{{short description|British statesman and Conservative politician}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] | name = The Viscount Cross | honorific_suffix = {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|GCB|GCSI|PC|FRS|DL}} | image = Portrait of Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross.jpg | caption = | image_size = 200px | order = [[Lord Privy Seal|Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal]] | term_start = 29 June 1895 | term_end = 12 November 1900 | prime_minister = [[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | predecessor = [[The Lord Tweedmouth]] | successor = [[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | order1 = [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] | term_start1 = 29 June 1895 | term_end1 = 4 July 1895 | prime_minister1 = [[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | predecessor1 = [[The Lord Tweedmouth]] | successor1 = [[Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford|The Lord James of Hereford]] | order3 = [[Secretary of State for India]] | term_start3 = 3 August 1886 | term_end3 = 11 August 1892 | prime_minister3 = [[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | predecessor3 = [[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|The Earl of Kimberley]] | successor3 = [[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|The Earl of Kimberley]] | order4 = [[Secretary of State for the Home Department]] | term_start5 = 21 February 1874 | term_end5 = 23 April 1880 | prime_minister5 = [[Benjamin Disraeli]] | predecessor5 = [[Robert Lowe]] | successor5 = [[Sir William Harcourt]] | term_start4 = 24 June 1885 | term_end4 = 1 February 1886 | prime_minister4 = [[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | predecessor4 = [[Sir William Harcourt]] | successor4 = [[Hugh Childers]] | office6 = Member of the [[House of Lords]]<br /> [[Lord Temporal]] | term_start6 = 19 August 1886 | term_end6 = 8 January 1914<br /> [[Hereditary peerage]] | predecessor6 = ''[[Viscount Cross|Peerage created]]'' | successor6 = [[Richard Assheton Cross, 2nd Viscount Cross|The 2nd Viscount Cross]] | office7 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Newton (UK Parliament constituency)|Newton]] | term_start7 = 18 December 1885 | term_end7 = 19 August 1886 | predecessor7 = ''Constituency created'' | successor7 = [[Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton|Thomas Legh]] | office8 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[South West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)|South West Lancashire]] | term_start8 = 7 December 1868 | term_end8 = 18 December 1885<br>Serving with [[Charles Turner (MP)|Charles Turner]] and [[John Ireland Blackburne (1817–1893)|John Ireland Blackburne]] | predecessor8 = ''Constituency created'' | successor8 = ''Constituency abolished'' | office9 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]<br>for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] | term_start9 = 24 April 1857 | term_end9 = 4 April 1862<br>Serving with [[Charles Grenfell (1790–1867)|Charles Grenfell]] | predecessor9 = [[Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet]] | successor9 = [[Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 5th Baronet|Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh]] | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1823|05|30}} | birth_place = Red Scar, [[Lancashire]] | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1914|01|08|1823|05|30}} | death_place = | party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] | alma_mater = [[University of Cambridge]] | spouse = Georgiana Lyon (d. 1907) }}
'''Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|GCB|GCSI|PC|FRS|DL}} (30 May 1823 – 8 January 1914), known before his elevation to the peerage as '''R. A. Cross''', was a British [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] politician. He was [[Home Secretary]] from 1874 to 1880, and from 1885 to 1886.
==Background and education== Cross was born in Red Scar, near [[Preston, Lancashire|Preston]], Lancashire, the fifth child and third son of William Cross [[Justice of the peace|JP]] (1771–1827), Deputy [[Prothonotary]] for the [[Court of Common Pleas]] at [[Lancaster, Lancashire|Lancaster]] and landed proprietor, and his wife Ellen, daughter of Edward Chaffers. He was educated at [[Rugby School]], matriculated at [[Trinity College, Cambridge]] in 1842 where he graduated B.A. in 1846, and was the President of the [[Cambridge Union]] in 1845. He was admitted to [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1844, and was [[called to the Bar]] at the [[Inner Temple]] in 1849, attaching himself to the [[Northern Circuit]].<ref>{{acad|id=CRS842RA|name=Cross, Richard Assheton}}</ref><ref name="ODNB">{{cite ODNB|id=32644|first=Paul|last=Smith|title=Cross, Richard Assheton, first Viscount Cross (1823–1914)}}</ref>
==Political career== [[File:Richard Assheton Cross Vanity Fair 16 May 1874.jpg|thumb|left|R. A. Cross caricatured by Ape ([[Carlo Pellegrini (caricaturist)|Carlo Pellegrini]]) in 1874.]] Cross entered Parliament as one of two representatives for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] in [[1857 United Kingdom general election|1857]], a seat he held until he stood down (to concentrate on business - see below) in [[1862 Preston by-election|1862]].<ref name="Debrett">{{cite book |title=Debrett's House of Commons |date=1886 |publisher=Dean |location=London |url=https://archive.org/details/debrettshouseo1886londuoft/page/n90/mode/1up}}</ref>
In [[1868 United Kingdom general election|1868]] Cross returned to Parliament for [[South West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)|South West Lancashire]], topping the poll and defeating [[Gladstone]], and continued to represent this constituency until the [[Redistribution of Seats Act 1885|seat was abolished]] in [[1885 United Kingdom general election|1885]].<ref name="Debrett"/> He then briefly represented [[Newton (UK Parliament constituency)|Newton]],<ref name="Debrett"/> until his elevation to the peerage in 1886.<ref>{{alox2|title=Cross, Richard Assheton, Viscount Cross}}</ref>
Cross was [[Home Secretary]] in [[Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield|Disraeli's]] second government (1874–1880), to which post he had been appointed without first holding junior office. He was again Home Secretary in [[Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury|Lord Salisbury's]] first government (1885–1886).
