Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth

The Right Honourable
The Earl of Plymouth
GBE, CB, PC
Paymaster General
In office
December 1890 – 11 August 1892
Monarch Victoria
Prime Minister The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by The Earl of Jersey
Succeeded by Charles Seale-Hayne
First Commissioner of Works
In office
11 August 1902 – 4 December 1905
Monarch Edward VII
Prime Minister Arthur Balfour
Preceded by Aretas Akers-Douglas
Succeeded by Lewis vernon Harcourt
Personal details
Born 27 August 1857 (1857-08-27)
Died 6 March 1923 (1923-03-07)
Nationality British
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Alberta Paget (1863-1944)

Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth GBE, CB, PC (27 August 1857 – 6 March 1923), known as The Lord Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.

Contents

Background

Plymouth was the son of the Hon. Robert Windsor-Clive, son of the Hon. Robert Clive and Harriett, 13th Baroness Windsor, daughter of Other Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth. His mother was Lady Mary Selina Louisa, daughter of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford. In 1869 he succeeded his grandmother in the barony of Windsor.[1]

Political career

Plymouth served under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster General between 1890 and 1892 and under Arthur Balfour as First Commissioner of Works between 1902 and 1905 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1891.[2] In 1905 the earldom of Plymouth held by his great-grandfather (which had become extinct in 1843) was revived when he was created Viscount Windsor, of St Fagans in the County of Glamorgan, and Earl of Plymouth, in the County of Devon.[3] Apart from his career in national politics he was Mayor of Cardiff from 1895 to 1896. He was also appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1905 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1918 and was at one time Chairman of the Union of Conservative Associations.

Other public appointments

Lord Plymouth was also Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire between 1890 and 1923, High Steward of Cambridge University in 1919, an Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Glamorganshire Volunteer Artillery, the 2nd Battalion of the Worcestershire Regiment and the 3rd Battalion of the Welsh Regiment, Sub-Prior Order of St John of Jerusalem and the first President of The Concrete Institute (now the Institution of Structural Engineers) between 1908 and 1910. In 1913 he was responsible for purchasing The Crystal Palace for the nation.

In 1913 Lord Plymouth hosted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll (sister of the late King Edward VII) at his Worcestershire seat, Hewell Grange. On 23 April 1913, he accompanied the Duke and Duchess to Birmingham. There, he opened the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Ladywood and then unveiled the statue to King Edward VII in Victoria Square, Birmingham. In 1918 he became the first President of the newly formed Birmingham Civic Society.

Family

Lord Plymouth married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline, daughter of Sir Augustus Paget, in 1883. They had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son Other Robert Windsor-Clive, Viscount Windsor (1884-1908), predeceased him. Lord Plymouth died in March 1923, aged 65, and was succeeded in the earldom by his second son, Ivor. The Countess of Plymouth died in August 1944, aged 81.[1]

References

External links

Political offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Jersey
Paymaster-General
1890–1892
Succeeded by
Charles Seale-Hayne
Preceded by
Aretas Akers-Douglas
First Commissioner of Works
1902–1905
Succeeded by
Lewis Vernon Harcourt
Honorary titles
Preceded by
Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire
1890–1923
Succeeded by
The Earl of Plymouth
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Earl of Plymouth
1905–1923
Succeeded by
Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive
Peerage of England
Preceded by
Harriet Windsor
Baron Windsor
1869–1923
Succeeded by
Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive