BARON

See also:

• GEORGE
• GEORGE, 8TH MARQUESS OF TWEEDDALE (1787-1876)
• GEORGE, HENRY (1839—1897)
• GEORGE, LAKE
• GEORGE, SAINT (d. 303)

GEORGE

See also:

• STEPHEN
• STEPHEN (1097?-1154)
• STEPHEN (ISTVAN) BATHORY (1533-1586)
• STEPHEN, SIR JAMES (1789-1859)
• STEPHEN, SIR JAMES FITZJAMES, BART
• STEPHEN, SIR LESLIE (1832-1904)

STEPHEN

See also:

• BARON GEORGE STEPHEN MOUNTSTEPHEN (1829- )

MOUNTSTEPHEN (1829- )  , Canadian financier, was born on the 5th of June 1829 at Duff-town, Banffshire, Scotland, the son of William Stephen and Elspeth Smith . He was educated at the parish school, after which he was for a time a herd boy . In 185o he went to Canada and soon became a prominent business man in Montreal . In 1878 he joined with his cousin, Donald Smith (afterwards Lord Strathcona), in the purchase of the St Paul & Pacific railway . This led to his interest in the development of western Canada, and from 1881 onwards he was associated with his cousin in the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway, for his services in connexion with which he was in 1886 made a baronet, in 1891 raised to the peerage; and in 1905 made G.C.V.O . In 1888 he left Canada, and thereafter lived in England and Scotland . He gave lavishly to charity and education, and with Lord Strathcona built and endowed the Royal Victoria. hospital at Montreal . MOUNT-TEMPLE, WILLIAM FRANCIS COWPER-TEMPLE, BARON (1811-1888), English politician, second son of the 5th Earl Cowper, was born at Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, on the 13th of December 1811 . He was educated at Eton, and entered the Royal Horse Guards,. attaining the rank of brevet-major in 1852 . His mother, Emily Mary, was sister to the prime minister, Lord Melbourne, whose secretary William Cowper became in 1835; in this year he entered parliament as member for Hertford, which he continued to represent until 1863 . As commissioner of works (186o-1866) he carried the bills for the Thames Embankment (1862), and for the new law courts (1863); but he is best known for the amendment, known as the " Cowper-Temple clause," which he introduced into the second reading of the Education Bill of 1870, that no catechism nor denominational teaching of any kind should be included in the religious instruction given in rate-aided schools . His mother, who married Lord Palmerston as her second husband, died in 1869, and under his stepfather's will William Cowper succeeded to some of the Palmerston estates in Ireland and Hampshire, and assumed the additional name of Temple .

He was M.P. for

South Hampshire from 1868 until 188o when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Mount-Temple of Mount-Temple, Sligo . He died at Broadlands, near Romsey, on the 16th of October 1888 . He was twice married, but left no children, the Palmerston estates descending to the Right Hon . Evelyn Ashley (1836-1907), who was under-secretary of state for the colonies from 1882 to 1885 .