power in 1868 he joined the administration as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Paymaster-General, resigning those posts in 1874 to go out as Governor-General to Canada, the duties of which office he fulfilled up to 1878. He had only been at home a few months when he was appointed to the embassy at St. Petersburg, where he remained only two years, succeeding Sir H. A. Layard at Constantinople in 1881. Before the end of 1884 he proceeded to Calcutta as Governor-General of India The annexation of Burmah was more or less successfully accomplished under -his auspices, and the exploit received its reward and commemoration in the addition of "Ava" to the title of the marquisate conferred upon him in 1888. On leaving India he took over the embassy at Rome, until the death of Lord Lytton in 1892 gave him the still more important post of British representative at Paris. His amusing Letters from High Latitudes (1859) are well known. He was made Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports in 1891. Lord Dufferin married, in 1862, the eldest daughter of Captain Archibald Rovepn Hamilton, and has a numerous family. To Lady Dufferin is due in no slight degree the social distinction that has marked her husband's career, and her exertions on behalf of the women of India entitle her to high commendation.