Henry Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote

The Right Honourable The Lord Northcote GCMG, GCIE, CB, PC
Northcote in 1905
3rd Governor-General of Australia
In office 21 January 1904 – 9 September 1908
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Alfred Deakin Chris Watson George Reid
Preceded by	Lord Tennyson
Succeeded by	Lord Dudley
Governor of Bombay
In office 17 February 1900 – 5 September 1903
Monarchs	Victoria Edward VII
Governor General	Lord Curzon of Kedleston
Preceded by	William Mansfield
Succeeded by	James Monteath
Member of Parliament for Exeter
In office 1 April 1880 – 19 December 1899 Serving with Edward Johnson (1880–1885)
Preceded by	John George Johnson
Succeeded by	Edgar Vincent
Personal details
Born	(1846-11-18)18 November 1846 London, England
Died	29 September 1911(1911-09-29) (aged 64) Ashford, Kent, England
Spouse	Alice Stephen ​ (m. 1873)​
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	Merton College, Oxford

Henry Stafford Northcote, 1st Baron Northcote, GCMG, GCIE, CB, PC (18 November 1846 – 29 September 1911) was a British Conservative politician who served as the third governor-general of Australia, in office from 1904 to 1908. He was previously the governor of Bombay from 1900 to 1903, as well as a government minister under Lord Salisbury.

Northcote was the son of Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh. He was educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford, and then worked for the Foreign Office and as private secretary to his father. Northcote was elected to the House of Commons in 1880, and served as Financial Secretary to the War Office (1885–86) and Surveyor-General of the Ordnance (1886–88) during Lord Salisbury's first and second terms as prime minister. Northcote was made Governor of Bombay in 1900, at which point he was raised to the peerage; he had previously been created a baronet in 1887. He became Governor-General of Australia in 1904, and brought much needed stability to the post – his two predecessors had both resigned after less than two years in office. Northcote played a relatively active role in politics, due to the unstable three-party system then in place. He served for almost five years, resigning in 1908 following a falling out with Prime Minister Alfred Deakin.