Background
Born in Beckenham, Kent, Auckland was the second son of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, and Eleanor, daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet.
governor-general politician secretary
Born in Beckenham, Kent, Auckland was the second son of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, and Eleanor, daughter of Sir Gilbert Elliot, 3rd Baronet.
He was educated at Eton, and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Lincoln"s Inn, in 1809.
He was thrice First Lord of the Admiralty and also served as Governor-General of India between 1836 and 1842. The latter year he succeeded his father in the barony and took his seat in the House of Lords, supporting the reform party. In 1830 he became President of the Board of Trade and Master of the Mint under Lord Grey.
He was First Lord of the Admiralty under Grey and then Lord Melbourne in 1834 and again under Melbourne in 1835.
He gave a commission to William Hobson to sail for the East Indies, which Hobson ultimately rewarded in the naming of his new town and future New Zealand capital city of Auckland in 1840. Mount Eden in Auckland, the town of Eden, New South Wales and Auckland County, New South Wales were also named after him.
In 1836 Lord Auckland was appointed of Governor-General of India. As a legislator he dedicated himself especially to the improvement of native schools and the expansion of the commercial industry of India.
But complications in Afghanistan interrupted this work in 1838.
Lord Auckland decided on war, and on 1 October 1838 in Simla published the Simla Manifesto dethroning Dost Mahommed Khan. After successful early operations he was created Baron Eden, of Norwood in the County of Surrey, and Earl of Auckland. However the Afghan campaign ultimately ended in disaster (see Dost Mohammad and the British in Afghanistan for details of the first Anglo-Afghan war).
He handed over the governor-generalship to Lord Ellenborough and returned to England the following year.
In 1846 he again became First Lord of the Admiralty, this time under Lord John Russell. He held this office until his death three years later.
4th United Kingdom Parliament. 5th United Kingdom Parliament.