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Geoffry Northcote

2025-05-27T09:40:08Z

78.145.243.63: It seems some people have trouble getting their heads round this, but the spelling of his name was "Geoffry" and not "Geoffrey" (as indicated by his Who's Who entry and his Times obituary.)

{{Short description|British colonial administrator (1881–1948)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2019}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Sir Geoffry Northcote
| birth_name = Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote<ref name="TimesObit"/>
| honorific-suffix = [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]] [[KStJ]]
| image = File:Sir Geoffry Northcote.jpg
| caption =
| order = 20th
| office = Governor of Hong Kong
| monarch = [[George VI]]
| 1blankname = [[Chief Secretary for Administration|Colonial Secretary]]
| 1namedata = [[Norman Lockhart Smith]]
| term_start = 28 October 1937
| term_end = 6 September 1941
| lieutenant =
| predecessor = Sir [[Andrew Caldecott]]
| successor = Sir [[Mark Aitchison Young]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1881|02|09|df=y}}
| birth_place =
| death_date = {{death date and age|1948|07|10|1881|02|09|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Sanderstead]], [[Surrey]], England
| party =
| profession = colonial administrator
| alma_mater = [[Balliol College, Oxford]]
| spouse = Edith Juliet Mary Adams
| religion =
| signature =
| footnotes =
| module = {{Chinese|child=yes|t=羅富國|s=罗富国|j=lo4 fu3 gwok3|p=Luó Fùguó|por=}}
}}

'''Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford Northcote''', [[Order of St Michael and St George|KCMG]] [[KStJ]] (羅富國;9 February 1881 – 10 July 1948)<ref name="TimesObit">{{cite news |title=Sir Geoffry Northcote |work=The Times |date=12 July 1948 |page=7}}</ref><ref>{{Who's Who | title = NORTHCOTE, Sir Geoffry Alexander Stafford | id = U229863 | type = was | volume = 2025 | edition = online}}</ref> was a British colonial administrator.

==Early life, education, and early colonial services career==
Northcote was the son of Reverend the Hon. Arthur Francis Northcote, fourth son of [[Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh|the 1st Earl of Iddesleigh]]. [[Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote|The 1st Baron Northcote]] was his uncle. He was educated at [[Blundell's School]] in [[Tiverton, Devon|Tiverton]] and [[Balliol College, Oxford]]. He entered the Colonial Service in 1904 and served in [[Kenya]] (the [[East African Protectorate]]) from 1904 to 1927. He became Chief Secretary of [[Northern Rhodesia]] a year later, and served there until 1930. Afterwards, Northcote served as the Chief Secretary of [[Gold Coast (British colony)|Gold Coast]], until 1934 and as Governor and Commander-in-Chief of [[British Guiana]] from 1935 to 1937.

==Attack in Kenya==
When he arrived in Kenya in 1904 as a political attache, Northcote was posted to [[Nyanza Province]] which was then part of Uganda. In early 1905, he accompanied a punitive expedition to [[Kisii people|Kisii]] land in South Nyanza. The expedition seized and slaughtered livestock and torched houses as punishment for raids the Kisii had carried out on neighbouring groups. In 1907, Northcote was deployed as the District Commissioner of Kisii. The Kisii, who nicknamed him ''Nyarigoti'', considered him their mortal enemy. On 18 January 1908, in the middle of a punitive expedition he was leading, Northcote was attacked with a spear and injured by a warrior called [[Warrior Otenyo|Otenyo]]. When Otenyo was caught, he was tried and executed in public by a firing squad and then beheaded. When Northcote learned of these attacks to revenge the attack on him, which ended up costing 160 lives, he wrote to his father, "It would take too long to describe the idiocy, obstinacy and want of military operations."<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/article/2000049243/otenyo-the-warrior-who-dared-a-white-dc?articleID=2000049243&story_title=otenyo-the-warrior-who-dared-a-white-dc&pageNo=1|title=Otenyo, the warrior who dared a white DC}}</ref>

