HERBERT, LORD, OF LEA (SIDNEY HERBERT), minister and statesman, son of the eleventh earl of Pembroke by his second wife, was b. at Richmond in 1810. Educated at Harrow and at Odel college, Oxford, he devoted himself to public life, and entered the house of commons iu 1839 as member for South Wilts, which he represented until his elevation to the peerage in 1861. He began his political career as is conservative, and was secretary to the admiralty in sir R. Peel's administration from 1841 to 1845, when he became secretary-at-war. As a member of this administration, it fell to him to oppose Mr. Cobden's motion for a committee to inquire into the effect of the corn-laws on farmers, and, afterwards, to argue in support of free trade in corn. Ile went out of office with his party in 1846. In 1852 he was again secretarv-at-war, under the Aberdeen ministry, and, in consequence, the " horrible and heart-rending- sufferings" of the army before Sebastopol were laid in a great degree at his door. Ile was for a few weeks colonial secretary in the first administration of lord Palmerston in 1855, and secretary-at-war in his second administration in 1859. Great improvements in the sani
tary condition and education of the army, the amalgamation of the Indian with the royal army, and the organization of the volunteer force, signalized his army adminis tration. He largely reformed the war-office, and was devoting himself with equal zeal. and intelligence to his ministerial duties, when, owing to failing health, he resigned his seat in the house of commons, and in 1861 was called to the upper house, under the title of Baron Herbert of Lea. But release from labor came too late, for he died Aug. 2, 1861. He was heir-presumptive to the twelfth earl of Pembroke. He had great aptitude for business, winning and genial manners, great readiness and fluency in debate, and a boundless philanthropy. He was a liberal patron of the arts; and his Lombardian 'church at Wilton, near his splendid abbey-seat. in Wiltshire, will remain a. lasting monument of his taste and munificence. He married, in 1846, the daughter of maj.gen. A'Court, niece of the first lord Heytesbury; and his eldest son, born in 1850, is now earl of Pembroke and Montgomery.