INTRODUCTION The first Earl of Kimberley's career is conventionally seen as one thread in the fading pattern of late-Victorian Whig politics. The loyal and able Kimberley, who though talkative talked well, was a permanent feature of Gladstone's1 governments and his public life is usually woven around those ministerial Whigs, such as Lords Ripon,2 Clarendon,3 Spencer4 and Harrington,5 who gave administrative weight and social prestige to successive Liberal ministries. Kimberley's historical fate has been to be seen as a capable, obedient, rather dull Whig cypher in Gladstone's calculations. But, in truth, Kimberley was a landed Liberal. Heir to a Tory barony and converted to Liberalism at Eton, neither by blood nor by belief was he part of the Whig brotherhood. Both his career and his Journal are of greater interest and importance than the conventional portrayal of Kimberley would suggest. John Wodehouse, first Earl of Kimberley, was born in 1826 into the Norfolk Tory gentry. The eldest son of an apolitical father who died when he was eight years old, Wodehouse was a decidedly independent youth, adopting Liberal principles at Eton 'purely from conviction' (6 May 1862). With the death of his grandfather, the second Baron Wodehouse, in 1846, John Wodehouse succeeded to the barony (thereby losing his chance of a Commons career) and in the following year took a first in Classics at Christ Church, Oxford. In 1847, with the help of his uncle and mentor he was introduced to the political world. His first significant involvement was as financial member for the Society for the Reform of Colonial Government, an organisation which included 'men 1 William Gladstone (1809-98), Cons. MP for Newark, 1832, 1835, 1837, 1841-5; Peelite MP for Oxford University, 1847-65; lib. MP for S. Lancashire, 1865-8, for Greenwich, 1868-80, for Midlothian, 1880-95; Lib- cn- exch., 1852-5, 1859-66, 1873-4, 1880-2; pr. min., 1868^74, 1880-5, l886> 1892-4. ' George Frederick Samuel Robinson (1827-1909), 3rd Earl deGrey, 1859; 1st Marquess of Ripon, 1871; war sec, 1863-6; Indian sec, 1866; Id. pres. counc, 1868-73; Indian viceroy, 1880—4; Ist ^d. adm., 1886; col. sec, 1892—5. 3 George William Frederick Villiers, 4th Earl of Clarendon (1800-70), pres. b. of t., 1846^7; Id. It. of Ireland, 1847-52; for. sec, 1853-8, 1865-6, 1868^70. 4 John Poyntz Spencer (1835-1910), styled Viscount Althorp, 1847-57, when he sue. as 5th Earl Spencer, Lib. MP for Northamptonshire, 1857; Id. It. Ireland, 1868-74, 1882-5; Id. pres. counc, 1880-3, 1886; ist Id. adm., 1892-5; sue. Kimberley as lib. leader in the Lords, 1902-5; sue. Kimberley as lib. leader in the Lords, 1902-5. 5 Spencer Compton Cavendish, Marquess of Harrington (1857-70), Lib. MP for N. Lancashire, 1857-68, for Radnor Boroughs, 1869-80, for Lancashire N.E., 1880-5, for Lancashire N.E., Rossendale, 1885; Lib. U. MP for Rossendale, 1886-91, when he succ. as 8th Duke of Devonshire; u.-sec war, 1863-6; war sec, 1866, 1882-5; P°st- genl., 1868- 71; ch. sec. Ireland, 1871-4; Indian sec, 1880-2; Id. pres. counc. 1895-1903. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.139, on 24 Sep 2021 at 19:41:57, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960116300002104 2 THE JOURNAL OF JOHN WODEHOUSE of all parties' (6 May 1862). Then in 1852 he was appointed under- secretary to the Foreign Office in the Aberdeen coalition government, and principal government spokesman on foreign affairs in the Lords.6 Following this auspicious beginning, aged twenty-six, Wodehouse was never far from the centre of political activity. His career was both long and full of important posts. From the time he joined Aberdeen's ministry, he was included in every Liberal government of the last half of the nineteenth century, ending his official career as foreign secretary in Rosebery's ministry (1894-5). In between he served as Minister Plenipotentiary to St Petersburg (1856-58), Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1864-6), Lord Privy Seal (1868^70), Colonial Secretary (1870-4, 1880- 2) and Indian Secretary (1882-5, 1886, 1892-4). Hardly less important with regard to the Kimberley Journal was his service as Liberal leader in the House of Lords (1891-4, 1896-1902). THE KIMBERLEY ARCHIVE From the beginning of his political career Kimberley carefully preserved his papers and from 1862 he kept a private journal (hereafter, Kimberley Journal). Just before his death he had thought it best to prohibit publication of any papers for at least fifty years. He nevertheless occasionally