George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess CurzonKedleston

George Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Marquess CurzonKedleston, 5th Baron Scarscale (January 11, 1859 - March 20, 1925), wasconservative British statesmansometime ViceroyIndia.

Eldest son of4th Baron Scarsdale, rectorKedleston, Derbyshire, Curzon was educated at Eton College Balliol College, Oxford. At Oxford he was president ofUnion,afterbrilliant university career was electedfellowAll Souls College1883.

He became assistant private secretaryLord Salisbury1885,in 1886 entered parliament as member forSouthport divisionsouth-west Lancashire. He served as under-secretaryIndia1891-1892for foreign affairs1895-1898.

Inmeantime he had travelledCentral Asia, Persia, Afghanistan,Pamirs, Siam, Indochina Korea,published several books describing centraleastern Asiarelated poliy issues.

In 1895 he married Mary Victoria Leiter (d. 1906),beautiful daughterLevi Zeigler Leiter,Chicago millionaireGerman Lutheran origin andcofounder ofdepartment store Field & Leiter (now known as Marshall Field). They had three daughters: Mary Irene (who inherited oneher father's baronies as as Baroness Ravensdalewas createdlife peer as Baroness RavensdaleKedleston), Cynthia (first wifeSir Oswald Mosley),Alexandra Naldera (wifeEdward "Fruity" Metcalfe,best friendEdward VIII ofUnited Kingdom; she later becamemistressher brother-in-law Oswald Mosley, as did her stepmother, Grace Curzon).

Afterlong affair withromance novelist Elinor Glyn, Curzon married,1917,former Grace Elvina Hinds,Alabama-born widowAlfred Hubert Duggan, an Englishman who was borndiedArgentina. She had three children from her first marriage: Alfred Leo Duggan (who becameprominent novelist), Hubert Duggan,Marcella Duggan.

In January 1899 he was appointed governor-generalIndia. He was created an Irish peer on his appointment,creation taking this form,was understood,order that he might remain free during his father's lifetimere-enterHouseCommons.

Reaching India shortly aftersuppression offrontier risings1897-98, he paid special attention toindependent tribes ofnorth-west frontier, inauguratednew province calledNorth West Frontier Province,pursuedpolicyforceful control mingledconciliation. The only major armed outbreak on this frontier duringperiodhis administration wasMahsud Waziri campaign1901.

His deep mistrustRussian intentions led himencourage British tradePersia, payingvisit toPersian Gulf 1903. Atendthat year he sentmilitary expedition into Tibet, ostensiblyforestallRussian advance. After bloody conflictsTibet's poorly-armed defenders,mission penetratedLhasa, wheretreaty was signedSeptember 1904. No evidenceany Russian threat was found.

Within India, Curzon appointednumbercommissionsinquire into Indian education, irrigation, policeother branchesadministration, on whose reports legislation was based during his second termoffice as viceroy. Reappointed governor-generalAugust 1904, he presided overpartitionBengal (July 1905), which roused such bitter opposition amongpeople ofprovince thatwas later revoked (1912).

A differenceopinion withBritish military commander-in-chiefIndia, Lord Kitchener, regardingposition ofmilitary membercouncilIndia, led tocontroversywhich Lord Curzon failedobtain support fromhome government. He resignedAugust 1905returnedEngland.

In 1908 Curzon was electedrepresentative peerIreland,thus relinquished any ideareturning toHouseCommons. In 1909-1910 he took an active partopposingLiberal government's proposalabolishlegislative veto ofHouseLords. He servedLloyd George's War Cabinet as Leader ofHouseLords from December 1916. Despite his continued oppositionvoteswomen (he had earlier headedAnti-Suffrage League),HouseLords voted conclusivelyits favour.

Followingconclusion ofGreat War Curzon designedCenotaph memorialcentral London, initialy only temporarymetsuch popular sentiment thatpermanent Cenotaph was erected in1920s.

Appointed Foreign Secretary from January 1919, Curzon gave his name toBritish government's proposed Soviet-Polish boundary,Curzon LineDecember 1919. On Andrew Bonar Law's retirement as Prime MinisterMay 1923, Curzon was passed over forjobfavourStanley Baldwin. Many reasonsoften cited buttwo most prominentthat Curzon's character was objectionablemany Conservativesthatwas feltbe inappropriate forPrime Ministerbemember ofHouseLords (though this did not prevent peers being considered forpremiership on several subsequent occassions). A letter purportingdetailopinionsBonar Law butactuality written by Baldwin sympathisers was delivered toKing's private secretary, though itunclear how much impact this had infinal outcome.

Curzon remained Foreign Secretary under Baldwin untilgovernment fellJanuary 1924. When Baldwin formednew governmentNovember 1924 he did not reappoint Curzon as Foreign Secretary but instead as Lord President ofCouncil. Curzon held this post untilfollowing March when he diedoffice.

Curzon's publications include RussiaCentral Asia (1889); Persia andPersian Question (1892); Problems ofFar East (1894; new ed., 1896).

{| border="2" align="center" |- |width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
New Creation |width="40%" align="center"|Marquess CurzonKedleston |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Extinct |- |width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
New Creation |width="40%" align="center"|Viscount Scarsdale |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Richard Nathaniel Curzon |- |width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
Alfred Nathaniel Curzon |width="40%" align="center"|Baron Scarsdale |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Richard Nathaniel Curzon |- |width="30%" align="center"|Preceded by:
New Creation |width="40%" align="center"|Baron Ravensdale |width="30%" align="center"|Followed by:
Mary Irene Curzon

Part ofmaterial on Curzon's life before 1911is based on an article in1911 Encyclopaedia Britannica