Richard Curzon, 4th Earl Howe


Richard George Penn Curzon, 4th Earl Howe, , styled Viscount Curzon between 1876 and 1900, was a British courtier and Conservative politician. He served as Treasurer of the Household between 1896 and 1900 and was Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra between 1903 and 1925.

Background and education

Curzon was the eldest son of Richard Curzon-Howe, 3rd Earl Howe, and wife Isabella Maria Katherine Anson, daughter of Major-General The Hon. George Anson and wife The Hon. Isabella Elizabeth Annabella Weld-Forester.
He was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford.

Political career

In 1885, Curzon was elected Member of Parliament for Wycombe. He became a government member when he was appointed Treasurer of the Household under Lord Salisbury in 1896, a post he held until 1900, when he inherited his father's titles and gave up his seat in the House of Commons. From 1900 to 1903 he served as Lord-in-waiting under Salisbury and then Arthur Balfour. In 1903 he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order and appointed Lord Chamberlain to Queen Alexandra. He served in that post until the Queen's death in 1925.
Lord Howe was also a Captain in the Prince Albert's Own Leicestershire Yeomanry Cavalry, an Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel in the 2nd Battalion of the Leicestershire Volunteer Regiment and a Justice of the Peace for Buckinghamshire.
His brother-in-law, Lord Randolph Churchill, appointed him one of his two literary executors; in that capacity he gave his consent to Winston Churchill writing the biography of his father, although with some reluctance.

Family

Lord Howe married Lady Georgiana Elizabeth Spencer-Churchill, the fifth daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough, and wife Lady Frances Anne Emily Vane, on 4 June 1883 at St George's, Hanover Square. Thus, he was Winston Churchill's uncle by marriage. They had one son, Francis. Lady Georgiana Curzon and Lady Chesham initiated in December 1899 the funding of a hospital to be sent to South Africa with the Imperial Yeomanry fighting in the Second Boer War. They raised more than £100,000, leading to the creation of the Imperial Yeomanry Hospital, with a base hospital, a field hospital and bearer companies.
After his first wife's death in 1906, Curzon married Florence, Dowager Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, in 1919. After her death in 1925, he married his first cousin once removed, Lorna Curzon. He died in January 1929, aged 67, and was succeeded by his only son, Francis. The Countess Howe died in February 1961.