Henry Gerard Sturt, 1st Baron Alington (16 May 1825 – 17 February 1904), was a

British peer The peerages in the United Kingdom are a legal system comprising both hereditary and lifetime titles, composed of various noble ranks, and forming a constituent part of the British honours system. The term '' peerage'' can be used both coll ...

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician, and notorious slum landlord in the East End of London.

Early life

He was the son of Henry Sturt, a landowner and politician from

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of , ...

. He matriculated at Christ Church, Oxford in 1843.

Political career

He was elected to Parliament in 1847 for Dorchester, and re-elected in 1852. In 1856, one of the Conservative MPs for the county of Dorset died. Sturt resigned his Dorchester seat and was elected to the vacant Dorset seat in a by-election. He was re-elected in 1857, 1859, 1865, 1868, and 1874. On 15 January 1876, he was created

Baron Alington Baron Alington was a title that was created three times in British history. The first creation came in the Peerage of Ireland on 28 July 1642 when William Alington was made Baron Alington, of Killard in the County of Cork. His second son, the th ...

, of

Crichel Crichel is a civil parish in East Dorset, England. It was formed on 1 April 2015 following the merger of Long Crichel and Moor Crichel Moor Crichel () is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Crichel, in East Dorset, England ...

, and thereafter sat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

as a Conservative peer.

Marriages and children

Sturt was twice married. On 10 September 1853, he wed his first cousin, Lady Augusta Bingham, daughter of George Bingham, 3rd Earl of Lucan and Lady Anne Brudenell. They had three children: * Humphrey Napier Sturt, 2nd Baron Alington (1859–1919) (died of wounds). * Winifred Selina Sturt (1868–1914). * Mildred Cecilia Harriet Sturt (1869–1942), who married three times: to

Henry Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea Henry Arthur Cadogan, Viscount Chelsea, (born Henry Arthur Cadogan; 13 June 1868 – 2 July 1908) was a British Army officer, civil servant and politician. This Viscount Chelsea (the title is a courtesy title) was a Conservative Member of the H ...

, in 1892; after his death, to Admiral Sir Hedworth Lambton in 1910; and after his death, to Charles William Augustus Montagu on 4 December 1930. On 10 February 1892, Sturt wed Evelyn Henrietta Leigh.

East End landlord

Amongst other holdings, various branches of the family had owned land in London's East End for centuries and "Lord Alington, was still in possession of all but a small portion of the combined Pitfield estates in Hoxton when these were submitted to public auction in 1917". Lord Alington was one of the private landlords specifically named in relation to the terrible conditions in the East End in the London Poverty Maps compiled by Charles Booth in the 1890s. "Some private landlords were also criticised. Infant mortality in Shoreditch, one investigator recorded, was 22 per 1000, much higher than the London average. Quoting an anonymous interviewee, he drew attention to the 'disgraceful meanness' of Lord Alington, who owned the whole parish and 'drew £20,000 from the neighbourhood'."

Notes

External links

* * 1825 births 1904 deaths Barons Alington (third creation) Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Sturt, Henry Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1820s-stub