Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, (1 October 1814 – 30 October 1906) was a prominent British Conservative politician. He held cabinet office in every Conservative government between 1858 and 1892.
Hardy served as Home Secretary from 1867 to 1868, Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1878, Secretary of State for India from 1878 to 1880, Lord President of the Council from 1885 to 1886 and again from 1886 to 1892, and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in 1886. In 1878, he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Cranbrook and in 1892 he was granted an earldom. He has been described as a moderate, middle-of-the-road Anglican, and a key ally of Disraeli.
Background and education Gathorne Hardy was the third son of John Hardy and Isabel Gathorne, daughter of Richard Gathorne, of Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria. His older brother was Sir John Hardy, 1st Baronet. His father was a barrister and businessman, the main owner of the Low Moor ironworks and also represented Bradford in Parliament as a Conservative. His immediate ancestors had been attorneys and stewards to the Spencer-Stanhope family of Horsforth since the beginning of the 18th century.
He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Oriel College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1840. He established a successful legal practice on the Northern Circuit, being based in Leeds, but was denied when he applied for silk in 1855.Gathorne-Hardy, Alfred (1910). "Gathorne Hardy, first Earl of Cranbrook: A memoir with extracts from his diary and correspondence". p. 9.
Early political career, 1847–1874
Gathorne Hardy had unsuccessfully contested Bradford in the 1847 general election. However, after his father's death in 1855 he was able to concentrate fully on a political career, and in 1856 he was elected for Leominster. Only two years later, in 1858, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs in the second administration of the Earl of Derby. He remained in this office until the government fell in June 1859.
In 1865, Gathorne Hardy reluctantly agreed to stand against William Ewart Gladstone in the Oxford University constituency. However, on 17 July 1865, he defeated Gladstone by a majority of 180, which greatly enhanced his standing within the Conservative party thanks to the influence of rural clergy voters, but still did not come first in the poll. Gladstone's response was "Dear Dream is dispelled. God's will be done".Heathcote topped the poll with 3,236 votes, and 1,904for Gathorne Hardy. Gladstone, 'Diaries', vol.VI, p.370, cited by Jenkins, 'Gladstone', p.251 The Conservatives returned to office under Derby in 1866, and Hardy was appointed President of the Poor Law Board, with a seat in the cabinet. He was admitted to the Privy Council at the same time. During his tenure in this office he notably carried the Poor Law Amendment Act 1867 through Parliament. Cranbrook also supported the Reform Act 1867, which significantly increased the size of the electorate to one in five. By May, Disraeli had recognised Gathorne Hardy's value to the Conservatives as a rising star in the Commons, proving a capable debater, a resilient antagonist to Gladstone, and "nobody's fool".Gathorne Hardy "Diary", cited in Hurd & Young, p.161. In 1867 he succeeded Spencer Horatio Walpole as Home Secretary and was forced to deal with the Fenian Rising of that year. By accepting an amendment that all ratepayers should be enfranchised, Disraeli had created a new Victorian constitution, which surprisingly Hardy and others were prepared to accept.Hurd & Young, p.168 One new entrant in 1868, an admirer of Disraeli, the Radical, Sir Charles Dilke thought Hardy the most eloquent Englishman, whose talents were wasted in the Conservative Party. But Hardy himself, not so easily deceived, remained a stalwart Tory to the end.Jenkins, Dilke, pp.49-50
The next year, Benjamin Disraeli succeeded Derby as Prime Minister, but the Conservative government resigned in autumn 1868, after both the Queen and Disraeli delayed dissolution to register a new electorate, which since 1865 had accepted postal votes.Jenkins, p.285 The Liberals came to power under Gladstone. In opposition, Hardy occasionally acted as opposition leader in the House of Commons when Disraeli was absent.
There was criticism of the Anglican Church in Ireland, which Liberals intended to disestablish in its entirety. A committed Anglican, Hardy opposed the measure on religious grounds:
"I say that the Church of Ireland has made many converts; not, it may be, by violent controversial proceedings, but by a quiet influence which has affected the minds of those who have been around her clergy, and who have gradually become leavened by their sentiments".Hansard, HC Deb 23 March 1869, vol.194, cc2076, line 6-9
Being an orthodox Anglican he considered fragmentation of the church as contrariwise to Conservative principles.Ramsden, p.103
"I have faith in the principles we are professing, and when I am told by the right hon. Gentleman the President of the Board of Trade, and by others who have spoken like him, that all thoughtful men are against the Irish Church, that for fifty years every Statesman has looked forward to some such consummation."Hansard, HC Deb 23 March 1869, vol.194 cc2068, line.10-13
He spoke manfully in the Irish Church bill debate on 23 March 1869, before Gladstone gave the government's winding-up in one of the greatest oratorical expositions during the second reading.Jenkins, p.301 Hardy linked the Irish church bill to the Fenian rising and resulting atrocities, vis-à-vis a Catholic church allegedly willing to sell benefices for money. Moreover, he directly attacked the Prime Minister's followers whom he accused of being "indebted to the Fenian movement for that tardy measure of justice. This shows the encouragement to disloyalty given by this measure."HC Deb 23 Mar 1869, vol.194, cc2087, line.17-19 And in provoking the government he linked tendentiously Baron Plunket, the nationalist, to the Liberal Party: which no doubt they disowned.
