OBITUARY.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1048, 10 February 1911, Page 5

OBITUARY.

EAHL CAWD'OH. ' . Bj Tolcßripb-pfcss Atiwclatlon-CopyrtgH Tho death is announced o{,Earf First -Lord of' tho Admiralty in tho last Unionist Government.'

'•■ iBIOGRAPHICAL, SKETCH. "- y Lord 'Cawdor, camo into prominence .in 1905. when ho was appointed First Lord of tho Admiralty in tho Unionist Government, which wont out a few months later. Last year, with.Mr. Balfour, Lord Lausdowne, and Mr.! Austen' Chamberlain, he was one of the four Opposition members of tho: Veto Conference. ' His .appointment as First Lord of tho Admiralty was regarded as ah. instance of.,the.sagacity, of Mr. Balfour in choosing his colleagues. At a" time when his own power was waning, Mr. Balfour took advantage of tho cry for efficiency in high places, by' putting tho chairman of the progressive Great Western Railway at the head of a great spending department,'making him Parliamentary chief of the first lino of defence. Lord Cawdor's career as an activo politician seemed to have ended before he took his sent in tho House of Lords, and he had become known as a business man, and not a'party man. ■ Frederick Archibald Vaughan Campbell, third Earl Cawdor, was' born in 18i7, and educated at Eton and Oxford. In 1868,h0 married Edith, eldest daughter of Christopher and Lady Caroline Turner. Ho took an active part in local government as a member of the Carmarthenshire County Council.. He succeeded to the chairmanship of tho Great Western Railway Company in 1895, and it was doubtless largely owiug to his business ability and enlightened ideas that tho Great Western adapted itself so quickly and successfully to new conditions. Immense improvements were made tn the train service, and the comfort of passengers all over the hugo system, of the company received greater attention than over before. It was widely regretted that Lord Cawdor's acceptance of. office in tho Balfour Cabinet made it necessary for him to resign his position as chairman of the Great Western Railway.

But for his appointment as First Lord of tho Admiralty, his political career would probably have been finally closed Serao years before. As Viscount Emlyn ho was for eleven years Conservative M.P. for Carmarthenshire. He was an eloquent and forcible speaker, and was considered to bo marked out for Ministerial office. When Carmarthenshire had proved unfaithful to him, ho wooed, but vainly, the suffrages of South Manchester and North Wilts. Ho succeeded his father in 1898, and took his seat in the House of Lords. There ho was not often prominent in debate, until ho was •unexpectedly jraised to Cabinet rank early in 1905. His tenure of office as First Lord of the Admiralty came to an end a few months later with Mr. Balfour's Government. Lord Cawdor had scarcely had time to make anv great mark upon the history of the navy, but he took up the work .with characteristic ability and ener/rv. and he was afterWards prominent as a keen critio of the naval policy of the CampbeU-Bannermah Government.