==Hong Kong Governorship==
[[File:Northcote Executive Council.jpg|thumb|400px|left|Sir Geoffry Northcote (centre) and his secretaries; businessman [[Robert Kotewall]] is 2nd on the right]]
He became Governor and Commander-in-Chief of Hong Kong in 1937. During his tenure, the [[Second Sino-Japanese War]] broke out, and battles broke out throughout Mainland China. In order to safeguard the Colony, Northcote immediately declared Hong Kong a neutral zone. As the war proceeded, [[Guangzhou|Canton]] (Guangzhou) was occupied by the Japanese, causing a population boom as refugees rushed into Hong Kong. Northcote proposed more provision of housing and social services to serve the needs of the poor.<ref>{{cite journal | last=Goodstadt | first=Leo F. | author-link= Leo Goodstadt |date= 2004 | title=The Rise and Fall of Social, Economic and Political Reforms in Hong Kong, 1930–1955 | journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society Hong Kong Branch |volume= 44 | pages=63 }}</ref> Meanwhile, the [[Imperial Japanese Army]] (IJA) also started encroaching upon Sham Chun ([[Shenzhen]]), leading the Hong Kong government to adopt various measures to cope with the emergency, such as the construction of air-raid shelters and blackout practices. Northcote also withdrew the plan of expanding social services.

After taking six-months' leave in the UK, Northcote returned to Hong Kong in March 1941. Poor health forced him to retire that year, and he left when his appointment expired in September 1941.
{{clear}}

==Personal life==
Northcote married Edith Juliet Mary Adams on 27 October 1910; she was the daughter of [[James Adams (chaplain)|James Adams]] VC. The couple had three sons: Maxwell Adams Stafford, Arthur Geoffrey Stafford, and Amyas Henry Stafford. Northcote died in July 1948, aged 67.

==Honours==
* [[Order of St Michael and St George|C.M.G.]], 1931<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=33722|page=3627 |supp=y |date=2 June 1931}}</ref>
* [[K.C.M.G.]], 1935<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34166|page=3598 |supp=y |date=31 May 1935}}</ref>
* [[Venerable Order of St. John|K.St.J.]] 1937<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=34470|page=28|date=4 January 1938}}</ref>

==Places named after him==
Northcote Close, a road on [[Hong Kong Island]], and [[Hong Kong Institute of Education|Northcote Teachers' College]] (the premises is now occupied by [[Bonham Road Government Primary School]]) were named after him.

==See also==
* [[History of Hong Kong]]
* [[Earl of Iddesleigh]]
* [[Warrior Otenyo]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990, {{Page needed |date=February 2013}}
{{commons category|Geoffry Northcote}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{succession box
| before=[[Alexander Ransford Slater]]
| title=[[Governor of the Gold Coast]], ''acting'' | years=1932
| after=Sir [[Shenton Thomas]]
}}
{{succession box
| before=Sir [[Shenton Thomas]]
| title=[[Governor of the Gold Coast]], ''acting'' | years=1934
| after=Sir [[Arnold Wienholt Hodgson]]
}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Edward Brandis Denham]] | title = [[Governor of British Guiana]]| years = 1935–1937 | after = Sir [[Wilfrid Edward Francis Jackson]]}}
{{succession box | before = Sir [[Andrew Caldecott]] | title = [[Governor of Hong Kong]]| years = 1937–1941 | after = Sir [[Mark Aitchison Young]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governor of Hong Kong}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Northcote, Geoffry Alexander Stafford}}
[[Category:Governors of British Guiana]]
[[Category:Governors of Hong Kong]]
[[Category:1881 births]]
[[Category:1948 deaths]]
[[Category:Chief secretaries of Northern Rhodesia]]
[[Category:Chief secretaries of the Gold Coast (British colony)]]
[[Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:Knights of the Order of St John]]
[[Category:Northcote family|Geoffry]]
[[Category:People educated at Blundell's School]]
[[Category:Civil servants from London]]
[[Category:20th-century Hong Kong people]]
[[Category:20th-century British politicians]]

Robert d'Escourt Atkinson

2025-05-22T01:42:43Z

78.145.243.63:

{{Short description|British astronomer, physicist and inventor (1898–1982)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
'''Robert d'Escourt Atkinson''' (11 April 1898 – 28 October 1982) was a British [[astronomer]], [[physicist]] and [[inventor]].

