Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax

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 ...

He voted meticulously for the bill at every stage, and the Reform Act 1832 received 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. For Wood, Disraeli was 'petulant and sarcastic', qualities he disliked.

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. 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 to the Great Britain, United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. 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. 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. 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. Wood wrote to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 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". He hoped the famine would clear small farmers, and lead to a "better" economic system. Wood gave £200 to the British Relief Association, the same amount as Sir Robert Peel and, amongst politicians, second only behind Lord John Russell, who gave £300.

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:

An education department should be set in every province.

Universities on the model of the University of London should be established in large cities such as Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

At least one government school be opened in every district.

Affiliated private schools should be given grant in aid.

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..

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:

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.