Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax

Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax (20 December 1800 – 8 August 1885), known as Sir Charles Wood, 3rd Baronet, between 1846 and 1866, was a British Whig politician and Member of the Parliament. He was Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1846 to 1852, First Lord of the Admiralty from 1855 to 1858, and Secretary of State for India from 1859 to 1866.

The Right Honourable The Viscount Halifax GCB PC
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office 6 July 1870 – 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Earl of Kimberley
Succeeded by	Earl of Malmesbury
Secretary of State for India
In office 18 June 1859 – 16 February 1866
Prime Minister	Viscount Palmerston Earl Russell
Preceded by	Lord Stanley
Succeeded by	Earl de Grey and Ripon
First Lord of the Admiralty
In office 13 March 1855 – 8 March 1858
Prime Minister	Viscount Palmerston
Preceded by	Sir James Graham
Succeeded by	Sir John Pakington
President of the Board of Control
In office 30 December 1852 – 3 March 1855
Prime Minister	Earl of Aberdeen
Preceded by	John Charles Herries
Succeeded by	Robert Vernon Smith
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 6 July 1846 – 21 February 1852
Prime Minister	Lord John Russell
Preceded by	Henry Goulburn
Succeeded by	Benjamin Disraeli
First Secretary of the Admiralty
In office 27 April 1835 – 4 October 1839
Prime Minister	Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	George Robert Dawson
Succeeded by	Richard More O'Ferrall
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury
In office 10 August 1832 – 14 November 1834
Prime Minister	Earl Grey Viscount Melbourne
Preceded by	Edward Ellice
Succeeded by	Sir George Clerk
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office 22 February 1866 – 8 August 1885
Preceded by	Peerage created
Succeeded by	The 2nd Viscount Halifax
Member of Parliament for Ripon
In office 11 July 1865 – 21 February 1866
Preceded by	Reginald Vyner
Succeeded by	Lord John Hay
Member of Parliament for Halifax
In office 10 December 1832 – 11 July 1865
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Edward Akroyd
Member of Parliament for Wareham
In office 2 May 1831 – 12 December 1832
Preceded by	James Ewing
Succeeded by	John Hales Calcraft
Member of Parliament for Great Grimsby
In office 9 June 1826 – 25 July 1831
Preceded by	William Duncombe
Succeeded by	John Shelley
Personal details
Born	(1800-12-20)20 December 1800 Pontefract, Yorkshire, England, Kingdom of Great Britain
Died	8 August 1885(1885-08-08) (aged 84) Hickleton Hall, Doncaster, West Riding of Yorkshire, England, UK
Political party	Whig Liberal
Spouse	Lady Mary Grey (d. 1884)
Children	7, including Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax
Alma mater	Oriel College, Oxford

Heraldic memorial window to Grey and Wood family, Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, Staffordshire.

Background

Halifax was the son of Sir Francis Wood, 2nd Baronet of Barnsley, and his wife Anne, daughter of Samuel Buck. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, where he studied classics and mathematics.

Political career

A Liberal and Member of Parliament from 1826 to 1866, Wood abandoned the seat of Great Grimsby and was returned in 1831 for the pocket borough of Wareham, probably as a paying guest, which arrangement enabled him to remain in London in preparation for the reading of the Reform Bill. He confided his views to his father:

the reform is an efficient, substantial, anti-democratic, pro-property measure, but it sweeps away rotten boroughs and of course disgusts their proprietors. The main hope therefore of carrying it, is by the voice of the country, thus operating by deciding all wavering votes ... The radicals, for which heaven be praised, support us ...^[1]

He voted meticulously for the bill at every stage, and it received the Royal assent in the following year.

