Herbert Gardner, 1st Baron Burghclere


Herbert Colstoun Gardner, 1st Baron Burghclere, was a British Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 until he was raised to the peerage in 1895. He served as President of the Board of Agriculture between 1892 and 1895.

Early life

Gardner was born on 9 June 1846. He was the son of Alan Gardner, 3rd Baron Gardner, by his second wife, the professional actress Juliah Sarah. However, he was born two years before his parents' marriage and was consequently not allowed to succeed in the barony of Gardner on his father's death in 1883.
His paternal grandparents were Alan Gardner, 2nd Baron Gardner, an admiral in the British Navy, and Charlotte Gardner, third daughter of Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington. His maternal grandfather was Edward E. T. Fortescue.
He was educated at Harrow School followed by Trinity Hall, Cambridge.

Career

While at Cambridge, he was a member and eventually manager of the Amateur Dramatic Club which was 'flourishing exceedingly' under his management. He later acted with the Canterbury Old Stagers for whom he and William Yardley wrote some of the best plays and epilogues they produced.
In 1867, Gardner was admitted at Inner Temple and was a Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex.

Political career

At the 1885 general election, Gardner was elected Member of Parliament for Saffron Walden, a seat he held until 1895. He served in the Liberal administrations of William Ewart Gladstone and later Lord Rosebery as President of the Board of Agriculture from 1892 to 1895. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1892 and in 1895 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Burghclere, of Walden in the County of Essex.
Gardner was a director of the P and O Steamship Company. He was an Ecclesiastical Commissioner from 1903 to 1921 and chairman of Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England.
Gardner was also an author of several novels, and of the comedies Time will tell, Our Bitterest Foe, After Dinner and Cousin Zacchary. He published a translation of Virgil's Georgics in 1904.

Personal life

On 4 March 1890, Lord Burghclere married Lady Winifred Anne Henrietta Christiana, daughter of Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon and Lady Evelyn Stanhope. Lady Winifred was the widow of Captain the Hon. Alfred John George Byng, who died in 1887. Together, they were the parents of four daughters:
Lord Bughclere died in May 1921, aged 74. As he had no sons the barony became extinct on his death. Lady Burghclere died in September 1933, aged 69.

Books