James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury

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James Howard Harris, 3rd Earl of Malmesbury (25 March, 1807 – 17 May, 1889), was a British statesman of the Victorian era.

The son of the 2nd Earl, he was educated at Eton and Oriel College, Oxford. He spent several years travelling and making acquaintance with famous people; and in 1841 he had only just been elected to the House of Commons as a Conservative, when his father died and he succeeded to the peerage. His political career, though unimpressive, attracted a good deal of contemporary attention, partly owing to his being Foreign Secretary in 1852 and again in 1858—1859 (he was also Lord Privy Seal in 1866—1868 and in 1874—1876), and partly from his influential position as an active Tory of the old school in the House of Lords at a time when Lord Derby and Benjamin Disraeli were, in their different ways, moulding the Conservatism of the period.

In his two brief terms as foreign secretary, Malmesbury pursued a cautious, conservative policy. His youthful friendship with the exiled Louis Napoleon helped lead to quick British acquiescence in the Prince-President's decision to restore the Empire in 1852, but did not prevent Malmesbury from pursuing a policy relatively sympathetic to Austria during the crisis leading up to the Italian War of 1859. Malmesbury was particularly horrified by the behavior of Cavour, and at the fact that a small country like Piedmont was able so easily to threaten the European peace.

His long life, and the publication of his Memoirs of an Ex-Minister in 1884, contributed to his reputation. The Memoirs, charmingly written, full of anecdote, and containing much interesting material for the history of the time, remain his chief title to remembrance. Lord Malmesbury also edited his grandfather’s Diaries and Correspondence (1844), and in 1870 published The First Lord Malmesbury and His Friends. He was succeeded as 4th Earl by his nephew, Edward James Harris (1842—1899).

Preceded by: The Earl Granville	Foreign Secretary 1852	Succeeded by: The Lord John Russell
Preceded by: The Earl of Clarendon	Foreign Secretary 1858–1859	Succeeded by: The Lord John Russell
Preceded by: The Duke of Argyll	Lord Privy Seal 1866–1868	Succeeded by: The Earl of Kimberley
Preceded by: The Earl of Derby	Leader of the House of Lords 1868	Succeeded by: The Earl Granville
Preceded by: The Earl of Derby	Conservative Leader in the Lords 1868–1869	Succeeded by: The Lord Cairns
Preceded by: The Viscount Halifax	Lord Privy Seal 1874–1876	Succeeded by: The Earl of Beaconsfield