NORTHCOTE, Sir STAFFORD HENRY, first Earl if Iddesleigh (1S1S-I887). An English statesman and financier, born in London. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. graduating at Balliol College in 18:39 with high honors. His first position in political life was that of private secre tary to Gladstone, when the latter was president of the Board of Trade. In 1847 he was called to the bar and was made legal secretary to the Board of Trade. In 1851 he succeeded to the family title and estates as eighth baronet of his line. Ile was member of Parliament for Dudley and Stamford 1855-66, and was then returned for North Devon, which place he continued to represent in the interest of the Conservative Party. He was president of the Board of Trade in 1866-67, and in 1867 was made Secretary of State for India. From 1869 to 1874 he was chairman of the Hudson's Bay Company, and promoted the trans fer of Prince Rupert's Land to the Canadian Gov ernment. He visited Canada and the United States in 1870 to study conditions, and was a member of the joint high commission which signed the Treaty of Washington on May S. 1871. On the
formation of Disraeli's Cabinet in 1874, Sir Stafford Northc•ote was made Chancellor of the Exchequer, and when his leader was elevated to the peerage under the title of Lord Beaconsfield, Northeote became leader of the Commons. In the first Salisbury Administration (1885-86) he was First Lord of the Treasury. He was created Earl of Iddesleigh and Viscount Saint Cyres in I885. When Salisbury became Premier for the second time (1886) the Earl of Iddesleigh was made Foreign Secretary. He died suddenly on January 12, 1887, in the presence of Lord Salis bury, the Premier. in the official residence, London. No•theote published a number of polit ical and finaneial pamphlets, such as Twenty Years of Financial Polley (London, 1862). His character was distinguished by unselfishness, pure-mindedness, and sincere patriotism. Con sult his collected Lectures and Essays (London, 18871 : Lang. Life, Letters, and Diaries of Staf ford Northcote, First Earl of Iddesleigh (Lon don. 1890).