Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea
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The Right Honourable The Lord Herbert of Lea PC |
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Sidney Herbert, by Sir Francis Grant
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| Secretary of State for the Colonies | |
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In office 8 February 1855 – 23 February 1855 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by | Sir George Grey, Bt |
| Succeeded by | Lord John Russell |
| Secretary of State for War | |
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In office 18 June 1859 – 22 July 1861 |
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| Monarch | Victoria |
| Prime Minister | The Viscount Palmerston |
| Preceded by | Jonathan Peel |
| Succeeded by | Sir George Cornewall Lewis, Bt |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 16 September 1810 |
| Died | 2 August 1861 (aged 50) |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party |
Conservative Liberal |
| Spouse(s) |
Elizabeth à Court-Repington (1822–1911) |
| Alma mater | Oriel College, Oxford |
Sidney Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Lea PC (16 September 1810 – 2 August 1861) was an English statesman and a close ally and confidant of Florence Nightingale.
He was the younger son of George Herbert, 11th Earl of Pembroke; his mother being the Russian noblewoman Countess Catherine Woronzow (or Vorontsov), daughter of the Russian ambassador to St James's, Semyon Romanovich Vorontsov. The Woronzow Road in St John's Wood, London, is named after the family. Educated at Harrow and Oriel College, Oxford, he made a reputation at the Oxford Union as a speaker.
Herbert entered the House of Commons as Conservative member of Parliament for a division of Wiltshire in 1832. Under Peel he held minor offices, and in 1845 was included in the cabinet as Secretary at War, and again held this office from 1852 to 1855, being responsible for the War Office during the Crimean War, and again in 1859.
Herbert was a member of the Canterbury Association from 20 March 1848.
Herbert ran the Pembroke family estates, centered at Wilton House, Wiltshire, for most of his adult life. His elder half-brother, Robert Herbert, 12th Earl of Pembroke (1791–1862), had chosen to live in exile in Paris after a disastrous marriage in 1814 (annulled 1818) to a Sicilian princess, Ottavia Spinelli (1779–1857), widow of Prince Ercole Branciforte di Butera, and daughter of the Duke of Laurino, and a subsequent liaison with Alexina Gallot, which resulted in four illegitimate children.
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