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Charles Hardinge Hardinge of Penshurst

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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"CHARLES HARDINGE HARDINGE OF PENSHURST, 1ST Baron (1858-), British diplomat, was born in London June 20 1858, second son of the 2nd Viscount Hardinge. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 1880 entered the diplomatic service. He became secretary of legation at Teheran in 1896, and in 1898 went to St. Petersburg as secretary of embassy. In 1903 he returned to England and became Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, becoming later (1906-10) Permanent Under-Secretary. In the latter capacity he accompanied King Edward VII. on his foreign visits. He was created K.C.M.G. in 1904 and G.C.M.G. in 1905. From 1904 to 1906 Sir Charles Hardinge was ambassador to Russia, and in 1910 was appointed Viceroy of India and raised to the peerage. On Dec. 22 1912, a bomb was thrown at him as he entered the city of Delhi in state, seriously wounding him, besides killing an attendant. It fell to Lord Hardinge's lot to welcome King George V. and Queen Mary on their historic visit to India in the winter of 1911-2. Lord Hardinge returned to England in 1916 and was reappointed to the post of Permanent Under-Secretary of Foreign Affairs, retiring in 1918. In Nov. 1920 he succeeded Lord Derby as ambassador in Paris.

Lord Hardinge married in 1890 the Hon. Winifred Selina Sturt, daughter of the 1st Baron Alington. Lady Hardinge did much during her husband's period as Viceroy of India to further the medical training of Indian women. She escaped unhurt when her husband was wounded at Delhi, but the resulting shock to her nerves did much to hasten her death in London July 1 i 1914.