William Hardwicke

“ Returning to the India office, again as under-secretary, in the following year, he moved in a lucid speech in 1904 the second reading of the Indian councils bill, setting up a department of commerce and industry (ibid. vol. cxl. cols. 498–502) . Those best qualified to form an opinion thought highly of his abilities.
In early life he was a bold rider in steeplechases. In 1898 he became principal proprietor of the ‘Saturday Review.’
Hardwicke, who was a man of much personal charm, died suddenly at his house, 8 York Terrace, Regent's Park, on 29 Nov. ”

“ Lord Waldegrave said of Hardwicke that “he might have been thought a great man had he been less avaricious, less proud, less unlike a gentleman.” Although in his youth he contributed to the Spectator over the signature “Philip Homebred,” he seems early to have abandoned all care for literature, and he has been reproached by Lord Campbell and others with his neglect of art and letters. He married, on the 16th of May 1719, Margaret, daughter of Charles Cocks (by his wife Mary, sister of Lord Chancellor Somers) , and widow of John Lygon, by whom he had five sons and two daughters. ”

“ He had no sooner received the great seal than the king thrust upon him the irksome duty of bearing to the Prince of Wales a message concerning his allowance, couched in terms the harshness of which the chancellor in vain attempted to mitigate. He was equally unsuccessful in his subsequent endeavours to pour oil on the troubled waters [see Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales] . As Newcastle's confidant and mentor, Hardwicke now began to exert an influence on the course of political affairs which was far more real than apparent. ”

“ Oh, Harry! will she die?"
"Not if anything you and I can do will save her—will she, Edith?" and Hardwicke ran off to the stables for his horse. A man was there who saddled it for him, and a rough farm-boy stood by and saw how the gentleman, while he waited, stroked the next one—a lady's horse, a chestnut—and how presently he turned his face away and laid his cheek for a moment against the chestnut's neck. The boy thought it was a rum go, and stood staring vacantly while Hardwicke galloped off on his terrible errand.
Meanwhile, they were carrying Sissy to the house. ”

“ Hardwicke was one of the handsomest men of his day, and, though of a delicate constitution, preserved by temperate living even in old age the elasticity and mien of youth. His personal advantages, which included a musical voice, enhanced the effect of his eloquence, which by its stately character was peculiarly adapted to the House of Lords. ”

“ He played an important and disinterested part in negotiating the coalition between Newcastle and Pitt in 1757, when he accepted a seat in Pitt’s cabinet without returning to the woolsack. After the accession of George III. Hardwicke opposed the ministry of Lord Bute on the peace with France in 1762, and on the cider tax in the following year. In the Wilkes case Hardwicke condemned general warrants, and also the doctrine that seditious libels published by members of parliament were protected by parliamentary privilege. He died in London on the 6th of March 1764. ”

“ Mountague.’ A copy of the poem, in Catcott's handwriting, is in the British Museum Add. MS. 16614. ‘The Court of Love, a Vision from Chaucer,’ Oxford, 1717, 8vo. ‘The Supreme and Inferiour Elahim: a Sermon [on Psalm lxxxii. 6] , preached before the Corporation of Bristol and the Lord Chief Justice Hardwicke, at the Mayor's Chappel, on Sunday, the 16th of August, 1735, being the day before the Assizes,’ London, 1736, 4to; second edition, London, 1742, 8vo; third, but on title stated to be ‘the second edition,’ Oxford, 1781, 4to. ”

“ The labours of Lord Hardwicke and his colleagues were received with general approbation on all sides, although his own declared opinion of the advisability of reviving the Press-gang in certain circumstances was not generally accepted. ”

“ WEST MOLESEY: 9th Novr. '48.
'MY DEAR CHARLES, 'I cannot say that I like losing you from home at so important a crisis, and I fear the good ship Wimpole will have cause to regret the absence of the padrone, and all the world will say that this is proving the love of the profession with a Vengeance. But seriously,... if dear Lady Hardwicke not only does not object, but becomes the accomplice and partner of your exile, no one else has anything to object, not even political friends, as you can leave a proxy. ”

“ It is only a chance, because I dare say I may live fifty years or so—only fancy!—but I would rather Percival had the chance than Sir Charles. That's all. You'll explain it to your father? It can't do any harm if it does no good."
"Oh no: I see. It can't do any harm."
"And now I'll be off," laughed Sissy. "How dreadfully I have made you waste your time! I dare say if I hadn't been here you would have written ever so many things on parchment and tied them up with red tape."
"Oh yes, quantities!" Hardwicke replied as he escorted her to the door. "A cartload at least. ”

“ He held the office of lord chancellor longer than any of his predecessors, with a single exception; and the same high authority quoted above asserts that as an equity judge Lord Hardwicke’s fame “has not been exceeded by that of any man in ancient or modern times. ”

“ Miss Mildred Anstruther was a delicate symphony in gray, as she gracefully presided the next evening over the dinner table at which Alixe Delavigne, Captain Anstruther, Major Hardwicke, and Captain Murray merrily discussed the sudden hastening of Captain Eric Murray’s nuptials. Hardwicke’s duty as “best man” was now the only bar to the beginning of a campaign destined to foil Andrew Fraser’s Loch Leven tactics of imprisoning his niece and ward. ”

“ To these supporters the lady had no right because her family had none. But she assumed them, turning to account the stag of her family crest. Her son William adopted a variation of this, and in the Devonshire arms of to-day we again find the wreathed stags proper, while the shield bears three harts’ heads. In the Mary Queen of Scots bedroom you will find in plaster work again the Hardwick arms, but also those of Cavendish and of the Countess’s mother, Elizabeth Leake. Needless to say, the house is built in the grand manner. ”

“ Hardwicke was K.G. (elected on 25 Nov. 1803, installed by proxy, having received the insignia at Dublin, on 23 April 1805) . He was also F.R.S. and F.S.A., a trustee of the British Museum, and from 1790 lord-lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. A few of Hardwicke's letters are printed in Lord Colchester's ‘Diary’ (1861) . Others remain in manuscript (see Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. App. pp. 344 et seq. and Addit. MSS. 33109–11 and 33114) .
Hardwicke married, on 24 July 1782, Elizabeth, third daughter of James Lindsay, fifth earl of Balcarres, by whom he left only female issue. ”

“ I was surprised by a visit from Lord Hardwicke yesterday; it is years since I have seen him. I knew and liked him formerly, as Captain Yorke. He is as blunt and plain-spoken as ever, and retains his sailor-like manner in spite of his earldom, which he hadn't when I met him last.... Henry Greville is coming to tea with me this evening, and I promised to read him my translation of "Mary Stuart." I hope he may like it as well as you did. Lady Dacre was here this afternoon; she has been dreadfully ill, and looks an old woman now, for the first time, at eighty—that is not too soon to begin. ”

“ By this lady John Hardwick, who died January 24, 1527, had issue, one son and four daughters, viz., John, Mary, Elizabeth, Alice, and Jane. John Hardwick, the last male representative of the family, who was only three years old at his father’s death, married Elizabeth, daughter of Philip Draycott, of Paynsley, but died without issue, leaving his sisters his co-heiresses. Of these, Mary married, first, Wingfield, and, second, one of the Pollards, of Devonshire, who was Gentleman Usher to the Queen; Alice married Francis Leech, of Chatsworth, and died without issue ”

“ He represented Cambridgeshire in parliament from his return on 14 Sept. 1780 until his accession to the peerage as third earl of Hardwicke on the death, 16 May 1790, of his uncle, the second earl [see Yorke, Philip, second Earl of Hardwicke] . In politics he at first followed Fox, but rallied to the government in 1794, and was lord-lieutenant of Ireland under both Addington (March 1801–May 1804) and Pitt, whose death dissolved his administration before Hardwicke's successor-designate, Lord Powis, had been sworn in [see Clive, Edward, Earl of Powis] . ”

“ Hardwicke lounged with his back against the gate of the orchard and his hands in his pockets. When he lifted his eyes from the turf on which he stood he could see the white blankness of a closed window through the boughs.
He was sorely perplexed. Not ten minutes earlier Mrs. Latimer had been there, saying, "Something should be done: why does not Mr. Thorne go to her? Or could Dr. Grey say anything if he were sent for? I'm sure it isn't right that she should be left so."
Mrs. Middleton was alone with her dead in that darkened room. She was perfectly calm and tearless. ”

