John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley

Who was John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley?

John Wodehouse, 2nd Earl of Kimberley, known as Lord Wodehouse from 1866 to 1902, was a British peer and landowner, who was the first member of the Labour Party in the House of Lords.

Wodehouse was born at the family home in Montague Square, Marylebone. His father John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley was a leading Liberal statesman in the government of William Ewart Gladstone and the family were noted landowners in Norfolk. Like his father he attended Eton College.

He matriculated at Trinity College, Cambridge in 1867. On going down from Cambridge he managed the family estates near Wymondham, becoming a specialist in agriculture. He was also active in the local Liberal Party, acting as party agent; on succeeding to the peerage in 1902 he took the Liberal whip. However, Kimberley was conscious of the increasing organisation of agricultural workers in Norfolk. Small farmers had formed the National Farmers Union in 1908, and the National Union of Agricultural Workers was growing.

Unlike many other farms, Kimberley paid over the wage rate demanded by the NUAW, which made him very popular in the union but at a competitive disadvantage.