The Earl of Aberdeen

George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen KG KT FRS PC known as Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a Scottish politician who was a Tory, Conservative and finally a Peelite, who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1852 until 1855.

His political career began when his wife died in 1812 and he joined the Foreign Service. His career was a rapid and brilliant one and he was created a peer in 1814. He remarried in 1815 and then took 13 years in the back seat before coming back to serve as Chancellor and then Foreign Secretary, resigning over the 1832 Reform Bill. He kept coming back to fill cabinet roles but it was not for another 20 years until be became Prime Minister after taking over the Peelites after the death of Sir Robert Peel. He was the head of a coalition government of Whigs and Peelites. His cabinet which contained The Viscount Palmerston and Earl Russell, who pushed him into the Crimean War. When news of the incompetence in the leadership of the army got out there was a massive call for a public inquiry and Aberdeen stood down rather than face it's conclusions.