Stephen Edward Spring Rice (28 March 1856 – 6 September 1902) was a British civil servant and academic.

Background and early life

Spring Rice was the son of the Hon. Charles William Thomas Spring Rice, a civil servant in the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

, and Elizabeth Margaret Marshall. He was the grandson of the Whig politician, Lord Monteagle of Brandon and the brother of the diplomat, Sir Cecil Spring Rice. He was brought up near

Watermillock Watermillock is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Matterdale, on the western shore of Ullswater, in the English Lake District, Cumbria. In 1931 the civil parish had a population of 448. On 1 April 1934 the civil parish wa ...

on the shore of

Ullswater Ullswater is the second largest lake in the English Lake District, being about long and wide, with a maximum depth a little over . It was scooped out by a glacier in the Last Ice Age. Geography It is a typical Lake District " ribbon lake" ...

. Spring Rice was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI of England, Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. i ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

, and became a fellow of the college in 1879.

Career

He entered

HM Treasury His Majesty's Treasury (HM Treasury), occasionally referred to as the Exchequer, or more informally the Treasury, is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for developing and executing the government's public finance policy and ec ...

in 1878 and was Private Secretary to successive Financial Secretaries to the Treasury between 1881 and 1888. Spring Rice became Private Secretary to

Sir William Harcourt Sir William George Granville Venables Vernon Harcourt (14 October 1827 – 1 October 1904) was a British lawyer, journalist and Liberal statesman. He served as Member of Parliament for Oxford, Derby then West Monmouthshire and held the offices ...

when he was Chancellor of the Exchequer for the first time in 1886. In 1894, he became Principal Clerk in the Treasury and was given the additional role of Auditor of the Civil List in 1899. He was invested as a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved bathing (as a symbol of purification) as ...

(CB) and was a contributor to the ''

Encyclopædia Britannica The ( Latin for "British Encyclopædia") is a general knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It is published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.; the company has existed since the 18th century, although it has changed ownership various ...

''.

Family

Spring Rice married Julia FitzGerald, a daughter of Sir Peter FitzGerald, 19th Knight of Kerry, on 12 January 1888. They had a son, Edward Dominck Spring Rice, and a daughter, Mary Honora Spring Rice. Spring Rice died of an illness at Abinger Hall in

Dorking Dorking () is a market town in Surrey in South East England, about south of London. It is in Mole Valley District and the council headquarters are to the east of the centre. The High Street runs roughly east–west, parallel to the Pipp ...

on 6 September 1902 at the age of 46 and was buried at

All Saints Church, Watermillock All Saints Church is a Grade II listed Church of England parish church in the village of Watermillock, Cumbria. It serves the scattered settlement of Watermillock, as well as outlying farms and hamlets on the northern shore of Ullswater. Histor ...

. He is also commemorated by a memorial bridge at Aira Force with his brothers Gerald and Cecil.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spring Rice, Stephen British civil servants Rice family Spring family 19th-century Anglo-Irish people Companions of the Order of the Bath Private secretaries in the British Civil Service Fellows of Trinity College, Cambridge People from Matterdale People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge 1856 births 1902 deaths