Halifax, Lord (1881-1959), was an important Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He served at various times as viceroy of India, foreign secretary, and ambassador to the United States.
Halifax was born Edward Frederick Lindley Wood at Powderham Castle in the English county of Devon on April 16, 1881. He was born with a deformed left arm that had no hand. He studied at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford University. In 1903, he began teaching at All Souls College, Oxford.
As Edward Wood, he served as a member of Parliament in the House of Commons, the lower chamber of the British Parliament, from 1910 to 1925 and held several minor government posts. In 1925, he received the title Baron Irwin, and in 1926, he became viceroy of India—that is, ruler of India on behalf of the British monarch and government. He sought to stem the rising tide of Indian dissatisfaction with British rule by following a policy of cooperation with India’s nationalist leaders, chiefly Mohandas Gandhi (see Gandhi, Mohandas Karamchand ).
On the death of his father in 1934, Lord Irwin succeeded his father as third Viscount Halifax. His title made him a member of the House of Lords, the upper chamber of the British Parliament. He became leader of the Conservative Party in the House of Lords in 1935.
In 1938, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain appointed Halifax secretary of state for foreign affairs. In this post, Halifax helped Chamberlain negotiate the Munich Agreement with the German dictator Adolf Hitler. Halifax also implemented Chamberlain’s policy of appeasement (giving in to demands) of the Germans just before the outbreak of World War II (1939-1945). See Chamberlain, Neville ; Munich Agreement .
Halifax remained foreign secretary until December 1940, when Winston Churchill, who had become prime minister earlier that year, named him ambassador to the United States. Halifax held this post from 1941 to 1946 and was rewarded for his service with the honor of an earldom in 1944.
Now first Earl of Halifax, he was the United Kingdom’s delegate at the United Nations Charter Conference in San Francisco in March 1945. Halifax published a set of speeches on British foreign policy in 1940, and another collection, American Speeches, appeared in 1947. His memoirs, Fullness of Days, was published in 1957. He died on Dec. 23, 1959.
