Armine Wodehouse

Who was Armine Wodehouse?

Armine Wodehouse CB, was a British civil servant and Liberal politician.

Wodehouse was a younger son of Foreign Secretary John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley, and his wife Lady Florence, daughter of Richard FitzGibbon, 3rd Earl of Clare. He became private secretary to his father, then Secretary of State for India, at the age of 20, and later held other secretaryships, notably as private secretary to the Foreign Secretary Lord Rosebery from 1892 to 1894. He was appointed a CB for his services in the India and Foreign Offices. In October 1900 he was returned to Parliament for Saffron Walden. Considered one of the more promising young Liberals in the House of Commons, he only held the seat until his early death in May the following year.

Wodehouse married Eleanor Mary Caroline, daughter of the author Matthew Arnold, in 1889. They had one son. Wodehouse died in May 1901, aged only 40. His widow later married William Mansfield, 1st Viscount Sandhurst. She died in December 1934.