1.
Privy Council of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its membership mainly comprises senior politicians, who are present or former members of either the House of Commons or the House of Lords, the Council also holds the delegated authority to issue Orders of Council, mostly used to regulate certain public institutions. The Council advises the sovereign on the issuing of Royal Charters, which are used to grant special status to incorporated bodies, otherwise, the Privy Councils powers have now been largely replaced by the Cabinet of the United Kingdom. The Judicial Committee consists of judges appointed as Privy Counsellors, predominantly Justices of the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. The Privy Council of the United Kingdom was preceded by the Privy Council of Scotland, the key events in the formation of the modern Privy Council are given below, Witenagemot was an early equivalent to the Privy Council of England. During the reigns of the Norman monarchs, the English Crown was advised by a court or curia regis. The body originally concerned itself with advising the sovereign on legislation, administration, later, different bodies assuming distinct functions evolved from the court. The courts of law took over the business of dispensing justice, nevertheless, the Council retained the power to hear legal disputes, either in the first instance or on appeal. Furthermore, laws made by the sovereign on the advice of the Council, powerful sovereigns often used the body to circumvent the Courts and Parliament. During Henry VIIIs reign, the sovereign, on the advice of the Council, was allowed to enact laws by mere proclamation, the legislative pre-eminence of Parliament was not restored until after Henry VIIIs death. Though the royal Council retained legislative and judicial responsibilities, it became an administrative body. The Council consisted of forty members in 1553, but the sovereign relied on a smaller committee, by the end of the English Civil War, the monarchy, House of Lords, and Privy Council had been abolished. The remaining parliamentary chamber, the House of Commons, instituted a Council of State to execute laws, the forty-one members of the Council were elected by the House of Commons, the body was headed by Oliver Cromwell, de facto military dictator of the nation. In 1653, however, Cromwell became Lord Protector, and the Council was reduced to thirteen and twenty-one members, all elected by the Commons. In 1657, the Commons granted Cromwell even greater powers, some of which were reminiscent of those enjoyed by monarchs, the Council became known as the Protectors Privy Council, its members were appointed by the Lord Protector, subject to Parliaments approval. In 1659, shortly before the restoration of the monarchy, the Protectors Council was abolished, Charles II restored the Royal Privy Council, but he, like previous Stuart monarchs, chose to rely on a small group of advisers. Under George I even more power transferred to this committee and it now began to meet in the absence of the sovereign, communicating its decisions to him after the fact. Thus, the British Privy Council, as a whole, ceased to be a body of important confidential advisers to the sovereign and it is closely related to the word private, and derives from the French word privé
2.
Royal Society
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Founded in November 1660, it was granted a royal charter by King Charles II as The Royal Society. The society is governed by its Council, which is chaired by the Societys President, according to a set of statutes and standing orders. The members of Council and the President are elected from and by its Fellows, the members of the society. As of 2016, there are about 1,600 fellows, allowed to use the postnominal title FRS, there are also royal fellows, honorary fellows and foreign members, the last of which are allowed to use the postnominal title ForMemRS. The Royal Society President is Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, who took up the post on 30 November 2015, since 1967, the society has been based at 6–9 Carlton House Terrace, a Grade I listed building in central London which was previously used by the Embassy of Germany, London. The Royal Society started from groups of physicians and natural philosophers, meeting at variety of locations and they were influenced by the new science, as promoted by Francis Bacon in his New Atlantis, from approximately 1645 onwards. A group known as The Philosophical Society of Oxford was run under a set of rules still retained by the Bodleian Library, after the English Restoration, there were regular meetings at Gresham College. It is widely held that these groups were the inspiration for the foundation of the Royal Society, I will not say, that Mr Oldenburg did rather inspire the French to follow the English, or, at least, did help them, and hinder us. But tis well known who were the men that began and promoted that design. This initial royal favour has continued and, since then, every monarch has been the patron of the society, the societys early meetings included experiments performed first by Hooke and then by Denis Papin, who was appointed in 1684. These experiments varied in their area, and were both important in some cases and trivial in others. The Society returned to Gresham in 1673, there had been an attempt in 1667 to establish a permanent college for the society. Michael Hunter argues that this was influenced by Solomons House in Bacons New Atlantis and, to a lesser extent, by J. V. The first proposal was given by John Evelyn to Robert Boyle in a letter dated 3 September 1659, he suggested a scheme, with apartments for members. The societys ideas were simpler and only included residences for a handful of staff and these plans were progressing by November 1667, but never came to anything, given the lack of contributions from members and the unrealised—perhaps unrealistic—aspirations of the society. During the 18th century, the gusto that had characterised the early years of the society faded, with a number of scientific greats compared to other periods. The pointed lightning conductor had been invented by Benjamin Franklin in 1749, during the same time period, it became customary to appoint society fellows to serve on government committees where science was concerned, something that still continues. The 18th century featured remedies to many of the early problems
3.
