George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, KG

Order of the Garter

The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

, PC (6 October 1716 – 8 June 1771) was a British statesman of the Georgian era

Georgian era

The Georgian era is a period of British history which takes its name from, and is normally defined as spanning the reigns of, the first four Hanoverian kings of Great Britain : George I, George II, George III and George IV...

.

Early life

The son of the 1st Earl of Halifax

George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax

George Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax PC was a British politician.Halifax was the son of Edward Montagu, grandson of Henry Montagu, 1st Earl of Manchester, and Elizabeth Pelham.Charles Montagu, 1st Earl of Halifax, was his uncle....

, he was styled Viscount Sunbury until succeeding his father as 2nd Earl of Halifax in 1739. Educated at Eton College

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and at Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

, he was married in 1741 to Anne Richards (died 1753), who had inherited a great fortune from Sir Thomas Dunk

Thomas Dunk

Sir Thomas Dunk appointed Sheriff of London in 1711, and served under Mayor of London Sir Richard Hoare. He lived at Tongs in Hawkhurst, Kent, England and was from a family of 'great clothiers'. In his will endowed six dwellings for poor people and a school for twenty boys and a house for a...

, whose name Halifax took.

Career

After having been an official in the household of Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales

Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...

, Lord Halifax was made Master of the Buckhounds

Master of the Buckhounds

The Master of the Buckhounds was an officer in the Master of the Horse's department of the British Royal Household. The holder was also His/Her Majesty's Representative at Ascot. It was a political office, so the holder, who was always a nobleman, changed with every change of government. The office...

, and in 1748 he became President of the Board of Trade. While filling this position he helped to found Halifax

City of Halifax

Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...

, the capital of Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia

Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...

, which was named after him, and he helped foster trade, especially with North America.

About this time he attempted, unsuccessfully, to become a Secretary of State, but was only allowed to enter the Cabinet in 1757. In March 1761 Halifax was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

Lord Lieutenant of Ireland

The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

, and during part of the time which he held this office he was also First Lord of the Admiralty.

He became Secretary of State for the Northern Department

Secretary of State for the Northern Department

The Secretary of State for the Northern Department was a position in the Cabinet of the government of Great Britain up to 1782. Before the Act of Union, 1707, the Secretary of State's responsibilities were in relation to the English government, not the British. Even after the Union, there was...

 under Lord Bute

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute KG, PC , styled Lord Mount Stuart before 1723, was a Scottish nobleman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain under George III, and was arguably the last important favourite in British politics...

 in October 1762, switching to the Southern Department

Secretary of State for the Southern Department

The Secretary of State for the Southern Department was a position in the cabinet of the government of Kingdom of Great Britain up to 1782.Before 1782, the responsibilities of the two British Secretaries of State were divided not based on the principles of modern ministerial divisions, but...

 in 1763 and was one of the three ministers to whom King George III

George III of the United Kingdom

George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...

 entrusted the direction of affairs during the premiership of George Grenville

George Grenville

George Grenville was a British Whig statesman who rose to the position of Prime Minister of Great Britain. Grenville was born into an influential political family and first entered Parliament in 1741 as an MP for Buckingham...

. In 1762, in search of evidence of sedition

Sedition

In law, sedition is overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution and incitement of discontent to lawful authority. Sedition may include any...

, he authorised a raid on the home of John Entick

John Entick

John Entick was an English schoolmaster and author. He was largely a hack writer, working for Edward Dilly, and he padded his credentials with a bogus M.A. and a portrait in clerical dress; some of his works had a more lasting value...

, declared unlawful in the case of Entick v. Carrington.

In 1763, he signed the general warrant for the "authors, printers and publishers" of The North Briton

The North Briton

The North Briton was a radical newspaper published in 18th century London. The North Briton also served as the pseudonym of the newspaper's author, used in advertisements, letters to other publications, and handbills....

number 45, under which John Wilkes

John Wilkes

John Wilkes was an English radical, journalist and politician.He was first elected Member of Parliament in 1757. In the Middlesex election dispute, he fought for the right of voters—rather than the House of Commons—to determine their representatives...

 and 48 others were arrested, and for which, six years later, the courts of law made Halifax pay damages. He was also mainly responsible for the exclusion of the name of the King's mother, Augusta, Princess of Wales, from the Regency Bill

Regency Acts

The Regency Acts are Acts of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed at various times, to provide a regent if the reigning monarch were to be incapacitated or a minor . Prior to 1937, Regency Acts were passed only when necessary to deal with a specific situation...

 of 1765.

Together with his colleagues, Lord Halifax left office in July 1765, returning to the Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal

Lord Privy Seal

The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

 under his nephew, Lord North

Frederick North, Lord North

Frederick North, 2nd Earl of Guilford, KG, PC , more often known by his courtesy title, Lord North, which he used from 1752 until 1790, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782. He led Great Britain through most of the American War of Independence...

, in January 1770. He had just been restored to his former position of Secretary of State when he died.

Legacy

Halifax, who was Lord-Lieutenant of Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

 and a Lieutenant-General in the Army, was very extravagant. He left 3 children, and his titles became extinct on his death. Lord Orford

Horace Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford

Horatio Walpole, 4th Earl of Orford was an English art historian, man of letters, antiquarian and Whig politician. He is now largely remembered for Strawberry Hill, the home he built in Twickenham, south-west London where he revived the Gothic style some decades before his Victorian successors,...

 speaks slightingly of Halifax, and says he and his mistress, Mary Anne Faulkner, had sold every employment in his gift.

There is an obelisk at Chicksands Wood, near Haynes, Bedfordshire, with an inscription to his memory

The Halifax River

Halifax River

The Halifax River is part of the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, located in northeast Volusia County, Florida. The waterway was originally known as the North Mosquito River, but was renamed after George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, during the British occupation of Florida .-Geography:The...

 in Central Florida, United States, is named after him. Halifax, Nova Scotia and Halifax County

Halifax County

Halifax County is the name of three counties:*In Canada:**Halifax County, Nova Scotia*In the United States:**Halifax County, North Carolina**Halifax County, Virginia...

 are also named in his honour.

Halifax served as a political patron of the playwright and civil servant Richard Cumberland

Richard Cumberland (dramatist)

Richard Cumberland was a British dramatist and civil servant. In 1771 his hit play The West Indian was first staged. During the American War of Independence he acted as a secret negotiator with Spain in an effort to secure a peace agreement between the two nations. He also edited a short-lived...

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