Halifax, George Montagu Dunk, 2nd Earl of (1716–1771)

English politician. In 1748 he was made president of the Board of Trade, and helped to found Halifax, Nova Scotia. In 1757 he entered the Cabinet. In 1761 he was appointed lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and first lord of the Admiralty. In 1762 he became secretary of state for the Northern Department under the Earl of Bute.

He was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He assumed the surname Dunk on his marriage in 1741 to the heiress of Sir Thomas Dunk.