“ The Aberdeen Government will always be remembered as that of the period of the Crimean War, and it was in connection with that great struggle and his wish to serve his country afloat that Lord Hardwicke found just reason to complain of more than the mere belittling of his services at Genoa which had been his sole reward upon his return to England in 1849. ”

“ Hardwicke managed the negotiation which placed Newcastle at the treasury. Hardwicke himself retained the great seal, and was rewarded (2 April) for his long and eminent services by the titles of Earl of Hardwicke and Viscount Royston. ”

“ He was succeeded by his only son Albert Edward Philip Henry Yorke (1867–1904) , 6th earl of Hardwicke, who, after holding the posts of under-secretary of state for India (1900–1902) and for war (1902–1903) , died unmarried on the 29th of November 1904; the title then went to his uncle, John Manners Yorke (1840–1909) , 7th earl of Hardwicke, second son of Charles Philip, the 4th earl, who joined the royal navy and served in the Baltic and in the Crimea (1854–1855) . This earl died on the 13th of March 1909 and was succeeded by his son Charles Alexander (b. 1869) as 8th earl. ”

“ Sharing to the full the horror of ‘perpetuities’ characteristic of the lawyers of his day, Hardwicke suffered the excessively stringent Mortmain Act of 1736 to pass without other amendment than the exemption of purchases for valuable consideration. The narrowness of his churchmanship was evinced by the strenuous resistance which, in concert with Talbot, he offered to a measure of the same session for the amendment of the antiquated and vexatious procedure for the recovery of tithes. When Talbot was unable to attend the House of Lords, Hardwicke supplied his place as speaker. ”

“ Aunt Harriet was unfeignedly troubled and anxious.
Percival was rather in the background. Sitting on one chair, he laid his folded arms on the back of another and rested his chin on his wrists. In this attitude he gazed at Hardwicke with the utter calm of an Assyrian statue. He felt his pulses throbbing, and it seemed to him as if his anxiety must betray itself. But [Pg 58] it did not. If you have a little self-restraint and presence of mind you can affect to have much. Percival had that little. ”

“ To Fordborough? To Raymond?"
"No. Really home, to your own people. You can write to your cousin. You don't want to go back to him?" [Pg 696]
Archie shook his head. Then a sudden sense of injustice to Fothergill prompted him to say, "Ray was never hard on me before."
"You mustn't think about that," Hardwicke replied. "People don't weigh their words at such times. But, Carroll, you can do nothing here—less than nothing. You'll be better away. Give me your address, and I'll write any news there is. Look sharp now, and you can go into Fordborough with me and catch the up train." ”

“ On the resignation of Devonshire, Hardwicke played the part of honest broker between Newcastle and Pitt, but did not resume office. To Pitt's foreign policy he gave a general support, but on the fall of Quebec became solicitous for peace. ”

“ Rouse these people. There’s been one crime already committed, and there may be another. There’s no one else in the house. Get the three men over here at once to me. I’ll stand guard over this thief.” Then as Janet Fairbarn fled away shrieking and yelling, Harry Hardwicke locked the recovered package in his own trunk, which stood in his room. Bounding across the hall, he then dragged his captive over the way and thrust him in a helpless heap into a chair. Before Hardwicke was dressed, he had extorted the secret of the rendezvous at the old Martello tower. ”

“ This was locked round the neck of the luckless offender, who was thus obliged to remain in a most inconvenient and painful crouching posture, being neither able to stand nor lie. Many of these are still to be seen in the neighbourhood of the residences of old Highland families who, ere Lord Hardwicke's Jurisdiction Act, exercised the powers of pit and gallows. There is one at the entrance to Culloden House, near Inverness. ”

“ Legge or Sir Thomas Robinson.'
From this we may gather that the Chancellor had never believed in the plan of a leaderless House of Commons. How indeed could he, as a man of sense, much more as a man of rare capacity? Such a plan could only be deemed possible by an alien King and a mountebank Minister. As to the personal point, Hardwicke is not less acute. Pitt, he declares, has stiffened his demand since their interview. Pitt, he is convinced, intended to draw from the Duke a promise that it should be made a point with the King that he should be made Secretary of State within a given time ”