Edward Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax

The Right Honourable The Earl of Halifax KG OM GCSI GCMG GCIE TD PC
Halifax in 1947
British Ambassador to the United States
In office 23 December 1940 – 1 May 1946
Nominated by	Winston Churchill
Appointed by	George VI
Preceded by	Philip Kerr, 11th Marquess of Lothian
Succeeded by	Archibald Clark Kerr, 1st Baron Inverchapel
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 3 October 1940 – 22 December 1940
Prime Minister	Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote
Succeeded by	George Lloyd, 1st Baron Lloyd
In office 22 November 1935 – 21 February 1938
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by	Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry
Succeeded by	The Earl Stanhope
Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
In office 21 February 1938 – 22 December 1940
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain Winston Churchill
Preceded by	Anthony Eden
Succeeded by	Anthony Eden
Secretary of State for War
In office 7 June 1935 – 22 November 1935
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham
Succeeded by	Duff Cooper
Lord President of the Council
In office 28 May 1937 – 9 March 1938
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by	Ramsay MacDonald
Succeeded by	Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham
Lord Privy Seal
In office 22 November 1935 – 28 May 1937
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry
Succeeded by	Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
Chancellor of the University of Oxford
In office 1933–1959
Preceded by	Edward Grey, 1st Viscount Grey of Fallodon
Succeeded by	Harold Macmillan
Viceroy and Governor-General of India
In office 3 April 1926 – 18 April 1931
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Rufus Isaacs, 1st Earl of Reading
Succeeded by	Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office 6 November 1924 – 4 November 1925
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	Noel Buxton
Succeeded by	Walter Guinness
President of the Board of Education
In office 24 October 1922 – 22 January 1924
Prime Minister	Bonar Law Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	H. A. L. Fisher
Succeeded by	Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office 1 April 1921 – 24 October 1922
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Leo Amery
Succeeded by	William Ormsby-Gore
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
as a hereditary peer 5 December 1925 – 23 December 1959
Preceded by	Created Baron Irwin in 1925 (inherited his father's titles in 1934)
Succeeded by	Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax
Member of Parliament for Ripon
In office 10 February 1910 – 5 December 1925
Preceded by	H. F. B. Lynch
Succeeded by	John Hills
Personal details
Born	Edward Frederick Lindley Wood (1881-04-16)16 April 1881 Powderham Castle, Exminster, England
Died	23 December 1959(1959-12-23) (aged 78) Garrowby, England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Lady Dorothy Onslow ​ (m. 1909)​
Children	5, including Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax, and Richard Wood, Baron Holderness
Parents	Charles Wood, 2nd Viscount Halifax Lady Agnes Courtenay
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl of Halifax, KG, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, TD, PC (16 April 1881 – 23 December 1959), known as the Lord Irwin from 1925 until 1934 and the Viscount Halifax from 1934 until 1944, was a senior British Conservative politician of the 1930s. He held several senior ministerial posts during this time, most notably those of Viceroy of India from 1926 to 1931 and of Foreign Secretary between 1938 and 1940. He was one of the architects of the policy of appeasement of Adolf Hitler in 1936–1938, working closely with Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. After Kristallnacht on 9–10 November 1938 and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in March 1939, he was one of those who pushed for a new policy of attempting to deter further German aggression by promising to go to war to defend Poland.

On Chamberlain's resignation early in May 1940, Halifax effectively declined the position of prime minister as he felt that Winston Churchill would be a more suitable war leader (Halifax's membership in the House of Lords was given as the official reason). A few weeks later, with the Allies facing apparently catastrophic defeat and British forces falling back to Dunkirk, Halifax favoured approaching Italy to see if acceptable peace terms could be negotiated. He was overruled by Churchill after a series of stormy meetings of the War cabinet. From 1941 to 1946, he served as British Ambassador to the United States.