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Gentleman's Magazine 1865 part 1 p.100
street, Berkeley-square, April 18, 1802. He was educated at
Eton and Christ Church, bearing the courtesy title of Lord
Morpeth, and earned a high reputation as a graceful scholar.
He was especially distinguished for his skill in
versification, and in 1821 he obtained two of the University
prizes for his poems - the Chancellor's prize for Latin, and
the Newdigate prize for English verse. He took his degree in
1823, and was first-class in classics. In 1826 he
accompanied his uncle, the late Duke of Devonshire, on his
vist to Russia at the coronation of the Emperor Nicholas;
where his high rank, his youth, and his engaging manners,
made him a great favourite in St. Petersburgh society. He
was afterwards returned to the House of Commons from the
family seat of Morpeth; and one of his earliest speeches was
in defence of the character of the Russian Emperor, who had
been made the subject of severe attacks in consequence of
the cruelties practised on the Poles after the suppression
of the Polish insurrection of 1830. This was not calculated
to endear him to the Liberal party, to which, in accordance
with the politics of his family, he had given in his
adhesion; but in the agitation which took place on the
Reform Bill he banded himself on the side of Earl Grey, and
on the dissolution of Parliament which followed the success
of General Gascoyne's motion he was returned for Yorkshire,
which seat he held until the passing of the Reform Act in
1832. He afterwards represented the West Riding from 1833 to
1841, when he was defeated, but he was subsequently returned
on the elevation of the Hon. J. S. Wortley to the dignity of
Lord Wharncliffe. Lord Morpeth then sat for the Riding from
1846 to 1848, when the death of his father caused his
elevation to the peerage. His Lordship was Chief Secretary
for Ireland from 1835 to 1841; Chancellor of the Duchy of
Lancaster from 1849 to 1851; and Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland
from 1855 to 1858, when during Lord Derby's Ministry he was
superseded; but on the fall of the Conservative
Administration he resumed the office, and he held it until
the August of 1864, when his failing health compelled him to
retire from the public service. Both as Chief Secretary and
as Viceroy he was very popular, as indeed he was wherever he
was known, his manner being particularly gracious and
conciliatory, and his deep interest in everything that
concerned the well-being of the working classes leading him,
it may almost be said, to originate the now common practice
of men of rank and high literary attainments taking an
active part in the proceedings of mechanics' institutes, and
similar bodies.
Lord Carlisle was appointed Lord Lieutenant of the East
Riding of Yorkshire in 1847; he was elected Lord Rector of
the University of Aberdeen in 1853, and he received the
freedom of the city of Derry in 1863.
During the time that he was out of Parliament Lord Morpeth
paid a lengthened visit to the United States, and he made
this tour the subject of a lecture which he delivered on
several occasions, especially in Yorkshire, and which gave a
very favourable picture of the Americans. Another lecture
that gained equal popularity was one on "The Life and
Writings of Pope." Some years afterwards he visited the
East, and this gave rise to a very graceful and pleasant
volume, entitled "A Diary in Turkish and Greek Waters;" and
he was also the author of a work on Prophecy.
Lord Carlisle paid great attention to the subject of
juvenile criminals, and one of the best-conducted
reformatories for them is that which was established on his
estate at Castle Howard. He also set on foot the building of
a church at Welburn, in the neighbourhood, but he did not
live to see it finished. His remains were interred in the
mausoleum in his park, on Dec. 13. He was unmarried, and is
succeeded by his brother the Hon. and Rev, William George
Howard, who was born in 1808, and has held the rectory of
Londesborough, in Yorkshire, ever since 1832.
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