Wood served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lord John Russell's government (1846–1852), where he opposed any further help for Ireland during the Great Famine there. In his 1851 budget, Sir Charles liberalized trade, reducing import duties and encouraging consumer goods. This reduction in tariffs led to a noticeable increase in consumption. In the succeeding Tory government, the new Chancellor Benjamin Disraeli, a former protectionist, referred to Wood's influence on economic policy in an interim financial statement on 30 April 1852, setting a trend for the way budgets are presented in the Commons.^[2] For Wood, Disraeli was 'petulant and sarcastic', qualities he disliked.^[3]

Wood later served as President of the Board of Control under Lord Aberdeen (1852–1855), as First Lord of the Admiralty in Lord Palmerston's first administration (1855–1858), and as Secretary of State for India in Palmerston's second government (1859–1866). He succeeded to his father's baronetcy in 1846, and in 1866 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Halifax, of Monk Bretton in the West Riding of the County of York.^{[citation needed]} After the unexpected death of Lord Clarendon necessitated a reshuffle of Gladstone's first cabinet, Halifax was brought in as Lord Privy Seal, serving from 1870 to 1874, his last public office.

Role in the Irish Famine

The Great Famine in Ireland (1845–1851) led to the death of one million people, with a further one to two million emigrating. On 30 June 1846, the Tory government of Sir Robert Peel was replaced by a Whig government led by Lord John Russell. The government sought to embed free trade and laissez-faire economics. Sir Charles Trevelyan, a senior civil servant at the Treasury, in close cooperation with Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Charles Wood, sought to oppose intervention in Ireland.^[4] Extreme parsimony of the British Government towards Ireland while Wood was in charge of the Treasury greatly enhanced the suffering of those affected by famine. Wood believed in the economic policy of Laissez-faire and preferred to leave the Irish to starve rather than "undermine the market" by allowing in cheap imported grain.^[5] Wood also shared Trevelyan's anti-Irish, moralistic views, with Wood believing the famine should eliminate the "present habits of dependence", and obliging Irish property to support Irish poverty.^[6] Wood wrote to the lord lieutenant that the famine was not accidental, but willed, and would bring along a social revolution: "A want of food and employment is a calamity sent by Providence", it had "precipitated things with a wonderful impetus, so as to bring them to an early head".^[6] He hoped the famine would clear small farmers, and lead to a "better" economic system.^[7] Wood gave £200 to the British Relief Association, the same amount as Robert Peel and, amongst politicians, second only behind Lord John Russell, who gave £300.^[8]

Wood's despatch

Main article: Wood's despatch

As the President of the Board of Control, Wood took a major step in spreading education in India in 1854, when he sent a despatch to Lord Dalhousie, the Governor-General of India. Wood recommended the following:

1. An education department should be set in every province.
2. Universities on the model of the University of London should be established in large cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.
3. At least one government school be opened in every district.
4. Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.
5. The Indian natives should be given training in the vernacular.

In accordance with Wood's despatch, education departments were established in every province and universities were opened at Calcutta, Bombay and Madras in 1857, as well as in Punjab in 1882 and in Allahabad in 1887.^{[citation needed]}.

Family

Lord Halifax married Lady Mary Grey (3 May 1807 – 6 July 1884), fifth daughter of Charles Grey, 2nd Earl Grey, on 29 July 1829. They had four sons and three daughters:^{[citation needed]}

• Hon. Blanche Edith Wood (d. 21 July 1921) married on 21 September 1876, Col. Hon. Henry William Lowry-Corry (30 June 1845 – 6 May 1927).
• Hon. Alice Louisa Wood (d. 3 June 1934)
• Charles Lindley Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax (7 January 1839 – 19 January 1934)
• Hon. Emily Charlotte Wood (1840 – 21 December 1904) married Hugo Francis Meynell-Ingram (1822 – 26 May 1871)
• Capt. Hon. Francis Lindley Wood, RN (17 October 1841 – 14 October 1873)
• Lt Col. Hon. Henry John Lindley Wood (12 January 1843 – 5 January 1903)
• Hon. Fredrick George Lindley Wood (later Meynell) (4 June 1846 – 4 November 1910)

Lady Halifax died in 1884. Lord Halifax survived her by just over a year and died in August 1885, aged 84. He was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son Charles, who was the father of Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax.