Alfred, Viscount Milner

A memorial to Alfred, Viscount Milner can be found on the wall of the south aisle of Henry VII's chapel in Westminster Abbey. This is a mural Hoptonwood limestone roundel with a laurel leaf border enclosing a profile portrait medallion. It is by sculptor Gilbert Ledward and was unveiled by Stanley Baldwin on 26th March 1930. The inscription reads:

Alfred Viscount Milner, Servant of the State 1854:1925

He was born on 23rd March 1854 in Germany a son of Charles and Mary. His family originally came from Manchester. Educated in Germany and England he read law and later joined the staff of the Pall Mall Gazette. With Samuel Barnett and others he founded Toynbee Hall in the east end of London. He was a secretary in the Treasury and then director of accounts in Egypt under Lord Cromer. In 1897 he left for South Africa to be High Commissioner and governor of Cape Colony. During the First World War he was criticized for not taking a hard line on unconditional surrender. After the war he went to the Colonial Office and was made a Knight of the Garter in 1921. He married widow Violet, Lady Edward Cecil. He is buried with his wife at Salehurst in Sussex where there is a marble tomb to them by Edwin Lutyens.

Further reading for the Milners

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography 2004.

"Milner - Viscount Milner of St James' and Cape Town" by Terence O'Brien, 1979