allowed edited letters to be published and left the matter after his death entirely to his son's discretion.7 With a heightened sense of the delicacy of his father's work, in 1901 the second earl refused Lady Dufferin's request to publish letters related to her husband's Indian Viceroyalty.8 Five years later he did permit Lord Rosebery to read and take notes from a Memoir which Kimberley had written late in life.9 The Kimberley archive remained intact and closed to research until 1948, when Lt. Col. G.E. Malet of the National Register of Archives assisted a young South African doctoral candidate, Ethel Drus, in gaining access. At Kimberley Hall she found the papers packed in 6 On Kimberley's background and early political career see Liberal by Principle, 7-24. 7 Kimberley to Spencer Childers, 20 July 1900, KPi 15/K2/21. 8 2nd Earl of Kimberley to Spencer, 20 October 1902, SP K372; cf. A. Lyall, Life of the Marquis ofDufferin and Asa (London, 1905). Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava (1826-1902), had been a contemporary of Kimberley at both Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, gov.-gen. Canada, 1872-8; amb. to St Petersburg, 1879-81; to Constantinople, 1881-4; Indian Viceroy, 1884-8; amb. to Rome, 1889-gi; to Paris, 1891-6. 9 Rosebery to 2nd Earl of Kimberley, 26 October 1906 RP 10120 fols. 33-4. Archibald Philip Primrose (1847-1929), styled Lord Dalmeny, 1851-68, when he sue. as 5th Earl of Rosebery; u.-sec. home office, 1881-3; Id. privy seal and 1st comm. works, 1885; for. sec, 1886, 1892-4; pr. min., 1894—5. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.139, on 24 Sep 2021 at 19:41:57, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960116300002104 INTRODUCTION 3 metal boxes, neatly arranged and labelled by the first earl. Among them was a large envelope containing the 'Journal of Events during the Gladstone Ministry' which she subsequently edited for the Royal Historical Society (hereafter, Journal of Events').10 The break up of the Kimberley archive also began around 1948, when Kimberley's private correspondence as Minister to Russia (1856— 8) was acquired by the British Library. In 1972 Kimberley's political in-letters for the period 1891-1901 were sold and eventually found their way into the National Library of Scotland. Later that year a large collection of papers relating to Kimberley's Falmouth property was deposited in the Cornwall Record Office. In 1974 the Norfolk Record Office acquired most of Kimberley's unofficial papers - enough to fill fifteen boxes — including family papers, some early political cor- respondence and an extensive journal devoted to his reading, kept continuously between 1847 and 1902 (hereafter, Readingjournal). When the remaining Kimberley papers, including most of those associated with his Cabinet career, were being prepared for sale at Sotheby's in 1991, two substantial lots, relating principally to personal property and estate management, and several smaller lots containing letters patent and other collectibles, were auctioned separately." So aldiough the Kimberley archive is now dispersed, each part is accessible and together form an impressive and well-rounded record of a nineteenth-century political life. THE KIMBERLEY JOURNAL Among the papers acquired by the Bodleian Library in December 1991 was Kimberley's extensive Journal, kept in five notebooks quarter bound in burgundy leather with marbled boards, and catalogued at the Bodleian Library as: Ms.Eng.e.2790 (10.9 cm x 18.5 cm) 28 Apr. 1862-10 Oct. 1864 184 leaves Ms.Eng.e.2791 (11.1 011X17.0, cm) 11 Oct. 1864-20 Jul. 1869 236 leaves Ms.Eng.e.2792 (11.1 cmx 17.8 cm) 11 Aug. 1869-19 Apr. 1881 208 leaves Ms.Eng.e.2793 (11.3 cmx 17.8 cm) 28 Apr. 1881-7 Sept. 1896 239 leaves Ms.Eng.e.2794 (11.3 cmx 17.8 cm) 8 Oct. 1896-10 Jan. 1902 248 leaves Characterised in the Bodleian's catalogue as a 'diary', they are perhaps better described as a journal. Although the notebooks themselves carry '" Ethel Drus, 'A Journal of-Events during the Gladstone Ministry [868-18J4 by John, First Earl of Kimberley', Camden Miscellany, 3rd ser., XXI, 1—49. " On the sale see J. Powell, 'Kimberley's Diamonds', History Today, March 1992, 3. Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.40.139, on 24 Sep 2021 at 19:41:57, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0960116300002104 4 THE JOURNAL OF JOHN WODEHOUSE no title, Kimberley referred in a later transcription to his 'journal of events', an appellation borne out by the varied nature of the entries.