Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess Crewe

Robert Offley Ashburton Crewe-Milnes (1858-1945), statesman, was born in London on 12 January 1858, the only son of Richard Monckton Milnes, later 1st Baron Houghton, and Annabella Hungerford, daughter of the 2nd Baron Crewe. He attended Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge (B.A., 1880), and became a baron on the death of his father in 1885. Crewe was viceroy of Ireland, 1892-1895, lord president of the council, 1905-1908 and 1915-1916, and lord privy seal, 1908-1911 and 1912-1915. He became leader of the House of Lords in 1908, and was colonial secretary, 1908-1910, during which period the union of South Africa was completed. He served as secretary of state for India, 1910-1915, and was made Marquess of Crewe in 1911. He became president of the Board of Education in 1916, and was ambassador in Paris, 1922-1928. In 1931 he became secretary of state for war. Crewe was leader of the independent liberals in the House of Lords, 1936-1944. He died at West Horsley Place, Leatherhead, on 20 June 1945.