Colonial Despatches

Henry Pelham Fiennes Pelham Clinton, the fifth Duke of Newcastle, was a British politician and civil servant. He was born in London in 1811, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, where he received a BA in 1832. He represented South Nottinghamshire in Parliament from 1832 to 1846. From 1841 to 1846, he served as the first Chief Commissioner of Woods and Forests. In 1852 he was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies and Secretary of State for War, as the two positions were combined at that time. When they were separated in 1853, Newcastle chose to remain Secretary of State for the Colonies. In 1854, he was transferred to the position of Secretary of State for War. The failures of the British military, exposed by the Crimean War, caused him to resign in 1855. In 1859 he was again appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies. He resigned this post in early in 1864, and died on October 18th of that year. Newcastle was considered a quietly competent administrator. Following his death, London's Daily News wrote that, although he never was and never would have been a great political philosopher, or sage, or leader, he was a staunch upholder of the natural and honourable welfare of our country, a patriotic promoter of its dignity and lustre, and a devoted servant of the commonwealth, from the sovereign on the throne to the poorest adventurer landing in a distant colony. 1

• 1. Death of the Duke of Newcastle, Daily News (London), 19 October 1864, 4; The Duke of Newcastle, K.G., Morning Post (London), 19 October 1864, 5; The Death of the Duke of Newcastle, Guardian (Manchester), 19 October 1864, 3; Death of the Duke of Newcastle, Times (London), 19 October 1864, 7.