CROMER

cromer, evelyn baring, 1st earl (1841- ), british statesman and diplomatist, was born on the 26th of february 1841, the ninth son of henry baring, m.p., by cecilia anne, eldest daughter of admiral windham of felbrigge hall, norfolk. having joined the royal artillery in 1858, he was appointed in 1861 a.d.c. to sir henry storks, high commissioner of the ionian islands, and acted as secretary to the same chief during the inquiry into the jamaica outbreak in 1865. gazetted captain in 1870, he went in 1872 as private secretary to his cousin lord northbrook, viceroy of india, where he remained until 1876, when he became major, received the c.s.i., and was appointed british commissioner of the egyptian public debt office. up to this period major baring had given no unusual signs of promise, and the appointment of a comparatively untried major of artillery as the british representative on a financial board composed of representatives of all the great powers was considered a bold one. within a very short time it was recognized that the englishman, though keeping himself carefully in the background, was unmistakably the predominant factor on the board. he was mainly responsible for the searching report, issued in 1878, of the commission of inquiry that had been instituted into the financial methods of the khedive ismail; and when that able and unscrupulous oriental had to submit to an enforced abdication in 1879, it was major baring who became the british controller-general and practical director of the dual control. had he remained in egypt, the whole course of egyptian history might have been altered, but his services were deemed more necessary in india, and under lord ripon he became financial member of council in june 1880. he remained there till 1883, leaving an unmistakable mark on the indian financial system, and then, having been rewarded by the