Henry Percy, Earl Percy
| The Right Honourable Earl Percy | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Earl Percy, photographed by Sir John Benjamin Stone | |
| Under-Secretary of State for India | |
|
In office 18 August 1902 – 9 October 1903 | |
| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Arthur Balfour |
| Preceded by | The Earl of Hardwicke |
| Succeeded by | Vacant |
| Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs | |
|
In office 9 October 1903 – 4 December 1905 | |
| Monarch | Edward VII |
| Prime Minister | Arthur Balfour |
| Preceded by | Viscount Cranborne |
| Succeeded by | Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 21 January 1871 |
| Died | 30 December 1909 (aged 38) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Conservative |
| Alma mater | Christ Church, Oxford |
Henry Algernon George Percy, Earl Percy (21 January 1871 – 30 December 1909), styled Lord Warkworth until 1899, was a British Conservative politician. He held political office under Arthur Balfour as Under-Secretary of State for India and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs before his early death in 1909.
Background
Percy was the eldest son of Henry Percy, 7th Duke of Northumberland, and his wife Lady Edith, daughter of George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll. Alan Percy, 8th Duke of Northumberland, and Eustace Percy, 1st Baron Percy of Newcastle, were his younger brothers.[1]
He was educated at Eton College and Christ Church, Oxford.
Political career
Percy was returned to Parliament for Kensington South in a November 1895 by-election, replacing the ennobled Sir Algernon Borthwick.[2] In 1902 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for India in the Conservative administration of Arthur Balfour, a post he held until 1903, and was then Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs under Balfour from 1903 to 1905.
Personal life
Lord Percy died in Paris in December 1909, aged 38. The official cause of death was pleurisy although there were rumours that he had been mortally wounded in a duel.[3]
Further unfounded rumours circulated that he had been murdered on the orders of Winston Churchill, then a rising politician, and that Percy had been the lover of Clementine Hozier, whom Churchill married in 1908. Churchill's mild-mannered brother Jack was whispered to have been the unlikely perpetrator of this act.[4]
Percy was unmarried and his younger brother Alan succeeded their father in the dukedom.[1]
See also
References
- 1 2 thepeerage.com Henry Algernon George Percy, Earl Percy
- ↑ leighrayment.com House of Commons: Keighley to Kilkenny
- ↑ "PEER DIES IN PARIS; DUEL STORY DENIED; Police Support Physicians' Statement That Earl Percy Was Victim of Pleurisy. WAS AT SECOND-RATE HOTEL Registered as Plain Mr. Percy -- Rumor of Encounter Believed in London -- Had Held High Office.". New York Times. 31 December 1909. Retrieved 2008-08-07.
- ↑ David Cannadine (1994) Aspects of Aristocracy
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Earl Percy
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Algernon Borthwick, Bt |
Member of Parliament for Kensington South 1895–1909 |
Succeeded by Lord Claud Hamilton |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by The Earl of Hardwicke |
Under-Secretary of State for India 1902–1903 |
Vacant |
| Preceded by Viscount Cranborne |
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1903–1905 |
Succeeded by Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice |