Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth

The Right Honourable The Earl of Plymouth GBE CB PC
Paymaster General
In office December 1890 – 11 August 1892
Monarch	Queen Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	The Earl of Jersey
Succeeded by	Charles Seale-Hayne
First Commissioner of Works
In office 11 August 1902 – 4 December 1905
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Aretas Akers-Douglas
Succeeded by	Lewis vernon Harcourt
Personal details
Born	27 August 1857 (1857-08-27)
Died	6 March 1923 (1923-03-07)
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Alberta Paget (1863-1944)

"Good Works". Caricature by Spy published in Vanity Fair in 1906.

Memorial to the 1st Earl of Plymouth at St Bartholomew's church, Tardebigge

Windsor-Clive family plot in the cemetery of St Bartholomew's church, Tardebigge, Worcestershire. Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth, GBE, CB, PC (1857–1923) and his family are buried here.

Robert George Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth GBE CB PC (27 August 1857 – 6 March 1923), known as The Lord Windsor between 1869 and 1905, was a British nobleman and Conservative politician.

Background

Plymouth was born at John Street, Berkeley Square, London, the son of the Hon. Robert Windsor-Clive, son of the Hon. Robert Clive and Harriett, 13th Baroness Windsor, daughter of Other Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth. His mother was Lady Mary Selina Louisa, daughter of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford. In 1869 he succeeded his grandmother in the barony of Windsor. He was educated at Eton College and admitted to St John's College, Cambridge in 1875. He graduated B.A. in 1878, M.A. in 1891, and was awarded an honorary LL.D by the university in 1900.

Landowner

As Lord Windsor he commissioned Bodley and Garner to build a new country house at his estate in Hewell Grange near Tardebigge, Worcestershire, which was completed in 1884–1891. The estate had been a seat of the Windsor-Clive family since the 16th century. There are several ruins of earlier houses on the estate, and a large number of listed buildings, structures and statues.

Political career

As Lord Windsor he served under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster General between 1890 and 1892 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1891. Under Arthur Balfour he was First Commissioner of Works between 1902 and 1905, during which period he was responsible for the transformation of The Mall into a processional carriageway and passed the plans for the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace.

In 1905 the earldom of Plymouth held by his great-grandfather (which had become extinct in 1843) was revived when he was created Viscount Windsor, of St Fagans in the County of Glamorgan, and Earl of Plymouth, in the County of Devon.

Apart from his career in national politics he was Mayor of Cardiff from 1895 to 1896. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1905 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1918, as well as an Officer of the French Legion of Honour and was at one time Chairman of the Union of Conservative Associations.

Other public appointments

Lord Plymouth was also Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire from 1890 to his death, and High Steward of Cambridge University from 1919.

Lord Plymouth served in the Worcestershire Yeomanry, being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1878, and promoted Lieutenant (1880) and Major (1885), and was its Lieutenant-Colonel commanding from 1893 to 1906. He was also Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Glamorganshire Volunteer Royal Garrison Artillery from 1890, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, later redesignated 8th Battalion, of the Worcestershire Regiment from 1891, and the Glamorganshire Yeomanry from 1901 to his death, as well as of the 3rd (Militia) Battalion of the Welch Regiment between 1896 and 1908.

He was Sub-Prior Order of St John of Jerusalem and the first President of The Concrete Institute (now the Institution of Structural Engineers) between 1908 and 1910. In 1913 he was responsible for purchasing The Crystal Palace for the nation.

In 1913 Lord Plymouth hosted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll (sister of the late King Edward VII) at his Worcestershire seat, Hewell Grange. On 23 April 1913, he accompanied the Duke and Duchess to Birmingham. There, he opened the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Ladywood and then unveiled the statue to King Edward VII in Victoria Square, Birmingham. In 1918 he became the first President of the newly formed Birmingham Civic Society.

Family

In 1883, Lord Plymouth married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline, who was the daughter of Sir Augustus Paget, and born in 1863. They had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son Other Robert Windsor-Clive, Viscount Windsor (1884–1908), predeceased him. Lord Plymouth died suddenly in March 1923, aged 65, at his home in Great Cumberland Place, London, and was buried at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. He was succeeded in the earldom by his second son, Ivor. The Countess of Plymouth died in August 1944, aged 81, and was buried next to her husband and their son Other Robert (1884–1908).

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Earl of Plymouth

Political offices
Preceded by The Earl of Jersey	Paymaster-General 1890–1892	Succeeded by Charles Seale-Hayne
Preceded by Aretas Akers-Douglas	First Commissioner of Works 1902–1905	Succeeded by Lewis Vernon Harcourt
Party political offices
Preceded by Gerald Loder	Chairman of the National Union of Conservative and Constitutional Associations 1901	Succeeded by Alfred Hickman
Honorary titles
Preceded by Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot	Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire 1890–1923	Succeeded by The Earl of Plymouth
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Earl of Plymouth 1905–1923	Succeeded by Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive
Peerage of England
Preceded by Harriet Windsor	Baron Windsor 1869–1923	Succeeded by Ivor Miles Windsor-Clive