During debates on education Hardy produced eloquent and stinging rebukes that deflected time from Gladstone's Irish reform agenda. Hardy proved an able lieutenant in the Disraelian tradition, mocking Gladstone's bill's cumbersome progress through the Commons.Shannon, p.82 Gladstone gradually became hotter and bothered by Cranbrook's adroit remarks. When he was likened to the Hyde Park riots of 1866, the Prime Minister "caused such an explosion of passion and temper."N E Johnson (ed.), Diary of Gathorne Hardy, later Lord Cranbrook, 1866-1892", Oxford, 1981, 23 February 1872
The defeat threatened Disraeli's party leadership, but despite being considered Hardy declined, whilst the great man was still 'looking over his shoulder'.Ramsden, p.110 On 1 February 1872, Hardy was present at the Burghley House Conference of Tory grandees: only Derby and Disraeli were missing for the discussion about the party's and country's future. Hosted by Lord Exeter, a Cecil descendant of the Elizabethan Lord Burghley, other Cabinet members were Sir Stafford Northcote, Sir John Pakington, Lord Cairns, and Lord John Manners, a personal friend of Disraeli. Only Manners and Northcote were prepared to support Disraeli's continued leadership. The group suggested that Lord Stanley, Derby's son, take the Commons post of party leader. For his part, the younger Stanley was a very different character than his father.Edward Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby died in October 1869; his son, Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby would become Foreign Secretary in the Conservative ministry, 1874-80 Short and plump, Stanley was a reformer, open to change, and ideas around progressive politics. He was also more amenable to Disraeli, recognizing that he was unfit, he did not wish to displace a man whom backbenchers knew was the outstanding parliamentarian.Hurd & Young, p.181 Stanley's neutrality would convert other cabinet members towards acceptance of the flamboyant Jew. Latterly, Hardy worked well with Disraeli, although they were not close intimates. At the end of the month the mood in London lifted: the Prince of Wales was out of trouble, and Hardy amongst others attended a service of thanksgiving and praise at St Paul's on 27 February.Lion and the Unicorn, pp.218-219
Cabinet minister, 1874–1880
In 1874, the Conservatives returned to office under Disraeli, and Hardy was appointed Secretary of State for War, for which he was not best suited. He should have been offered the Home Office, but this went to a fine debater, Richard Cross. But the House rose on 7 August, leaving the minister the remainder of the year to settle into departmental work.Ramsden, p.124-5 Hardy stayed in post for more than four years overseeing the army reforms initiated by his Liberal predecessor Edward Cardwell. In 1876, Disraeli was elevated to the peerage, and the House of Lords, as Earl of Beaconsfield. Hardy had expected to become Conservative leader in the House of Commons, but was overlooked in favour of Sir Stafford Northcote; Disraeli disliked the fact Hardy neglected the house to go home in the evening to dine with his wife.R. Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Thatcher, (Fontana Press, 1985), p.134
Two years later, in April 1878, Hardy succeeded The Marquess of Salisbury as Secretary of State for India, and the following month he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Cranbrook, of Hemsted in the County of Kent. At the same time, he assumed by royal license his mother's maiden surname of Gathorne in addition to that of Hardy. In December 1878, Cranbrook attended court, and heard from the Queen her complaints about Gladstone's mishandling of the Prince of Wales' rejection of the proposal to make him Viceroy of Ireland.Cranbrook's Diary, p.374; R Shannon, p.226 Cranbrook remained one of the ministers at the centre of the court being a monarchist, frequently interacting with the Queen and Prince of Wales; indeed, Cranbrook "won the full confidence and warm personal regard of Queen Victoria". When Gladstone's portrait was shown in public, Cranbrook tactfully observed protocol.Cranbrook Diary, p.409
The Eastern Question had posed the biggest single foreign policy dilemma in 1877. Hardy was in favour of actively pursuing the bankrupted Sultan with a loan, and going to war if necessary to keep Russia out of Constantinople. He proved one of Disraeli's closest allies in cabinet. Cranbrook was a relative parvenu; the rich aristocrats wanted peace and so did Gladstone, at any price. But he was vindicated; when Salisbury swapped sides to support the PM, he was raised to Foreign Minister. A 'War Party', an Inner Cabinet, sent Royal Navy battleships to defend the Turks against a threatening Russian Army. At the India Office Cranbrook was forced to deal with the Second Afghan War in 1878, aimed at restoring British influence in Afghanistan. After a peaceful summer of 1878 deer-stalking in Scotland, Cranbrook returned to a crisis dealing with an ill-prepared Viceroy of India. A full invasion of Afghanistan was ordered on 21 November. The Afghans were defeated within weeks, but the new Third Empire had begun in a state of panic. A peace deal was struck in May 1879, but war again erupted after the British resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari, was murdered by mutinous Afghan troops. British troops under Frederick Roberts managed once again to restore control. However, the situation was still volatile when Cranbrook, along with the rest of the government, resigned in April 1880. As a peer Cranbrook was disqualified from making speeches during elections, which ended in a Liberal majority. He took a well-earned rest in Italy early in 1881, and was still there when the only one of Disraeli's cabinet absent for the Earl of Beaconsfield's funeral at Hughenden.Douglas Hurd & Edward Young, "Disraeli or The Two Lives" (London 2013), p.2
Tory grandee