Herbert, Sidney, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea

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Herbert, Sidney, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea (1810–61). Politician. Herbert was educated at Harrow and Oxford. He entered the Commons as a Conservative in 1832, being in office in 1834–5 and 1841–6. In 1845–6 and 1852–5 he was secretary of war, being less blamed than others by the Roebuck Commission of 1855 for the poor organization of the army during the Crimean War, during which he supported Florence Nightingale's nursing reforms. He returned to the War Office in 1859 and began an energetic programme of reform; overwork and Bright's disease caused his early death. He was talked of as a future prime minister, Lord Houghton saying of him, ‘He was just the man to rule England: birth, wealth, grace, tact and not too much principle.’

H. C. G. Matthew

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