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During his lengthy career as a public servant, Lord Dufferin served in the United Kingdom government as the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and Under-Secretary of War, as well as spending many years overseas as an ambassador and administrator. He is best known for his positions as the third Governor General of Canada and the eighth Viceroy of India.
His final years were marred by personal tragedy and misguided business dealings which lost him a great deal of money.
Born in Florence in Italy, Frederick Blackwood studied at EtonEton College is a public school (that is, an independent, fee-paying secondary school) for boys in Eton, Berkshire near Windsor in England. It boards approximately 1,200 boys between the ages of 13 and 18 who enjoy some outstanding facilities at a cost of, and went to university at Christ Church, OxfordChrist Church (in full: The Cathedral Church of Christ in Oxford of the Foundation of King Henry VIII is one of the largest and wealthiest of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. The city of Christchurch, New Zealand, where he became President of the Oxford UnionThe Oxford Union Society commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union is a private debating society whose membership is drawn primarily from the University of Oxford. The Oxford Union was founded in 1823 using the Cambridge Union as a model. It has gai. He succeeded his father in 18411841 is a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 26 The United Kingdom occupies Hong Kong. Later during the year, the first census of the island recorded a population of about 7,500. February 18 The first ongoing f as 5th Baron Dufferin and Claneboye in the Peerage of IrelandThe Peerage of Ireland is the term used for those peers created by British monarchs in their capacity as Lord or King of Ireland. Before 1801, Irish Peers had the right to sit in the Irish House of Lords, but after the Union in 1801, Irish peers, like tho, and was appointed a Lord-in-Waiting to Queen VictoriaVictoria (Alexandrina Victoria) ( 24 May 1819 22 January 1901) was a Queen of the United Kingdom, reigning from 20 June 1837 until her death. Her reign lasted more than sixty-three years—longer than any other British monarch. As well as being Queen of the in 1849Events January 23 Elizabeth Blackwell is awarded her MD by the Medical Institute of Geneva, New York, thus becoming the United States' first woman doctor January 31 Corn Laws abolished in the United Kingdom February 14 In New York City, James Knox Polk be. In 1850Events January 4 The first American ice-skating club is formed ( Philadelphia, Pennsylvania). January 29 Henry Clay introduces the Compromise of 1850 to the United States Congress February 28 University of Utah opens in Salt Lake City, Utah March 7 United he was created Baron Clandeboye, of Clandeboye in the County of Down, in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
In 1856, Lord Dufferin commissioned a schooner, the 'Foam', and set off on a journey around the North Atlantic. He first visited Iceland, where he visited the then-minuscule Reykjavik, the plains of Thingvellir and Geysir. Returning to Reykjavik, the Foam was towed north by Prince Napoleon of France , who was on an expedition to the region in the steamer 'La Reine Hortense'. Dufferin sailed close to Jan Mayen, but was unable to land due to heavy ice, and only caught a very brief glimpse of the island through the fog. From Jan Mayen, the Foam sailed to northern Norway, stopping at Hammerfest, before sailing for Spitzbergen.
On his return, Lord Dufferin published a book about his travels, Letters From High Latitudes . With its irreverent style and lively pace, it was extremely successful, and can be regarded as the prototype of the comic travelogue. It remained in print for many years, and was translated into French and German. The letters were nominally written to his mother, Helen Selina, Lady Dufferin, with whom he had developed a very close relationship after the death of his father, Price Blackwood, when he was 15.
Despite the great success of Letters From High Latitudes, Dufferin did not pursue a career as an author, and instead became a politician. In 1860 he was appointed Commissioner to Syria, and in 1864 became Under-Secretary for India. He became Under-Secretary of War in 1866, and from 1868 he held the position of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster in Prime Minister Gladstone's government. In 1871 he was raised in the Peerage as Earl of Dufferin, in the County of Down, and Viscount Clandeboye, of Clandeboye in the County of Down.
Lord Dufferin married Harriet Georgina Rowan-Hamilton on October 23, 1862. They had seven children; the two youngest, a son and a daughter, were born in Canada. Shortly after his own marriage, he was deeply upset when his mother married his friend Lord Gifford , some 17 years her junior. The marriage scandalised society, but Lord Gifford died only weeks afterwards.