Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook

Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, 1st Earl of Cranbrook, GCSI, PC (1 October 1814 – 30 October 1906) was a prominent British Conservative politician. He held cabinet office in every Conservative government between 1858 and 1892.

Hardy served as Home Secretary from 1867 to 1868, Secretary of State for War from 1874 to 1878, Lord President of the Council from 1885 to 1886 and as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster until 1886. In 1878, he was appointed Secretary of State for India and thereafter was elevated to the peerage, entering the House of Lords as Viscount Cranbrook. He has been described as a moderate, middle-of-the-road Anglican, and a key ally of Disraeli.

Gathorne Hardy was the third son of John Hardy and Isabel Gathorne, daughter of Richard Gathorne, of Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria. His older brother was Sir John Hardy, 1st Baronet. His father was a barrister and businessman, the main owner of the Low Moor ironworks and also represented Bradford in Parliament as a Conservative. His immediate ancestors had been attorneys and stewards to the Spencer-Stanhope family of Horsforth since the beginning of the 18th century.

He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Oriel College, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1840. He established a successful legal practice on the Northern Circuit, being based in Leeds, but was denied when he applied for silk in 1855.

Gathorne Hardy had unsuccessfully contested Bradford in the 1847 general election. However, after his father's death in 1855 he was able to concentrate fully on a political career, and in 1856 he was elected for Leominster. Only two years later, in 1858, he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for Home Affairs in the second administration of the Earl of Derby. He remained in this office until the government fell in June 1859.

In 1865, Gathorne Hardy reluctantly agreed to stand against William Ewart Gladstone in the Oxford University constituency. However, on 17 July 1865, he defeated Gladstone by a majority of 180, which greatly enhanced his standing within the Conservative party thanks to the influence of rural clergy voters, but still did not come first in the poll. Gladstone's response was "Dear Dream is dispelled. God's will be done". The Conservatives returned to office under Derby in 1866, and Hardy was appointed President of the Poor Law Board, with a seat in the cabinet. He was admitted to the Privy Council at the same time. During his tenure in this office he notably carried the Poor Law Amendment Act 1867 through Parliament. Cranbrook also supported the Reform Act 1867, which significantly increased the size of the electorate to one in five. By May, Disraeli had recognised Gathorne Hardy's value to the Conservatives as a rising star in the Commons, proving a capable debater, a resilient antagonist to Gladstone, and "nobody's fool". In 1867 he succeeded Spencer Horatio Walpole as Home Secretary and was forced to deal with the Fenian Rising of that year. By accepting an amendment that all ratepayers should be enfranchised, Disraeli had created a new Victorian constitution, which surprisingly Hardy and others were prepared to accept. One new entrant in 1868, an admirer of Disraeli, the Radical, Sir Charles Dilke thought Hardy the most eloquent Englishman, whose talents were wasted in the Conservative Party. But Hardy himself, not so easily deceived, remained a stalwart Tory to the end.

The next year, Benjamin Disraeli succeeded Derby as Prime Minister, but the Conservative government resigned in autumn 1868, after both the Queen and Disraeli delayed dissolution to register a new electorate, which since 1865 had accepted postal votes. The Liberals came to power under Gladstone. In opposition, Hardy occasionally acted as opposition leader in the House of Commons when Disraeli was absent.

There was criticism of the Anglican Church in Ireland, which Liberals intended to disestablish in its entirety. A committed Anglican, Hardy opposed the measure on religious grounds: