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SIR JOHN ELDON GORST (1835- )

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Originally appearing in Volume V12, Page 261 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SIR See also:JOHN See also:ELDON See also:GORST (1835- )  , See also:English statesman, was See also:born at See also:Preston in 1835, the son of See also:Edward Chaddock See also:Gorst, who took the name of See also:Lowndes on succeeding to the See also:family See also:estate in 1853 . He graduated third wrangler from St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge, in 1857, and was admitted to a fellowship . After beginning to read for the See also:bar in See also:London, his See also:father's illness and See also:death led to his sailing to New See also:Zealand, where he married in 186o See also:Mary See also:Elizabeth See also:Moore . The Maoris had at that See also:time set up a See also:king of their own in the Waikato See also:district and Gorst, who had made See also:friends with the See also:chief Tamihana (See also:William See also:Thomson), acted as an intermediary between the Maoris and the See also:government . See also:Sir See also:George See also:Grey made him inspector of See also:schools, then See also:resident See also:magistrate, and eventually See also:civil See also:commissioner in Upper Waikato . Tamihana's See also:influence secured his safety in the See also:Maori outbreak of 1863 . In 1908 he published a See also:volume of recollections, under the See also:title of New Zealand Revisited: Recollections of the Days of my Youth . He then returned to See also:England and was called to the bar at the Inner See also:Temple in 1865, becoming Q.C. in 1875 . He stood unsuccessfully for See also:Hastings in the Conservative See also:interest in 1865, and next See also:year entered See also:parliament as member for the See also:borough of Cambridge, but failed to secure re-See also:election at the See also:dissolution of 1868 . After the Conservative defeat of that year he was entrusted by Disraeliwith the reorganization of the party machinery, and in five years of hard See also:work he paved the way for the Conservative success at the See also:general election of 1874 . At a bye-election in 1875 he re-entered parliament as member for See also:Chatham, which he continued to represent until 1892 . He joined Sir See also:Henry See also:Drummond-See also:Wolff, See also:Lord See also:Randolph See also:Churchill and Mr See also:Arthur See also:Balfour in the " See also:Fourth Party," and he became See also:solicitor-general in the ad-ministration of 1885-1886 and was knighted .

On the formation of the second See also:

Salisbury See also:administration (1886) he became under-secretary for See also:India and in 1891 See also:financial secretary to the See also:Treasury . At the general election of 1892 he became member for Cambridge University . He was See also:deputy chairman of committees in the See also:House of See also:Commons from 1888 to 1891, and on the formation of the third Salisbury administration in 1895 he became See also:vice-See also:president of the See also:committee of the See also:council on See also:education (until 1902) . Sir John Gorst adhered to the principles of Tory See also:democracy which he had advocated in the days of the fourth party, and continued to exhibit an active interest in the See also:housing of the poor, the education and care of their See also:children, and in social questions generally, both in parliament and in the See also:press . But he was always exceedingly " See also:independent " in his See also:political See also:action . He objected to Mr See also:Chamberlain's proposals for See also:tariff reform, and lost his seat at Cambridge at the general election of 1906 to a tariff reformer . He then withdrew from the vice-chancellorship of the See also:Primrose See also:League, of which he had been one of the founders, on the ground that it no longer represented the policy of Lord See also:Beaconsfield . In 1910 he See also:con-tested Preston as a Liberal, but failed to secure election . His See also:elder son, SIR J . See also:ELDON GORST (b . 1861), was financial adviser to the See also:Egyptian government from 1898 to 1904, when he became assistant under-secretary of See also:state for See also:foreign affairs . In 1907 he succeeded Lord See also:Cromer as See also:British See also:agent and See also:consul-general in See also:Egypt .

An See also:

account of Sir John Gorst's connexion with Lord Randolph Churchill will be found in the Fourth Party (1906), by his younger son, Harold E . Gorst .

End of Article: SIR JOHN ELDON GORST (1835- )
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