Colonial Despatches

James Howard Harris, the third Earl of Malmesbury, was born on 25 March 1807 at Spring Gardens, London. He was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford, he was raised to the peerage upon his father's death on 10 September 1841, joining the House of Lords.1

He became secretary of state for foreign affairs on 22 February 1852, resigning on 20 December 1852. In February 1858, Malmesbury was again appointed foreign secretary, remaining until the Derby administration's defeat in June 1859. He remained active in the House of Lords but declined the foreign office post because of ill health, accepting instead the post of lord privy seal. In February 1868 he became leader of the House of Lords, retiring from that position in December of that year. From 1874 to 1876 he served again as lord privy seal. Malmesbury died on 17 May 1889.2

• 1. David Steele, Harris, James Howard, third earl of Malmesbury, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 2. Ibid.