KIMBERLEY, JOHN WODEHOUSE, 1ST EARL OF (1826-1902), English statesman, was born Jan. 7, 1826, being the eldest son of the Hon. Henry Wodehouse and grandson of the 2nd Baron Wodehouse (the barony dating from 1797), whom he succeeded in 1846. He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He married Lady Florence Fitzgibbon (d. 1895), daughter of the last earl of Clare. In 1852-1856 and 1859-1861 he was under secretary of state for foreign affairs in Lord Aberdeen's and Lord Palmerston's ministries. In the interval (1856-1858) he had been envoy-extraordinary to Russia; and in 1863 he was sent on a special mission to Copenhagen on the forlorn hope of finding a peaceful solution of the Schleswig Holstein question. In 1864 he became under secretary for India, but towards the end of the year was made lord-lieutenant of Ireland. He was created earl of Kimberley in 1866. In July 1866 Russell's ministry fell. Kimberley was lord privy seal in Gladstone's cabinet of 1868, and in July 1870 was transferred to the colonial office. The new town of Kimberley was named
after him. Kimberley returned to the Colonial Office in 1880, but at the end of 1882 he was transferred to the duchy of Lancaster and then to the secretaryship of state for India, a post he retained during the remainder of Gladstone's tenure of power (1882-1886, 1892-1894), though in 1892-1894 he combined with it that of the lord presidency of the council. In the Rosebery cabinet 1895) he was foreign secretary. Lord Kimberley was a loyal Gladstonian. As leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords he acted with undeviating dignity; and in opposition he was a courteous antagonist and a critic of weight and experience. He was for many years a member of the senate of London Uni versity, and its chancellor in 1899. He died in London on April 8, 1902, being succeeded in the earldom by his eldest and only surviving son, Lord Wodehouse.