Queen Victoria
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Victoria was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she adopted the title of Empress of India. Victoria was the daughter of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, both the Duke of Kent and King George III died in 1820, and Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She inherited the throne aged 18, after her fathers three brothers had all died, leaving no surviving legitimate children. The United Kingdom was already a constitutional monarchy, in which the sovereign held relatively little direct political power. Privately, Victoria attempted to influence government policy and ministerial appointments, publicly, Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in 1840. Their nine children married into royal and noble families across the continent, tying them together, after Alberts death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, republicanism temporarily gained strength and her Golden and Diamond Jubilees were times of public celebration. Her reign of 63 years and seven months is known as the Victorian era and it was a period of industrial, cultural, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. She was the last British monarch of the House of Hanover and her son and successor, Edward VII, belonged to the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the line of his father. Victorias father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, until 1817, Edwards niece, Princess Charlotte of Wales, was the only legitimate grandchild of George III. Her death in 1817 precipitated a crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent. In 1818 he married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl and Feodora —by her first marriage to the Prince of Leiningen and her brother Leopold was Princess Charlottes widower. The Duke and Duchess of Kents only child, Victoria, was born at 4.15 a. m. on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on 24 June 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace and she was baptised Alexandrina, after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina, Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of the Dukes eldest brother, George, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of Kent married on the same day in 1818, but both of Clarences daughters died as infants. Victorias father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old, a week later her grandfather died and was succeeded by his eldest son, George IV. The Duke of York died in 1827, when George IV died in 1830, he was succeeded by his next surviving brother, William IV, and Victoria became heir presumptive
4.
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury
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He was the last prime minister to head his full administration from the House of Lords. In 1868 upon the death of his father, Cecil was elevated to the House of Lords and he became prime minister in June 1885 when the Liberal leader William Ewart Gladstone resigned, and held the office until January 1886. When Gladstone came out in favour of Home Rule for Ireland, Salisbury opposed him and formed an alliance with the breakaway Liberal Unionists and he died a year later, in 1903. Historians agree that Salisbury was a strong and effective leader in foreign affairs, Paul Smith characterises his personality as deeply neurotic, depressive, agitated, introverted, fearful of change and loss of control, and self-effacing but capable of extraordinary competitiveness. A representative of the aristocracy, he held the reactionary credo, Whatever happens will be for the worse. Lord Robert Cecil was the son of James Gascoyne-Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Salisbury. He was a descendant of Lord Burghley and the 1st Earl of Salisbury. The family owned vast rural estates in Hertfordshire and Dorset and this wealth increased sharply in 1821, when he married the rich heiress of a merchant prince who had bought up large estates in Essex and Lancashire. Robert had a childhood, with few friends, he filled his time with reading. He was bullied unmercifully at the schools he attended, in 1840, he went to Eton College, where he did well in French, German, Classics, and Theology, however, he left in 1845 because of intense bullying. The unhappy schooling shaped his outlook on life and his negative views on democracy. He decided that most people were cowardly and cruel, and that the mob would run roughshod over sensitive individuals, in December 1847 he went to Christ Church, Oxford, where he received an honorary fourth class in mathematics conferred by noblemans privilege due to ill health. Whilst at Oxford he found the Oxford movement or Tractarianism to be an intoxicating force, in April 1850 he joined Lincolns Inn but subsequently did not enjoy law. His doctor advised him to travel for his health, and so in July 1851 to May 1853 Cecil travelled through Cape Colony, Australia, including Tasmania, and New Zealand. He found the Kaffirs a fine set of men – whose language bears traces of a very high former civilisation and they were an intellectual race, with great firmness and fixedness of will but horribly immoral as they lacked theism. In the Bendigo goldmine of Australia, he claimed there is not half as much crime or insubordination as there would be in an English town of the same wealth. Ten thousand miners were policed by four men armed with carbines, a Maori chief offered Cecil five acres near Auckland, which he declined. He entered the House of Commons as a Conservative on 22 August 1853 and he retained this seat until entering the peerage and it was not contested during his time as its representative
5.
William Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow
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William Hillier Onslow, 4th Earl of Onslow GCMG PC DL was a British Conservative politician. He held several governmental positions between 1880 and 1905 and was also Governor of New Zealand between 1889 and 1892. Born at Old Alresford, Hampshire, Onslow was the son of George Augustus Cranley Onslow, son of the Hon. Thomas Cranley Onslow, second son of Thomas Onslow. His mother was Mary Harriet Anne Loftus, in 1870, at the age of 17, he succeeded his great-uncle in the earldom of Onslow. He was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford, in November 1888 Onslow was appointed Governor of New Zealand. As a result of the downturn in the late 1880s. At 35, he was the youngest governor of New Zealand since George Grey was appointed in 1845, the New Zealand government had recently cut allowances for the governor, and Onslow was able to obtain the position mainly as it was no longer attractive to more senior colonial administrators. He assumed the office on 2 May 1889, shortly after his arrival in Wellington, there was an outbreak of typhoid fever in the town. Onslows twelve-year-old son and heir, Viscount Cranley, caught the disease and was at one time seen to be in danger of his life, after this Onslow and his family avoided the capital as much as they could - which did not endear them to the New Zealand people. According to the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Onslow did not have the flair or flamboyance which helped some later governors win popular support. In 1890 Onslow became embroiled in controversy over appointments to the Legislative Council, up until then Prime Minister Harry Atkinson had not made any recommendations on appointements. However, this year Atkinsons conservative supporters became more and more concerned that the Liberals under John Ballance would gain power, Atkinson was put under pressure to assure that there was a conservative majority in the Council. He informed Atkinson that a little list of nominations for the Legislative Council could be agreed upon, Atkinson lost ground in the election of December 1890, although it was unclear if the Liberals under Ballance would get enough support to form an administration. However, despite public opposition Onslow followed Atkinsons recommendations and nominated six people to the council, Onslows actions even further damaged the reputation of the council. Several independent members were pressurised into supporting Ballance, who was able to form an administration, in 1891 Ballance asked Onslow to nominate 18 representatives to the council in order to counterbalance Atkinsons nominations of the previous year. He agreed to eight representatives, a compromise Ballance declined. The matter was deferred to Onslows successor, the Earl of Glasgow. Onslow resigned in February 1892 and returned to England, in 1903 he entered Balfours cabinet as President of the Board of Agriculture and was sworn of the Privy Council the same year
6.
Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
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Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton GCMG PC was a radical British Liberal politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Buxton was the son of Charles Buxton and grandson of social reformer Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton and his mother was Emily Mary, daughter of the physician and traveller Sir Henry Holland, 1st Baronet. He was born in London and educated at Clifton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1880, Buxton became prominent in political circles by the publication of his Handbook to the Political Questions of the Day, a work which eventually went through 11 editions. That same year, he ran for Parliament for Boston, however, he became an MP in 1883 by winning a by-election in Peterborough. He was defeated in the 1885 general election, but returned to Parliament the very next year and he would represent this constituency in Parliament until 1914. From 1892-95, Buxton served as Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1905, he earned his first Cabinet post, that of Postmaster-General. In this capacity he introduced such services as penny postage to the United States, the Canadian magazine post, in 1910, Buxton was named President of the Board of Trade, in this position he oversaw the passage or amendment of many trade and commerce laws. Upon the sinking of the RMS Titanic in 1912, he asked Lord Loreburn and this commission eventually came to be headed by Lord Mersey. In February 1914, Buxton was appointed Governor-General of South Africa, thereafter, Buxton and Botha formed an effective partnership, planning and executing South African actions in the war, including the invasion of the neighbouring German colony of South West Africa. Buxton travelled widely throughout South Africa, and endeared himself to the people, upon his retirement in 1920, the people demonstrated their affection for him. He continued his interest in South African affairs after returning to England and he was created Earl Buxton in 1920, and continued to be a member of the Liberal Party, often supporting his close friend and colleague Sir Edward Grey. In his later years, he had to undergo amputation of his leg due to an injury sustained earlier in his life. He died at Newtimber on 15 October 1934, Buxton was twice married, firstly in 1882 to Hon. By his first wife, he had two sons and one daughter, of whom the sons died in his lifetime. By his second wife, he had one son and two daughters, of whom the son and the daughter died in his lifetime. By his first wife Hon. Constance Mary Lubbock, Charles Sydney Buxton, the elder son Charles Sydney Buxton, the only surviving son by his first wife Constance, proposed marriage to Octavia Wilberforce, a descendant of the reformer, but she refused him. Kenneth Sydney Buxton, died in childhood, aged seven, Lady Phyllis Sydney Buxton, later Lady Phyllis Ponsonby OBE, married 23 September 1918 Rev. She died aged 25, shortly after the birth of her third child, after her death, her husband remarried
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Epstein, Mortimer (1912). "De Worms, Henry". In Lee, Sidney. Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
