Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth

Plymouth was born at John Street, Berkeley Square, London,{{cite book|title=The Complete Peerage, Volume XII, Part II|year=1959|publisher=St Catherine's Press|page=802}} the son of the Hon. Robert Windsor-Clive and Lady Mary Selina Louisa Bridgeman, daughter of George Bridgeman, 2nd Earl of Bradford. His paternal grandparents were the Hon. Robert Clive and Harriett, 13th Baroness Windsor, daughter of Other Windsor, 5th Earl of Plymouth. In 1869 he succeeded his grandmother in the barony of Windsor.{{cite news|title=Death of Lord Plymouth: artistic taste and public service|work=The Times|date=8 March 1923 |page=12}} He was educated at Eton College and admitted to St John's College, Cambridge, in 1875. He graduated with a B.A. in 1878, a M.A. in 1891, and was awarded an honorary LL.D by the university in 1900.{{acad|id=CLV875RG|name=Windsor-Clive, Robert George}}

As Lord Windsor he commissioned Bodley and Garner to build a new country house at his estate in Hewell Grange near Tardebigge, Worcestershire, which was completed in 1884–1891. The estate had been a seat of his grandmother's Windsor family since the 16th century. There are several ruins of earlier houses on the estate, and a large number of listed buildings, structures and statues.{{cite web|author=Good Stuff IT Services |url=http://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/search?q=Hewell+Grange |title=Search: +Hewell +Grange |publisher=British Listed Buildings |access-date=2012-04-18}}

The Windsor-Clives also lived at St Fagans Castle near Cardiff, mainly during the summer months.[http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans/buildings/castle/ National Museum of Wales]. Accessed 26 March 2016 The sixteenth-century house is now part of the National Museum of Wales, to which it was donated following the death of the 2nd Earl, and is furnished and decorated as it would have been during their residence.

As Lord Windsor he served under Lord Salisbury as Paymaster General between 1890 and 1892 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1891.{{London Gazette |issue=26139 |date=27 February 1891 |page=1096 }} Under Arthur Balfour he was First Commissioner of Works between 11 August 1902 and the Liberal election in 1905,{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Mr Balfour´s Ministry - full list of appointments |date=9 August 1902 |page=5 |issue=36842}} during which period he was responsible for the transformation of The Mall into a processional carriageway and passed the plans for the Queen Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace.{{cite news|title=Death of the Earl of Plymouth - Vacancy in the Ludlow Division.|work=Shrewsbury Chronicle|date=9 March 1923|page=8}} His succeeding son had to vacate his parliamentary seat for Ludlow.

In 1905 the earldom of Plymouth held by his great-grandfather (which had become extinct in 1843) was revived when he was created Viscount Windsor, of St Fagans in the County of Glamorgan, and Earl of Plymouth, in the County of Devon.{{London Gazette |issue=27865 |date=19 December 1905 |page=9084 }}

Apart from his career in national politics he was Mayor of Cardiff from 1895 to 1896{{cite web |title=Cardiff Council Minutes: 1895–6 Pages 219–238 Cardiff Records: Volume 5. Originally published by Cardiff Records Committee, Cardiff, 1905. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cardiff-records/vol5/pp219-238 |website=British History Online}} in which role he hosted a royal visit from the Prince and Princess of Wales and their daughters, Princesses Victoria and Maud.{{cite web |last1=Matthews |first1=John Hobson |title=Cardiff Council Minutes: 1896–7 Pages 238–261 Cardiff Records: Volume 5. Originally published by Cardiff Records Committee, Cardiff, 1905. |url=https://www.british-history.ac.uk/cardiff-records/vol5/pp238-261 |website=British History Online |access-date=12 August 2020}} He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1905 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1918, as well as an Officer of the French Legion of Honour and was at one time Chairman of the Union of Conservative Associations.

Lord Plymouth was also Lord Lieutenant of Glamorganshire from 1890 to his death, and High Steward of Cambridge University from 1919.

Lord Plymouth served in the Worcestershire Yeomanry, being commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in 1878, and promoted Lieutenant (1880) and Major (1885), and was its Lieutenant-Colonel commanding from 1893 to 1906.

He was also Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Glamorganshire Artillery Volunteers from 1890, the 2nd Volunteer Battalion, later redesignated 8th Battalion, of the Worcestershire Regiment from 1891, and the Glamorganshire Yeomanry from 1901 to his death, as well as of the 3rd (Royal Glamorgan Militia) Battalion, Welsh Regiment from 1896 and its Special Reserve successor the 3rd (Reserve) Battalion, Welsh Regiment, from 1908.{{cite book|title=Kelly's Handbook to the Titled, Landed and Official Classes, 1920|publisher=Kelly's|page=1304}}

He was Sub-Prior Order of St John of Jerusalem. In February 1900 he was appointed a Trustee of the National Gallery,{{Cite newspaper The Times|title=Appoinment|date=27 February 1900 |page=9 |issue=36076}} and he served as the first President of The Concrete Institute (now the Institution of Structural Engineers) between 1908 and 1910. In 1913 he was responsible for purchasing The Crystal Palace for the nation. He served twice as President of the Cambrian Archaeological Society, first in 1899, and again in 1912.

In 1913 Lord Plymouth hosted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll (sister of the late King Edward VII) at his Worcestershire seat, Hewell Grange. On 23 April 1913, he accompanied the Duke and Duchess to Birmingham. There, he opened the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital in Ladywood and then unveiled the statue to King Edward VII in Victoria Square, Birmingham. In 1918 he became the first President of the newly formed Birmingham Civic Society.{{cite web|url=https://www.birminghamcivicsociety.org.uk/birmingham-civic-society-history/ |title=History |publisher=The Birmingham Civic Society |access-date=30 July 2020}}

From 1914 to 1923, Lord Plymouth was chairman of the National Trust.{{cite book |first1=Jennifer |last1=Jenkins |first2=Patrick |last2=James |title=From acorn to oak tree: the growth of the National Trust 1895–1994 |date=1994 |publisher=Macmillan |location=London |page=335}}

File:Portrait of Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline Paget by Joseph von Kopf (1882, Museum named after M. A. Vrubel) by Gruzdov.jpg

In 1883, Lord Plymouth married Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline, who was the daughter of Sir Augustus Paget, and born in 1863. They had three sons and one daughter. His eldest son Other Robert Windsor-Clive, Viscount Windsor (1884–1908), predeceased him, as did his third son, Lieutenant Archer Windsor-Clive, of the 3rd Battalion Coldstream Guards, killed in action at Landrecies holding the line during the Retreat from Mons;.{{Cite web | url=http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205390993 | title=Lieutenant Archer Windsor-Clive }} Archer had briefly played cricket for Glamorgan.[http://www.espncricinfo.com/england/content/player/23101.html Cricinfo]. Accessed 26 March 2016

Lord Plymouth died suddenly in March 1923, aged 65, at his home in Great Cumberland Place, London, and was buried at Tardebigge, Worcestershire. He was succeeded in the earldom by his second son, Ivor. The Countess of Plymouth died in August 1944, aged 81,{{cite news |title=Obituary:the Dowager Countess of Plymouth |work=The Times |date=23 August 1944 |page=7}} and was buried next to her husband and their son Other Robert (1884–1908).

{{Reflist}}

• {{Hansard-contribs | mr-robert-windsor-clive | the Earl of Plymouth }}
• W. P. Williams, [http://www.penarth-dock.org.uk/Library/Windsor-Family.pdf A Monograph of the Windsor Family] (Cardiff: Daniel Owen and Co., 1879)

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