- William Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne
William Waldegrave Palmer, 2nd Earl of Selborne KG GCMG PC (1859–1942), was a British politician.
The son of the 1st Earl, he was educated at Winchester and
University College, Oxford , where he took a first class degree inhistory . In 1883, while still Viscount Wolmer, he married Lady Maud Cecil, elder daughter ofRobert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury . He served a political apprenticeship as assistant private secretary to the chancellor of the exchequer (Hugh Childers) from 1882 to 1885, when he was elected LiberalMember of Parliament (MP) for East Hampshire. Like his father, he became a Liberal Unionist when in 1886 Gladstone proposedIrish Home Rule , and he retained his seat till 1892, when he was elected for Edinburgh West. From 1895 to 1900 he wasUnder-Secretary of State for the Colonies , underJoseph Chamberlain , and during the difficult period before the outbreak of theSecond Boer War he progressed rapidly.In 1900 he entered the cabinet as
First Lord of the Admiralty , and held this office till 1905, when he succeeded Lord Milner as high commissioner for South Africa and governor of theTransvaal andOrange River colonies. He assumed office atPretoria in May of that year. He had gone out with the intention of guiding the destinies ofSouth Africa during a period when the ex-Boer republics would be in a transitional state between crown colony government and self-government, andletters patent were issued granting the Transvaal representative institutions.But the Liberal Party came into office in Britain the following December, before the new constitution had been established, and, the decision was now taken to give both the Transvaal and Orange River colonies self-government without delay. Lord Selborne accepted the changed situation, and the experiment proved successful. He ceased to be governor of the
Orange River Colony on its assumption of self-government in June 1907, but retained his other posts until May 1910, retiring on the eve of the establishment of theUnion of South Africa .The despatch, dated
January 7 ,1907 and known as the Selborne Memorandum, in which he reviewed the situation in its economic and political aspects, was a masterly and comprehensive statement of the dangers inherent in the existing system and of the advantages likely to attend union. The document had in fact been compiled by Lionel Curtis and other members of Milners' Kindergarten. The force of its appeal had a marked influence on the course of events, while the loyalty with which Lord Selborne co-operated with the Botha administration was an additional factor in reconciling the Dutch and British communities.He returned to England with his reputation as a statesman enhanced by the respect of all parties, and with a practical experience, second only to that of Lord Milner, of British
imperialism in successful operation. This experience made him a valuable ally in the movement among the Unionist party at home for Tariff Reform and Colonial Preference, to which he could now give his whole-hearted support.In 1910, he served as Master of the
Worshipful Company of Mercers , as his father had done before him, in 1875. He served a second term as Master in 1933.In 1915 Selborne returned to government during the
First World War in war time coalition of Liberal prime ministerH.H. Asquith . He becamePresident of the Board of Agriculture but resigned the following year. Selborne did not hold high political office again. He was Warden of Winchester College 1920-1925 and High Steward of Winchester 1929-1942.His eldest son, Roundell, inherited the title. Another son, Robert, was a Captain in the Hampshire Regiment and was killed on active service in 1916. His letters home were privately published as "Letters from Mesopotamia".
References
*1911
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.