Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst

Hardinge was the second son of Charles Hardinge, 2nd Viscount Hardinge, and the grandson of Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, a former Governor-General of India. He was educated at Harrow School,[1] and at Trinity College, Cambridge.[2]

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  Trinity College, Cambridge
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  Garter-encircled shield of arms of Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, KG, as displayed on his Order of the Garter stall plate in St. George's Chapel.

1912 assassination attempt on Lord Hardinge.

Hardinge entered the diplomatic services in 1880. He was appointed the first secretary at Tehran in 1896, and the first secretary at Saint Petersburg in 1898, when he was promoted over the heads of seventeen of his seniors. After a brief tenure as Assistant Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, he became Ambassador to Russia, in 1904. In 1906, he was promoted to the position of Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, where, despite his own conservatism, worked closely with Liberal Foreign Secretary Sir Edward Grey. In 1907, he declined the post of Ambassador to the United States. In 1910, Hardinge was raised to the peerage as Baron Hardinge of Penshurst, in the County of Kent,[3] and appointed by the Asquith government as Viceroy of India.

Hardinge and his wife Winifred during his term as Viceroy of India, ca. 1910–1916.

His tenure was a memorable one, and included the visit of King George V, and the Delhi Durbar of 1911, as well as the move of the capital from Calcutta to New Delhi, in 1911. Although Hardinge was the target of assassination attempts by Indian nationalists, his tenure included an improvement of relations between the British administration and the nationalists, as a consequence of the implementation of the Morley-Minto reforms of 1909; and of Hardinge's own admiration for Mohandas Gandhi and criticism of the South African government's anti-Indian immigration policies.. The Hardinge Railway bridge in Bangladesh was constructed and inaugurated(1915) in his tenure.[4] It continues to serve a crucial a role in the country's railway network even today.

Hardinge's efforts paid off in 1914 during the First World War. Due to improved colonial relationships, Britain was able to deploy nearly all of the British troops in India as well as many native Indian troops to areas outside of India. In particular the British Indian Army was able to play a significant role in the Mesopotamian campaign.[5]

In 1916, Hardinge returned to his former post in England as Permanent Under-Secretary at the Foreign Office, serving with Arthur Balfour. In 1920 he became ambassador to France before his retirement in 1922.

Hardinge family members in ox-cart in Hyderabad State (1911, attending the coronation of Asaf Jah VII)

He married his first cousin Winifred Selina Sturt on 17 April 1890, over the objections of her family, due to the couple's consanguinity[6] and Hardinge's financial status.[7] She was the 2nd daughter of Henry Gerard Sturt, 1st Baron Alington, by his first wife Lady Augusta Bingham, 1st daughter of George Charles Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan. The couple had a daughter, Diamond Hardinge (1900-1927), and two sons, Edward and Alexander (1894–1960), who succeeded him as Baron Hardinge of Penshurst.

The 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst is commemorated at St John the Baptist, Penshurst. His eldest son, The Hon. Edward Hardinge, died 18 December 1914, aged 22, from wounds while serving as a Lieutenant with the 15th (The King's) Hussars in France. He won a Distinguished Service Order and was mentioned in dispatches. He was also the godson of Alexandra of Denmark.[8] Diamond Hardinge was a bridesmaid at the wedding of Prince Albert, Duke of York, and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon on 3 May 1923.[9]

Hardinge had the unusual distinction of being a non-royal recipient of six British knighthoods.

• June 1858 – July 1895: The Honourable Charles Hardinge
• July 1895 – April 1903: The Honourable Charles Hardinge CB[10]
• April 1903 – 7 March 1904: The Honourable Charles Hardinge CB CVO[11]
• 7–26 March 1904: The Right Honourable Charles Hardinge CB CVO[12]
• 26 March – 28 April 1904: The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge KCMG CB CVO[13]
• 28 April – 10 May 1904: His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge KCMG CB CVO[14]
• 10 May 1904 – 2 January 1905: His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge KCMG KCVO CB[15]
• 2 January – 9 November 1905: His Excellency The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge GCMG KCVO CB[16]
• 9 November 1905 – June 1906: The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge GCMG GCVO CB
• June 1906 – 23 June 1910: The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge GCMG GCVO CB ISO[17]
• 23 June – 2 August 1910: The Right Honourable Sir Charles Hardinge GCB GCMG GCVO ISO[18]
• 2 August – 23 November 1910: The Right Honourable The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst GCB GCMG GCVO ISO PC[3]
• 23 November 1910 – 24 March 1916: His Excellency The Right Honourable The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO ISO PC Viceroy & Governor-General of India
• 24 March – 4 April 1916: His Excellency The Right Honourable The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst KG GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO ISO PC Viceroy & Governor-General of India[19]
• 4 April 1916 – 27 November 1920: The Right Honourable The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst KG GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO ISO PC
• 27 November 1920 – 1 February 1923: His Excellency The Right Honourable the Lord Hardinge of Penshurst KG GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO ISO PC HM Ambassador Extraordinary & Plenipotentiary to the French Republic[20]
• 1 February 1923 – 2 August 1944: The Right Honourable The Lord Hardinge of Penshurst KG GCB GCSI GCMG GCIE GCVO ISO PC

• Briton C. Busch (1980). Hardinge of Penshurst: a study of the old diplomacy. Hamden, Conn.: Conference on British Studies and Indiana University at South Bend by Archon Books.
• Lord Hardinge of Penshurst (1947). The Reminiscences of Lord Hardinge of Penshurst. London.
• Steiner, Zara S. (1969). The Foreign Office and Foreign Policy 1898–1914. Cambridge.

• Manhar Kuvarbā, Maharani of Panna (1916). Lady Hardinge of Penshurst, C.I., vice-reine of India: A Tribute to her Memory.
• Hardinge Bridge

• Hardinge of Penshurst, Baron (UK, 1910), genealogy
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Hardinge of Penshurst
• Newspaper clippings about Charles Hardinge, 1st Baron Hardinge of Penshurst in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW