Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet

Also a writer and historian, Trevelyan wrote his novel The Competition Wallah in around 1864, and The Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay, his maternal uncle, in 1876.

Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet studied at Trinity College and Harrow School. The recorded working language is English. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Positions recorded include Chief Secretary for Ireland and Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Distinctions recorded are Order of Merit and Fellow of the British Academy.

• Honorific Prefix — The Right Honourable • Name — Sir George Trevelyan • Order1 — Chief Secretary for Ireland • Term Start1 — 9 May 1882 • Term End1 — 23 October 1884 • Monarch1 — Victoria • Prime Minister1 — William Ewart Gladstone • Predecessor1 — Lord Frederick Cavendish • Successor1 — Henry Campbell-Bannerman • Order2 — Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster • Term Start2 — 29 October 1884 • Term End2 — 9 June 1885 • Monarch2 — Victoria • Prime Minister2 — William Ewart Gladstone • Predecessor2 — John George Dodson • Successor2 — Henry Chaplin • Order3 — Secretary for Scotland • Term Start3 — 8 February 1886 • Term End3 — March 1886 • Monarch3 — Queen Victoria • Prime Minister3 — William Ewart Gladstone • Predecessor3 — The Duke of Richmond • Successor3 — The Earl of Dalhousie • Term Start4 — 18 August 1892 • Term End4 — 21 June 1895 • Monarch4 — Queen Victoria • Prime Minister4 — William Ewart Gladstone The Earl of Rosebery • Predecessor4 — The Marquess of Lothian • Successor4 — The Lord Balfour of Burleigh • Born — 20 July 1838 • Birthplace — Rothley Temple, Leicestershire • Place of death — Wallington, Northumberland • Party — Liberal • Education — Trinity College, Cambridge • Spouse — Caroline Philips • Illustration — Arms of Trevelyan: Gules, a demi-horse argent hoofed and maned or issuing out of water in base proper

Trevelyan was born in Rothley Temple, Leicestershire, the only son of Sir Charles Trevelyan, 1st Baronet, and Hannah, daughter of Zachary Macaulay and sister of the historian Lord Macaulay. He was educated at Harrow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was President of the Cambridge Union Society, and earned second place in the first class of the Classical Tripos in 1861. That same year he wrote his Horace at the University of Athens, a topical drama in verse, parts of which are said to have offended William Whewell and lost Trevelyan a fellowship. He was a Cambridge Apostle.

• Illustration — Sir George Trevelyan, 1893 In 1862 Trevelyan went out as a civil servant to India, where he spent several years. In 1865 he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Tynemouth and North Shields. At the general election of 1868 he was returned for the Hawick Burghs, which he continued to represent until 1886. When the first Gladstone ministry was formed in December 1868, Trevelyan was appointed Civil Lord of the Admiralty, but resigned in July 1870 on a point of conscience connected with the government Education Bill. He advocated a sweeping reform of the army, including the abolition of the purchase of commissions, and both in and out of parliament he was the foremost supporter for many years of the extension of the county franchise. In the session of 1874 he brought forward his Household Franchise (Counties) Bill, which was lost on the second reading – it was not till ten years later that the agricultural labourer was enfranchised. Among other causes which he warmly supported were women's suffrage, a thorough reform of metropolitan local government, and the drastic reform or abolition of the House of Lords. He was also in favour of the direct veto and other temperance legislation. In 1880 Trevelyan was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty under Gladstone. He held this office until May 1882, when, after the assassination of Lord Frederick Cavendish, he became Chief Secretary for Ireland and sworn of the Privy Council. From November 1884 to June 1885 he was Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster with a seat in the cabinet. In February 1886 he became Secretary for Scotland and vice-president of the Scottish Education Department in Gladstone's third administration, but resigned in March over Irish Home Rule. The same year he succeeded his father in the baronetcy. At the general election of 1886 Trevelyan lost his seat for Hawick. As a representative of the Liberal Unionist Party he took part in the Round Table Conference, and, being satisfied with the changes made by Gladstone in his Home Rule scheme, he formally rejoined the Liberal Party. In August 1887 he re-entered the House of Commons as member for Glasgow Bridgeton. From 1892 to 1895 he was again Secretary for Scotland and vice-president of the Scottish Education Department. He resigned his seat in parliament in early 1897 and retired into private life. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1899. In 1911 he was appointed a member of the Order of Merit.

Trevelyan married Caroline, daughter of Robert Needham Philips, MP for Bury, in 1869. Their eldest son, Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet, also became a Liberal, and subsequently Labour, politician. Their second son R. C. Trevelyan was a poet and translator. The historian G. M. Trevelyan was their third son. Trevelyan died in August 1928, aged 90. He left unsettled property valued at £556,993 (gross) and £397,492 (net).

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Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet was recorded at birth as George Otto Trevelyan. The authorities additionally record the headings G. Trevelyan, Sir George Otto Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet and Sir George Otto Trevelyan. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Charles Edward Trevelyan, 1st Baronet and Hannah More Macaulay. He married Caroline Philips. 3 children are recorded: R. Trevelyan and Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet.

Recorded positions include Chief Secretary for Ireland, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Secretary of State for Scotland, Member of the Privy Council of Ireland and Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom. He belonged to American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He worked at London.

Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet is recorded as historian, politician and writer.