Constituency : Great Grimsby 1826-31, Wareham 1831-2, Halifax 1832-65, Ripon 1865-6
Sir Charles was the son of a baronet, connected to the Rockingham Whigs but never an MP himself. He was educated at Eton and Oxford and entered Parliament early for the pocket borough of Great Grimsby due to his father's connections. He supported catholic emancipation and repeal of the Test Acts. In 1829 he married the daughter of Earl Grey and became his private secretary when Grey became Prime Minister in 1830. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the Reform Bill and changed seats because it proposed to take away one of Great Grimsby's two seats and was thus unpopular there. He contested Halifax under the new franchise in 1832 and won. He then became Chief Whip in 1832 giving him a useful insight into party management before Melbourne demoted him to First Secretary of the Admiralty in 1835. He gained some kudos in 1839 with a successful defence of the naval estimates but then resigned his post as a gesture of solidarity with his brother-in-law Lord Howick who left the Cabinet after a quarrel with Russell. In opposition he supported Peel's free trade budgets and opposed the ten hour day.
Charles was Russell's second choice for Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1846 after Francis Baring declined. His was not an unhappy tenure for he attracted much of the opprobrium for the government's failure to ameliorate the Irish Famine. The Peel administration had initiated a system of importing corn and public works but Charles rejected both as they offended his laissez-faire principles. The corn imports were disrupting trade and the public works were relieving the Irish landlords of responsibilities that they should shoulder. Charles's own solution was to force the landlords to feed the destitute from ruthlessly collected local rates and encourage the sale of encumbered land but it didn't work. In later years Charles complained that it was "entirely thrown on the Government officers... to find the means of administering food to hundreds of thousands , unassisted by any Irish residents, high or low". He was successful in abolishing the navigation laws but always had a struggle to get his budgets through the House without modification particularly with Gladstone as a critic.
Charles was Whig through and through but had a good political appreciation and realised that the Whigs had to find allies to stay in government. Throughout his tenure as Chancellor he frankly corresponded with Peel on a range of matters until the latter's death and advised Russell to offer office to Peelites on a number of occasions. He was a big player in the discussions that led to the Aberdeen coalition and did more than Russell to ensure that the Whigs were well represented in it. He became President of the Board of Control, a post where he could make use of his knowledge of Indian affairs. He is remembered for "Wood's Despatch " in 1854 which instructed the setting up of a national education system for India. In 1855 he was moved to First Lord of the Admiralty to replace Sir James Graham where he remained until Palmerston's fall in 1858. He leaned towards pacifism and non-intervention in foreign affairs being particularly anxious to avoid provoking Russsia into an attack on India.
After the 1857 election Charles pressed Palmerston to make an announcement on parliamentary reform. He concurred but was angry at Charles' suggestion that the new Liberal majority might turn on him if he delayed or diluted Reform too much.
When Palmerston returned in 1859 he made Charles Secretary of State for India. He renewed the East India Company's Charter and withstood a fierce onslaught from Lancashire's merchants looking to exploit India for cotton as a result of the American Civil War. He also successfully urged caution on the Cabinet over Schleswig-Holstein. As a High Churchman he disliked Palmerston's Low Church appointments.
In 1865 Charles swapped Halifax for the easier seat of Ripon When Palmerston died just after the election he famously said "Our quiet days are over : no more peace for us " at the funeral anticipating Gladstone as leader of the party. When he injured himself falling from a horse in November he used it as an excuse to resign from Russell's Cabinet in February 1866. A few days later he was created 1st Viscount Halifax and resigned his seat. He did not join Lowe and the Adullamites believing that they were strengthening the Radicals at the expense of the Whigs. He initially declined office from Gladstone feeling himself out of step with popular liberalism but by 1870 he was mollified and accepted the office of Lord Privy Seal until the end of the government.
Charles was a gregarious and amiable man but a notoriously poor speaker due to a speech defect. He was often lampooned for his unintelligible speeches in the House but he gradually earned respect for his vast knowledge of public affairs. Behind the scenes he was a skilled operator known as the Spider for his unceasing efforts at maintaining the unity of the liberal party. He was the main peacemaker throughout the 1850s particularly when Palmerston and Russell were quarrelling. He put party before personal ambition being unafraid to criticise his leaders for their conduct at the risk of damaging his personal prospects.
He died in 1885 aged 84.
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