Evelyn Baring, 1st Baron Howick of Glendale

Baring followed in the footsteps of his father, the famed "Maker of Modern Egypt"–– Evelyn Baring, 1st Earl of Cromer. Baring went to Winchester College and then to New College, Oxford, graduating from Oxford University with First Class Honours in Modern History before serving in the Indian Civil Service. He then joined Britain's Foreign Office, where he was sent first to Southern Rhodesia before being posted in South Africa as High Commissioner.[2]

In 1949, while serving as High Commissioner for Southern Africa, Baring played a key role in preventing Seretse Khama, the heir to the throne of the Bechuanaland Protectorate, from assuming the throne; doing so on the ground that Khama's marriage to a white woman, Ruth Williams, was opposed by the white-minority government of South Africa, a neighbouring state which had recently implemented a system of racial segregation known as apartheid.[3]

Working in close collaboration with Percivale Liesching, who was serving as Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs at the time, Baring was able to persuade government ministers to prevent Khama from assuming the throne of Bechuanaland, instead mandating him to stay in a government-imposed exile in London, which lasted until 1956.[3]

As Governor of Kenya, Baring declared a State of Emergency on 20 October 1952 before launching Operation Jock Scott, which targeted alleged Mau Mau leaders, especially Jomo Kenyatta.[4]

In June 1957, Baring passed on to Alan Lennox-Boyd a secret memorandum[5] written by Sir Eric Griffiths-Jones, the Attorney General of Kenya, which described the abuse of Mau Mau detainees. The paper alleges that Baring supplied a covering letter that asserted that inflicting "violent shock" was the only way of suppressing the Mau Mau rebellion.[5]

Baring left Kenya in 1959. He was elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom as the 1st Baron Howick of Glendale in 1960. He retired to his family estate of Howick Hall, which was inherited by his wife Lady Mary Cecil Grey, daughter of the 5th Earl Grey. He was known to enjoy birdwatching. Lord Howick of Glendale later accepted a post with the government's Colonial Development Corporation.[6]

Baring married Lady Mary Cecil Grey, daughter of the 5th Earl Grey and Lady Mabel Laura Georgiana Palmer (daughter of the 2nd Earl of Selborne), on 24 April 1935. They had three children:[7]

• Hon Katherine Mary Alice Baring (born 30 March 1936), married Sir Humphry Wakefield, 2nd Bt.
• Charles Evelyn Baring, 2nd Baron Howick of Glendale (born 30 December 1937)
• Hon Elizabeth Beatrice Baring (born 10 January 1940), married Nicholas Albany Gibbs.

Lord Howick of Glendale died on 10 March 1973 at the age of 69 and was succeeded in the barony by his son, Charles.

• Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG), 1942, advanced to GCMG, 1955
• Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (KCVO), 1947
• 1st Baron Howick of Glendale, 1960
• Knight of the Order of the Garter (KG), 1972[7]

• Baring administrative tactics
• Mau Mau torture victims to receive compensation – Hague