xl 



with Home Rule in Ireland, and became the chairman of the Loyal 

 and Patriotic Union. 



Although so little prominent in politics, he never shrank from 

 coming forward whenever his influence, his counsel, or his wealth 

 could be used to advance the interests of the community. In the 

 extension of education, among all classes, and in all aspects, he was, 

 perhaps, best able, as well as most willing, to take the lead. He was 

 Chancellor of the University of London, from 1834 to 1856 ; and, on 

 the death of the Prince Consort, in 1861, was elected without opposi- 

 tion Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. This office he filled 

 until his death. That University, in 1861, was beginning to enlarge 

 its bounds and widen the range of its teaching, and he not only 

 watched its progress with never-failing sympathy, but contributed to 

 it very materially by his noble foundation of the Cavendish Laboratory, 

 over which Clerk-Maxwell presided. As Chancellor he had some- 

 times difficult questions to solve, sometimes personal matters requiring 

 care and tact to decide; yet the interests of the University never 

 suffered in his hands, and his decisions were invariably accepted by all 

 parties. He looked, however, far beyond the limited class who can 

 graduate at Cambridge, and when the movement was started for 

 carrying University teaching into the large towns, he cordially sup- 

 ported it. 



He was President at one time of the Owens College, at Manchester, 

 and a generous benefactor both of it and of the Yorkshire College, at 

 Leeds. After the foundation of the Victoria University, he became 

 its first Chancellor. The importance of science in relation to the 

 industrial progress of the nation he highly appreciated, and the 

 report of the Royal Commission on Technical and Scientific Instruc- 

 tion, over which he ably presided, has contributed in no small degree 

 to the awakening of public attention to that subject. On the forma- 

 tion of the Iron and Steel Institute, he became its first President. 

 To agriculture he was always devoted. He was one of the founders 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society, and in 1869 its President ; and 

 with his accustomed generosity he contributed to the foundation of 

 the Agricultural College at Cirencester. Quite recently, at the 

 instance of the Minister for Agriculture, he moved the University of 

 Cambridge to take steps for promoting the study of scientific agri- 

 culture. 



He managed his own estates, and they could hardly have been 

 better managed, for he always thought of his tenants' interests. 

 When, some thirty years ago, agricultural rents were everywhere 

 rising, he made no changes in his agreements, and the result was 

 that when the depression came he lost neither tenants nor rents. 

 But he was never content merely to leave things as he found them. 

 For him it was a duty to the country to develop its resources and 