==Biography==
Robert d'Escourt Atkinson was born in [[Rhayader]], [[Wales]], on April 11, 1898.<ref name="AtkinsonPapers">{{cite web |url=http://purl.dlib.indiana.edu/iudl/findingaids/archives/InU-Ar-VAA2630|title=Robert d'Escourt Atkinson papers, 1893-1901|publisher=Archives Online at Indiana University}}</ref> He went to [[Manchester Grammar School]] and received a degree in physics from [[University of Oxford|Oxford]] in 1922. He worked in the [[Clarendon Laboratory]] and then went to [[University of Göttingen|Göttingen]], where he received a Ph.D. in physics in 1928.<ref name=a>"Atkinson, Robert d’Escourt", by Wayne Orchiston, pp. 68-69 in ''The Biographical Dictionary of Astronomers'', eds. Thomas Hockey et al., Springer: New York, 2007, {{ISBN|978-0-387-31022-0}}, {{doi|10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7}}.</ref> After teaching physics at the Berlin Technische Hochscule for a year, Atkinson was appointed Assistant Professor of Physics at [[Rutgers University]].<ref name="AtkinsonPapers" /> He taught at [[Rutgers University]] in [[New Jersey]] from 1929 to 1937, when he became Chief Assistant at the [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]].<ref name=a /> During [[World War II]], Atkinson was called away from this position to do anti-magnetic mine work. In 1944, he was lent out to the Ballistic Research Laboratory at [[Aberdeen Proving Ground]] in Maryland, where he worked under famed astronomer [[Edwin Hubble]]. Atkinson stayed there for two years then returned to [[Royal Greenwich Observatory]]. A large amount of his remaining years at the Royal Observatory were spent overseeing the move of the entire Observatory to [[Herstmonceux Castle]] in Sussex. In 1964, Atkinson retired from the Royal Observatory and came to [[Indiana University]] as a visiting professor. He became an adjunct professor in 1973 and a professor [[emeritus]] in 1979 at [[Indiana University]]. Also involved in professional associations, Atkinson was a founder-member of the [[Royal Institute of Navigation]] and served as president of the [[British Astronomical Association]] for one year. Atkinson passed away in [[Bloomington, Indiana|Bloomington]] on October 28, 1982.<ref name="AtkinsonPapers" />

==Work==
In 1929, Atkinson collaborated with [[Fritz Houtermans]] to apply [[George Gamow|Gamow]]'s [[quantum tunnelling]] theory to the process of [[nuclear fusion]] in stars. They showed that fusing light nuclei could create energy in accordance with Einstein's formula of mass-energy equivalence, and that heavy nuclei could be built up by a successive series of fusions. Their models were similar to the later [[CNO cycle]]. This theory was not accepted at the time as it depended on the idea that stars were mostly [[hydrogen]]. Atkinson wrote about this theory again in the 1930s, predicting that the most luminous stars should have a short lifetime. He also proposed that the elements found in the Universe could be [[stellar nucleosynthesis|built up by fusion]] in stars, and that [[white dwarf star]]s did not need a nuclear source of energy in order to shine.<ref name=a /> After [[World War II]], he worked on astronomical instrumentation and positional astronomy.<ref name=a />

Atkinson's mechanical skills led to a commission to design an [[astronomical clock]] for [[York Minster]], the [[York Minster astronomical clock]].<ref>"Notes", ''The Observatory'', '''76''' (April 1956), pp. 79-80, {{bibcode|1956Obs....76...79.}}.</ref>

==Honors==
* Fellow of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]]<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1984QJRAS..25..100M/0000100.000.html|title=1984QJRAS..25..100M Page 100|journal=Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society|bibcode=1984QJRAS..25..100M |access-date=2017-02-01 |last1=Murray |first1=C. A. |date=1984 |volume=25 |page=100 }}</ref> and the [[Royal Institute of Navigation]].
* [[Eddington Medal]] of the [[Royal Astronomical Society]] for work on stellar fusion (1960)
* The [[asteroid]] [[1827 Atkinson]] is named after him.<ref name=a />

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.aip.org/history-programs/niels-bohr-library/oral-histories/4491 Oral History interview transcript for Robert d'Escourt Atkinson on 22 April 1971, American Institute of Physics, Niels Bohr Library and Archives]

===Obituaries===
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/QJRAS/0025//0000100.000.html QJRAS '''25''' (1984) 100–104]
* [http://adsabs.harvard.edu//full/seri/JBAA./0093//0000172.000.html JBAA '''93''' (1983) 172–173]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Atkinson, Robert Descourt}}
[[Category:20th-century British astronomers]]
[[Category:1898 births]]
[[Category:1982 deaths]]
[[Category:Fellows of the American Physical Society]]
[[Category:People educated at Manchester Grammar School]]

Dudley Ryder, 3rd Earl of Harrowby

2025-05-02T22:02:21Z

78.145.243.63: /* Life */

{{Short description|British peer and politician}}
{{EngvarB|date=June 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2017}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Earl of Harrowby
| honorific-suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC|JP|DL}}
| image = DFS Ryder 3rd Earl of Harrowby, Lock & Whitfield.jpg
| caption =
| imagesize =
| order1 = [[President of the Board of Trade]]
| term_start1 = 4 April 1878
| term_end1 = 21 April 1880
| monarch1 = [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Victoria]]
| primeminister1 = [[Benjamin Disraeli|The Earl of Beaconsfield]]
| predecessor1 = [[Charles Adderley, 1st Baron Norton|Sir Charles Adderley]]
| successor1 = [[Joseph Chamberlain]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1831|1|16}}
| birth_place = Brighton, England
| death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1900|3|26|1831|1|16}}
| death_place = [[Sandon Hall]], Staffordshire, England
| nationality = British
| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]
| alma_mater = [[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| spouse = {{marriage|Lady Mary Cecil|1861}}
| parents = [[Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby]] Lady Frances Stuart
}}
'''Dudley Francis Stuart Ryder, 3rd Earl of Harrowby''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|PC|JP|DL}} (16 January 1831{{snd}}26 March 1900), known as '''Viscount Sandon''' from 1847 to 1882, was a British peer and politician.

==Life==
He was the second son and eventual heir of [[Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby]], and Lady Frances Stuart, fourth daughter of [[John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute]].
He was born at [[Brighton]] on 16 January 1831.
He was educated at [[Harrow School|Harrow]] and the [[University of Oxford]], where he matriculated from [[Christ Church, Oxford|Christ Church]] on 31 May 1849, graduated B.A. in 1853, and proceeded M.A. in 1878.{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}

On leaving the university, Viscount Sandon, as he was styled during his father's lifetime, made a tour in the East with [[Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon]], visiting [[Syria]] and the [[Lebanon]] (see Carnavon's ''Recollections of the Druses of the Lebanon'', London, 1860, 8vo).
On his return to England, he did garrison duty as captain in the 2nd Staffordshire militia regiment, during the [[Crimean War]] and [[Indian mutiny]].{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}

==Political career==
[[File:The Earl of Harrowby Vanity Fair 1885-11-28.jpg|thumb|left|150px|The Earl of Harrowby caricatured by Ape ([[Carlo Pellegrini (caricaturist)|Carlo Pellegrini]]) in 1885.]]
Harrowby was Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Lichfield (UK Parliament constituency)|Lichfield]] from 1856 to 1859 and for [[Liverpool (UK Parliament constituency)|Liverpool]] from 1868 until he succeeded to the peerage in 1882.
He gained experience of affairs as private secretary to [[Henry Labouchere]] at the colonial office.{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}

He was a member of the select committees on the [[Hudson's Bay Company]] (1857) and the Euphrates Valley (1871–72), and continued throughout life to devote much time and attention to the study of imperial and colonial questions.{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}
He was [[Vice-President of the Committee on Education]] from 1874 to 1878, and [[President of the Board of Trade]] (with a seat in the cabinet) from 1878 to 1880 in [[Benjamin Disraeli]]'s second administration and was sworn of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]] in 1874.
Between 1885 and 1886, he served as [[Lord Privy Seal]] in [[Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury's]] first government.{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}

Apart from his career in national politics he was also Chairman of the [[Staffordshire]] county council and a [[Deputy Lieutenant]] and [[Justice of the Peace]] for that county.

