HERBERT OF LEA, SIDNEY HERBERT, IST BARON (181 o—I 861) , English statesman, was the younger son of the 11 th earl of Pembroke. Educated at Harrow and Oriel, Oxford, he made a reputation at the Oxford Union as a speaker, and entered the House of Commons as Conservative member for a division of Wiltshire in 1832. Under Peel he held minor offices, and in 1845 was included in the cabinet as secretary for war, and again held this office in 1852-1855, being responsible for the War Office during the Crimean difficulties, and in 1859. It was Sidney Herbert who sent Florence Nightingale out to the Crimea, and he led the movement for War Office reform after the war, the hard work entailed causing his breakdown in health, so that in July 186i, having been created a baron, he had to resign office, and died on Aug. 2, 1861.
See Lord Stanmore, Life of Lord Herbert of Lea (1906). See also references under NIGHTINGALE, FLORENCE.