Kimberley, John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley (1826-1902)

English Liberal politician who specialized in foreign affairs and held a number of important government posts in the late 19th century. He was ennobled for his service as lord-lieutenant of Ireland 1864-66. As head of the Colonial Office, he conceded the self-government of the Transvaal after the Boers had defeated Britain in the first South African War in 1881; the city of Kimberley in South Africa is named after him.

Kimberley was born at Wymondham, Norfolk, and educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. He held office in Lord Palmerston's first and second governments, and was British minister at St Petersburg in 1856. He was under-secretary for India in 1864. In 1868 he was lord privy seal in William Gladstone's first administration, and in 1870 began his first term of office at the Colonial Office. In 1882 he was transferred to the India Office, and in 1891 became leader of the Liberal party in the House of Lords.