He died at Sandon Hall, Staffordshire, on 26 March 1900.{{sfn|Rigg|1901}}

==Family==
Lord Harrowby married Lady Mary Cecil, daughter of [[Brownlow Cecil, 2nd Marquess of Exeter]], in 1861. The marriage was childless. Harrowby died in March 1900, aged 69, and was succeeded by his younger brother, [[Henry Ryder, 4th Earl of Harrowby|Henry]].
Lady Harrowby died in July 1917.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
* {{DNBSupp|wstitle=Ryder, Dudley Francis Stuart| last=Rigg|first=James McMullen }}

==External links==
* {{Hansard-contribs | viscount-sandon | the Earl of Harrowby }}
*{{Rayment-hc|external links=y|date=March 2012}}
*{{Rayment|external links=y|date=February 2012}}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
| title = Member of Parliament for [[Lichfield (UK Parliament constituency)|Lichfield]]
| years = 1856–[[1859 United Kingdom general election|1859]]
| with = [[Lord Alfred Paget]]
| before = [[Henry Cavendish, 3rd Baron Waterpark|The Lord Waterpark]] [[Lord Alfred Paget]]
| after = [[Lord Alfred Paget]] [[Augustus Anson|Hon. Augustus Anson]]
}}
{{succession box
| title = Member of Parliament for [[Liverpool (UK Parliament constituency)|Liverpool]]
| years = [[1868 United Kingdom general election|1868]]–[[1882 Liverpool by-election|1882]]
| with = [[Samuel Robert Graves]] 1868–1873
| with2 = [[William Rathbone VI|William Rathbone]] 1868–1880
| with3 = [[John Torr]] 1873–1880
| with4 = [[Edward Whitley (politician)|Edward Whitley]]1880–1882
| with5 = [[John Ramsay, 13th Earl of Dalhousie|John Ramsay]] 1880
| with6 = [[Lord Claud Hamilton (1843–1925)|Lord Claud Hamilton]] 1880
| before = [[Thomas Berry Horsfall]] [[Samuel Robert Graves]]
| after = [[Edward Whitley (politician)|Edward Whitley]] [[Lord Claud Hamilton (1843–1925)|Lord Claud Hamilton]] [[Samuel Smith (1836–1906)|Samuel Smith]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title = [[Vice-President of the Committee on Education]] | years = 1874–1878 | before = [[William Edward Forster]] | after = [[Lord George Hamilton]]}}
{{succession box|title=[[President of the Board of Trade]]|before=[[Charles Adderley, 1st Baron Norton|Sir Charles Adderley]]|after=[[Joseph Chamberlain]]|years=1878–1880}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lord Privy Seal]] | before=[[Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery|The Earl of Rosebery]] | after=[[William Ewart Gladstone]] | years=1885–1886}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{succession box | title=[[Earl of Harrowby]] | before=[[Dudley Ryder, 2nd Earl of Harrowby|Dudley Ryder]] | after=[[Henry Ryder, 4th Earl of Harrowby|Henry Ryder]] | years=1882–1900 }}
{{S-end}}

{{Presidents of the Board of Trade}}
{{First Salisbury Ministry}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Harrowby, Dudley Ryder, 3rd Earl of}}
[[Category:1831 births]]
[[Category:1900 deaths]]
[[Category:Lords Privy Seal]]
[[Category:People educated at Harrow School]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Earls of Harrowby]]
[[Category:English justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Liverpool]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1852–1857]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1857–1859]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1868–1874]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1874–1880]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885]]
[[Category:UK MPs who inherited peerages|Harrowby, E3]]
[[Category:Members of the London School Board]]
[[Category:Ryder family|Dudley]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Staffordshire]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Board of Trade]]