In 1886 Cross was raised to the peerage, as '''Viscount Cross''' of [[Broughton-in-Furness]] in the [[County Palatine of Lancaster]],<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=25618 |date=20 August 1886 |page=4080}}</ref>
He was moved over to the [[Secretary of State for India|India Office]] (1886–1892), where he oversaw the passage of the [[Indian Councils Act 1892]]. As India Secretary he had a reputation for reluctance to take responsibility, and for being somewhat afraid of his able deputy [[John Eldon Gorst]] who treated him with ill concealed contempt.<ref>Kerry 2018, pp.60-61</ref>
He was very briefly [[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] in Salisbury's third government (1895–1902) before being elevated to the [[sinecure]] post [[Lord Privy Seal]]. In 1898 he chaired the Joint Select Committee on Electrical Energy (Generating Stations and Supply), which recommended granting compulsory purchase powers for the building of [[power station]]s. He retired in 1900.
==Business interests== After the death of his father-in-law Thomas Lyon (the younger) in 1859, Cross was involved in the affairs of [[Parr's Bank]], of which Thomas Lyon the elder, uncle of the younger Thomas Lyon, was a founder.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref>{{cite book |last1=Burke |first1=Bernard |title=A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain and Ireland |date=1863 |publisher=Harrison |page=919 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ni4BAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA919 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Hewitt">{{cite book |last1=Hewitt |first1=Michael |title=A Most Remarkable Family |date=5 June 2014 |publisher=Author House |isbn=978-1-4969-7786-1 |page=171 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O_fIAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA171 |language=en}}</ref> He became a partner, and dropped out of Parliament for six years. He was one of the group who changed the bank into a [[joint stock]] company in 1865, of which he acted as deputy chairman. He became its chairman in 1870.<ref name="ODNB"/><ref name="Hewitt"/>
In 1884, Cross was elected to the Board of the [[Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway]],<ref>{{Dow-GC2 |pages=195, 351}}</ref> and he remained a Director of that company, and of its successor the [[Great Central Railway]] (GCR), until his death.<ref>{{cite book |last=Dow |first=George |authorlink=George Dow |title=Great Central, Volume Three: Fay Sets the Pace, 1900–1922 |year=1965 |publisher=[[Ian Allan Publishing|Ian Allan]] |location=Shepperton |isbn=0-7110-0263-0 |pages=229, 356}}</ref> During Board meetings, he would occasionally murmur "Where is the money to come from?"<ref>{{harvnb|Dow|1965|p=28}}</ref> In June 1909, when he was senior Director of the GCR, that railway named one of its [[GCR Classes 8D and 8E|class 8D]] express passenger locomotives ''The Rt. Hon. Viscount Cross G.C.B., G.C.S.I.'' in his honour.<ref>{{harvnb|Dow|1965|p=133}}</ref><ref>{{RCTS-LocosLNER|3A|page=87 }}</ref>
==Family==
Cross married Georgiana, daughter of Thomas Lyon of Appleton Hall, in 1852; they had three daughters and four sons.<ref name="ODNB"/> The eldest son, the Hon. [[William Cross (British politician)|William Cross]], represented [[Liverpool West Derby]] in Parliament. The second son, Thomas Richard Cross, died young in 1873;<ref>{{acad|id=CRS872TR|name=Cross, Thomas Richard}}</ref> Charles Francis Cross, the third son, was a cleric;<ref>{{acad|id=CRS879CF|name=Cross, Charles Francis}}</ref> and John Edward Cross, the fourth son, was a land agent.<ref>{{acad|id=CRS877JE|name=Cross, John Edward}}</ref>
Lady Cross died in January 1907. Lord Cross survived her by seven years and died in January 1914, aged 90. He was succeeded in the viscountcy by his grandson, [[Richard Assheton Cross, 2nd Viscount Cross|Richard Assheton Cross]], the only son of the Honourable William Cross.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cumbrianlives.org.uk/lives/the-hon-william-henry-cross-mp.html |title= The Hon. William Henry Cross MP (1856-1892) |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= Cumbrian Lives |publisher= |access-date= September 22, 2025 |quote=}}</ref>
==Arms== {{Infobox COA wide |image = [[File:Coronet of a British Viscount.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Cross Escutcheon.svg|centre|200px]] |escutcheon = Gules a Cross flory Argent charged with five Passion Nails Sable a Bordure of the second |supporters = On either side a Pegasus Argent holding in the mouth a Passion Nail Sable the dexter gorged with a Chain Or therefrom pendant a Cross flory Gules the sinister gorged with a Double Chain Or therefrom pendant a Mullet pierced Sable |crest = A Griffin's Head erased Argent gorged with a Double Chain Or therefrom pendant a Mullet pierced Sable in the beak a Passion Nail of the last |motto = Crede Cruci (Trust in the Cross) <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/cross1886.htm|title = Cross, Viscount (UK, 1886 - 2004)}}</ref>}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
==Sources== * Kerry, Simon. ''Lansdowne: The Last Great Whig'' (2018), {{ISBN|9781910787953}}, {{OCLC|1043014305}}, scholarly biography of the 5th Marquess. [https://www.wsj.com/articles/lansdowne-review-noble-aspirations-11545868772 Online review] (''[[The Wall Street Journal|Wall Street Journal]]''). * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050330063243/http://www.bopcris.ac.uk/bopall/ref4736.html BOPCRIS database entry on Cross Committee] (archived) * {{UK National Archives ID}}
== External links == {{Commons category|Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount Cross}} * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-richard-cross | the Viscount Cross }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = [[Robert Townley Parker]]<br />[[Sir George Strickland, 7th Baronet|Sir George Strickland, Bt]]}} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] | years = [[1857 United Kingdom general election|1857]]–[[1862 United Kingdom general election|1862]] | with = [[Charles Grenfell (1790–1867)|Charles Grenfell]]}} {{s-aft| after = [[Charles Grenfell (1790–1867)|Charles Grenfell]]<br />[[Sir Thomas Fermor-Hesketh, 5th Baronet|Thomas Fermor-Hesketh]]}} {{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for [[South West Lancashire (UK Parliament constituency)|South West Lancashire]] | years = [[1868 United Kingdom general election|1868]]–[[1885 United Kingdom general election|1885]] | with = [[Charles Turner (MP)|Charles Turner]] 1868 –1875 | with2 = [[John Ireland Blackburne (1817–1893)|John Ireland Blackburne]] 1875–1885}} {{s-non| reason = Constituency abolished}} {{s-new|constituency}} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for [[Newton (UK Parliament constituency)|Newton]] | years = [[1885 United Kingdom general election|1885]]–[[1886 Newton by-election|1886]]}} {{s-aft| after = [[Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton|Thomas Legh]]}}
{{s-off}} {{succession box | title=[[Home Secretary]] | before=[[Robert Lowe]] | after=[[Sir William Harcourt]] | years=1874–1880}} {{succession box | title=[[Home Secretary]] | before=[[Sir William Harcourt]] | after=[[Hugh Childers]] | years=1885–1886}} {{succession box | title=[[Secretary of State for India]] | before=[[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|The Earl of Kimberley]] | after=[[John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley|The Earl of Kimberley]] | years=1886–1892}} {{succession box | title=[[Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster]] | before=[[The Lord Tweedmouth]] | after=[[Henry James, 1st Baron James of Hereford|Sir Henry James]] | years=1895}} {{succession box | title=[[Lord Privy Seal]] | before=[[The Lord Tweedmouth]] | after=[[The Marquess of Salisbury]] | years=1895–1900}}
{{s-reg|uk}} {{s-new|creation}} {{s-ttl| title = [[Viscount Cross]] | years = 1886–1914}} {{s-aft| after = [[Richard Assheton Cross, 2nd Viscount Cross|Richard Assheton Cross]]}} {{s-end}}
{{HomeSecretary}} {{First Salisbury Ministry}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cross, Richard Assheton}} [[Category:1823 births|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:1914 deaths|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Politicians from Preston, Lancashire|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Secretaries of state for the Home Department]] [[Category:Secretaries of state for India]] [[Category:Chancellors of the Duchy of Lancaster|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Lords Privy Seal|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Presidents of the Cambridge Union|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India|Cross, Richard Assheton Cross, 1st Viscount]] [[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]] [[Category:UK MPs 1857–1859]] [[Category:UK MPs 1859–1865]] [[Category:UK MPs 1868–1874]] [[Category:UK MPs 1874–1880]] [[Category:UK MPs 1880–1885]] [[Category:UK MPs 1885–1886]] [[Category:UK MPs 1886–1892]] [[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages]] [[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Lancashire]] [[Category:British fellows of the Royal Society]] [[Category:Directors of the Great Central Railway]] [[Category:Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria]] [[Category:Hulme Trust]] [[Category:People educated at Rugby School]]