3-082-054 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Lord Monkswell, new Under-Secretary for War, 1895. Photo by Russell and Sons. 'Lord Monkswell...is best known to the public for his zeal as member for Haggerston in the London County Council. A more ardent municipal reformer does not live. The first Baron Monkswell [ie the subject's father, 1817-1886], one recalls, was the hero of a great political sensation more than twenty years ago. As Sir Robert Collier, he was a Justice of the Common Pleas, and was made by Mr. Gladstone a Judge of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council. The appointment was vehemently assailed, not on the ground of any personal demerits, but because Mr. Gladstone was held to have violated the strict traditions of official promotion. The storm has long been forgotten, but it was gravely asserted at the time that the appointment of Sir Robert Collier would be regarded by posterity as an indelible proof of Mr. Gladstone's lack of moral sense. Lord Monkswell has been Lord-in-Waiting to the Queen for two years; and this, combined with his new duties at the War Office and his labours on the London County Council, establishes his claim to versatility'. From "Illustrated London News", 1895.