George Nathaniel Curzon 1st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston

George Nathaniel Curzon Curzon of Kedleston, 1st Marquess , 1859-1925, British statesman. A member of the minor aristocracy, he attended Eton and Oxford. From his university days onward, he earned a reputation for an unusually high intelligence mingled with an enormous ego, snobbery, and pomposity. Entering Parliament as a conservative in 1886, he showed early brilliance in politics and was undersecretary of state for India (1891-92) and undersecretary for foreign affairs (1895-98). Three trips to Asia resulted in several books— Russia in Central Asia (1889), Persia and the Persian Question (1892), and Problems of the Far East (1894). As viceroy of India (1898-1905) he championed the imperial colonial ideal, achieved important reforms in administration, transportation, education, and currency, and set up (1901) the North-West Frontier Province . He also partitioned (1905) Bengal , an action that angered Indian nationalists. He resigned (1905) after a quarrel with Lord Kitchener , commander of the army in India, who was supported by the home government.

After his return to England, Curzon became (1907) chancellor of the Univ. of Oxford and was created (1911) an earl (raised to marquess in 1921). During World War I he served in the coalition cabinets of Asquith (see Oxford and Asquith, Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st earl of ) and Lloyd George . As foreign secretary (1919-24), he presided over the Conference of Lausanne (see under Lausanne, Treaty of ), disapproved of the French occupation of the Ruhr , and paved the way for the Dawes Plan for settling German war reparations. He expected to succeed Andrew Bonar Law as prime minister in 1923 and was bitterly disappointed at being passed over in favor of Stanley Baldwin .

Bibliography: See biographies by Lord Ronaldshay (1928), K. Rose (1969), and D. Gilmour (1994, U.S. ed. 2003); D. Dilks, Curzon in India (2 vol., 1969).

Curzon, George Nathaniel, 1st Marquess of Kedleston (1859–1925) British Conservative statesman. He entered Parliament in 1886, and travelled widely in Asia before becoming Viceroy of India (1899–1905). Lord Curzon carried out many reforms in India before resigning as a result of an argument with Lord Kitchener. He served in the war cabinet (1915–19) and as foreign secretary (1919–24).

Curzon, George Nathaniel, Marquess of Kedleston (b. 11 Jan. 1859, d. 20 Mar. 1925). British Foreign Secretary 1919–23 Born in Kedleston, Derbyshire, he was educated at Eton and Oxford. He entered Parliament in 1886, and in 1898 was appointed viceroy of India. For seven years, he presided over reforms of education and agriculture, and the extension of the country's railways and canals. However, his partition of Bengal in 1905 was controversial, and he resigned after clashing with the Commander-in-Chief in India, Kitchener, over control of the Indian army. In 1915, he became a member of Asquith's coalition Cabinet as Lord Privy Seal; in 1916, he was made Lord President of the Council, a post he continued to hold in Lloyd George's War Cabinet. As Foreign Secretary, his influence was limited due to the interference of Lloyd George, although his name was given to the Curzon Line – the proposed boundary between Poland and Russia in 1920. He hoped to become Prime Minister in 1923, but was passed over in favour of Baldwin. He continued as Foreign Secretary in Baldwin's first government, but was mortified when he lost this office to Austen Chamberlain in Baldwin's second government in November 1924. He was then Lord President of the Council until his death.