EARL OF CLARENDON

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 38, 14 February 1930, Page 9

EARL OF CLARENDON

TO SUCCEED EARL OF

ATHLONE

GOVERNOR-GENERAL OF SOUTH

AFRICA

British Official Wireless.

RUGBY, 12th February.

. The King has approved the appointment of the Earl of Clarendon as Gov-ernor-General of the Union of South Africa in succession to Major-General the Earl of Athlone, whose extended period of office will expire next January.

The new Governor-General of Soutli Africa, the Earl of Clarendon, was born on 7th June, 1877, and is the son of the sth Earl of Normanton. The name of Clarendon was very closely associated with public life of Great Britain both before and since the House of Hanover became a ruling dynasty. The second son of the second Earl of Jersey, the Hon. Thomas Villiers, was the recipient of many titles, the first being conferred upon him in 1756 when he was made Baron Hyde, and some twenty years later Earl of Clarendon. The older Earldom of Clarendon lasted from 1661 to 1753. The third Earl of the older creation was a prominent politician, and was Governor of New York from 1702 to 1708. The fourth Earl of the more modern creation was also an eminent statesman. The present Earl of Clarendon's career has been more of an official nature than political, though he was Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs from July, 1925, to December, 11926, and chief Conservative Whip in the House of Lords, 1922-24, and 1925. He was Speaker of the Lords in 1923 during the absence of the late Lord Cave. In 1926 Lord Clarendon was appointed chairman of the Special Overseas Settlement Committee, which was one of the most important organisations set up by the last Imperial Conference, so far as the Dominions were concerned. In the same year he took over the chairmanship of the thennewly-formed Broadcasting Corporation. Some of his more official positions have been a captaincy in the Honorary Corps of Gentle-men-at-Arms, Lord-in-Waiting to the King, Deputy-Lieutenant of Herts, and a number of minor offices.