George Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford

George Henry Charles Byng, 3rd Earl of Strafford (22 February 1830 – 28 March 1898), styled Viscount Enfield between 1860 and 1886, was a British Liberal politician.

The Right Honourable The Earl of Strafford
"Answers questions" Viscount Enfield as caricatured by Adriano Cecioni in Vanity Fair. September 1872
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 9 January 1871 – 17 February 1874
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	Arthur Otway
Succeeded by	Hon. Robert Bourke
Under-Secretary of State for India
In office 1 September 1880 – 16 January 1883
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	William Ewart Gladstone
Preceded by	The Marquess of Lansdowne
Succeeded by	John Kynaston Cross
Personal details
Born	22 February 1830 (1830-02-22)
Died	28 March 1898 (1898-03-29) (aged 68) Westminster, London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Lady Alice Egerton (d. 1928)
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Background and education

Byng was the eldest son of George Byng, 2nd Earl of Strafford and his wife, Lady Agnes, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey.^[1] He was educated at Eton and graduated from Christ Church, Oxford in 1852.^[2]

Political career

In 1852 Byng entered Parliament as Member of Parliament for Tavistock, a seat he held until 1857,^[3] when he became MP for Middlesex.^[4] He served under Lord Russell as Parliamentary Secretary to the Poor Law Board between 1865 and 1866 and under William Ewart Gladstone as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs between 1871 and 1874.^[5]

In 1874, Lord Enfield left the House of Commons when he was defeated at the general election, but was then called up to the House of Lords in his father's barony of Strafford.^[6] He again held office under Gladstone as a Lord-in-waiting in 1880 and as Under-Secretary of State for India between 1880 and 1883.^[5]

Lord Strafford was also First Civil Service Commissioner from 1880 to 1888^[2] and Lord Lieutenant of Middlesex from 1884 to 1888.^[5] When the first Middlesex County Council was formed in 1889, he was chosen as a County Alderman, serving until 1895.^[7] Throughout his political career, he served with the part-time Royal West Middlesex Militia, becoming Lieutenant-Colonel on 30 October 1853 when his father was the Colonel. On 21 September 1871 he took over from his father as Honorary Colonel of the regiment, being succeeded in his turn by his younger brother Henry on 15 June 1878.^[8]

In 1886, he succeeded his father in the earldom of Strafford.

Interests

He was the third President of the Folklore Society, serving in that role between 1885 and 1888. It has been argued that his links with the Society should be seen more as "aristocratic patronage" rather than active research interest in the topic.^[9]

Family

Lord Strafford married Lady Alice Harriet Frederica, eldest daughter of Francis Egerton, 1st Earl of Ellesmere, on 25 July 1854. They had no children. He died at the family home in St. James's Square in March 1898, aged 68, and was succeeded in the earldom by his younger brother, Henry. The Countess of Strafford died in December 1928.^[1]