Francis Richard John Sandford, 1st Baron Sandford, (14 May 1824 – 31 December 1893), known as Sir Francis Sandford between 1863 and 1891, was a British civil servant. He was Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Committee of Council on Education between 1870 and 1884, in which role he was instrumental in implementing the Elementary Education Act of 1870.

Background and education

The member of an old

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

family, Sandford was the son of Sir Daniel Sandford by Cecilia Catherine Charnock, daughter of John Charnock. He was the grandson of the Right Reverend Daniel Sandford,

Bishop of Edinburgh The Bishop of Edinburgh, or sometimes the Lord Bishop of Edinburgh is the ordinary of the Scottish Episcopal Diocese of Edinburgh. Prior to the Reformation, Edinburgh was part of the Diocese of St Andrews, under the Archbishop of St Andrews ...

, and the brother of Sir Herbert Sandford, Executive Commissioner to the Melbourne Exhibition of 1880, and the Right Reverend Daniel Sandford, Bishop of Tasmania.thepeerage.com Francis Sandford, 1st and last Baron Sandford
/ref> He was educated at the Glasgow High School, the Grange School at Sunderland, the

University of Glasgow , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and as a

Snell exhibitioner The Snell Exhibition is an annual scholarship awarded to students of the University of Glasgow to allow them to undertake postgraduate study at Balliol College, Oxford. The award was founded by the bequest of Sir John Snell in a will made in 1677 ...

at Balliol College, Oxford, where he obtained a first class in '' Literae Humaniores''.

Career

Sandford entered the Education office in 1848, where he was to remain except for short interludes until 1884. In 1862 he was organising secretary for the

International Exhibition A world's fair, also known as a universal exhibition or an expo, is a large international exhibition designed to showcase the achievements of nations. These exhibitions vary in character and are held in different parts of the world at a specif ...

of that year and from 1868 to 1870 he was Assistant Under-Secretary at the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of c ...

. In 1870 he was made Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Committee of Council on Education. He played an important role in the implementation of the Elementary Education Act of 1870 introduced by

William Edward Forster William Edward Forster, PC, FRS (11 July 18185 April 1886) was an English industrialist, philanthropist and Liberal Party statesman. His supposed advocacy of the Irish Constabulary's use of lethal force against the National Land League ea ...

. Sandford combined this role with that of secretary to the Scottish Education department and to the science and art department, offices which were later split between separate individuals. According to the '' Dictionary of National Biography'' the "...work he performed in these capacities was appreciated by statesmen of all political parties". In 1884 Sandford was made a charity commissioner under the London Parochial Charities Act and in 1885 he was vice-chairman of the commissioners under the Redistribution of Seats Act. From 1885 to 1887 he was Under-Secretary for Scotland. He was knighted in 1863, made a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

(CB) in 1871 and a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1879 and sworn of the Privy Council in 1885. In 1891 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Sandford, of Sandford in the County of

Salop Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to ...

Personal life

Lord Sandford married Margaret Findlay, daughter of Robert Findlay, of Botwich Castle,

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire ( gd, Siorrachd Dhùn Breatann) or the County of Dumbarton is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbartonshire borders Pe ...

, in 1849. They had no children. He died in December 1893, aged 69, when the barony became extinct. He was buried in the churchyard at his ancestral parish of

Prees Prees () is a village and civil parish in north Shropshire, near the border between England and Wales. Its name is Celtic and means "brushwood". Prees civil parish The civil parish includes many other villages and hamlets as well as the namesa ...

. Lady Sandford died in April 1905.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandford, Francis Sandford, 1st Baron 1824 births 1893 deaths People educated at the High School of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Glasgow Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Presidents of the Oxford Union Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria