| The Right Honourable The Earl of Jersey GCB, GCMG, PC, DL, JP |
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| The Earl of Jersey by H. Newman, courtesy of the National Library of Australia. | |
| Paymaster-General | |
| In office 1889 – December 1890 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Marquess of Salisbury |
| Preceded by | The Earl Brownlow |
| Succeeded by | The Lord Windsor |
| 17th Governor of New South Wales | |
| In office January 1891 – March 1893 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Preceded by | The Lord Carrington |
| Succeeded by | Robert Duff |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 20 March 1845 Berkeley Square, London |
| Died | 31 May 1915 (aged 70) Osterley Park, Middlesex |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Spouse(s) | Hon. Margaret Leigh (1849-1945) |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
Victor Albert George Child Villiers, 7th Earl of Jersey GCB, GCMG, PC, DL, JP (20 March 1845 – 31 May 1915), was a British banker, Conservative politician and colonial administrator. He served as Governor of New South Wales between 1891 and 1893.
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Born at Berkeley Square, London,[1] Lord Jersey was the eldest son of George Child Villiers, 6th Earl of Jersey, and Julia, daughter of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel, Bt. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.[1][2] He succeeded in the earldom in October 1859, aged 14, on the death of his father, who had only succeeded his father three weeks earlier.[2] He became the principal proprietor of the family banking firm of Child & Co.[3]
Lord Jersey served as a Lord-in-Waiting (government whip in the House of Lords) between 1875 and 1877 in the Conservative administration of Benjamin Disraeli. He returned to the government in 1889 when Lord Salisbury made him Paymaster-General, which he remained until 1890.[2] The latter year he was sworn of the Privy Council[4] and made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG).[1][2]
In August 1890 Jersey was appointed Governor of New South Wales.[5] He arrived in Australia to take up his position in January 1891. According to the Australian Dictionary of Biography there were no major political difficulties during his term. He was described by Sir Henry Parkes as "amiable and well-intentioned", but "very much occupied with his own family". He "did not excel as a public speaker". He was the official host at the 1891 Australasian National Convention in Sydney. Jersey tendered his resignation already in November 1892 citing pressing business affairs. This did not go down well with the Colonial Office in London. Lord Salisbury thought that Jersey had found that there was "less individual power to his office than he imagined". Jersey himself wrote to the Colonial Secretary: "the duties and responsibilities of a governor can hardly be called serious nowadays being chiefly of a social character". He left Australia in March 1893.[1]
In 1894 Lord Jersey represented the United Kingdom at the Colonial Conference in Ottawa, Canada. He also acted as New South Wales agent-general in London between 1903 and 1905 and through his ties with the banking institutions helped the state's loan negotiations. He revisited Australia in 1905 and Prime Minister Alfred Deakin considered appointing him Australia's first High Commissioner to London, although nothing came out of this.[1]
One of Lord Jersey's godparents was Queen Victoria. The Queen accepted her role as a token of friendship to Robert Peel, Prime Minister, who was Lord Jersey's grandfather(his mother, the 6th Countess, being Julia Peel).
Lord Jersey was Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire between 1887 and 1915 and also served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire and as a Justice of the Peace for Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. From 1896 to 1905 he was Chairman of the Light Railway Commission.[2] He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in 1900.[1][2] He was an active freemason and served as senior grand warden of England and as provincial grand master of Oxfordshire.[1]
Lord Jersey married the Hon. Margaret Elizabeth (29 October 1849 – 22 May 1945), daughter of William Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh, on 19 September 1872. They had six children:
The Countess of Jersey was the founding president (1901-1914) of the Victoria League and was known as an opponent of women's suffrage. She was also the author of travel articles, children's plays and verse. In 1922 she published Fifty-One Years of Victorian Life.
She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1927. Having suffered a stroke in 1909, Lord Jersey died at Osterley Park, Middlesex,[1] in May 1915, aged 70. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest son, George.[2] The Countess of Jersey survived her husband by 30 years and died at Middleton Park, Oxfordshire,[1] in May 1945, aged 95.[1][2]
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