Dictionary of National Biography, 1927 supplement/Villiers, Victor Albert George Child-
VILLIERS, VICTOR ALBERT GEORGE CHILD-, seventh Earl of Jersey and tenth Viscount Grandison (1845–1915), colonial governor, the eldest son of George Augustus Frederick Child-Villiers, sixth Earl, by his wife, Julia, elder daughter of Sir Robert Peel, second baronet [q.v.], was born 20 March 1845. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford, and, while at school, succeeded his father in 1859. He was a lord-in-waiting to Queen Victoria from 1875 to 1877, and in 1889 was made paymaster-general. The following year he received the appointment of governor and commander-in-chief of New South Wales, and assumed office in January 1891.
The task before Lord Jersey was a difficult one, for Australia was passing through a critical period in her history. Although the burning question of Chinese immigration had been satisfactorily settled in 1888, other urgent problems had taken its place. Chief of these were the federation movement and the attitude of the working classes. Before 1889 New South Wales had stood aloof from the movement for Australasian federation, but in that year the premier of the colony, Sir Henry Parkes [q.v.], had given his adhesion to it, and New South Wales was represented at the first inter-colonial conference held at Melbourne early in 1890. A few weeks after Lord Jersey had taken up his appointment a convention to consider the question was held at Sydney; but federation was never so popular in New South Wales as in the other colonies, and no further progress was made during Lord Jersey's term of office. The attitude of labour presented a far more serious problem. The labour movement in Australia had been gaining ground for many years, especially in New South Wales, and in 1890 the differences between employers and men came to a head over the question of reduction of wages. A great strike, of which Sydney was the centre, had at one time threatened to paralyse the trade of the colony, and had only come to an end (November 1890) two months before Lord Jersey's arrival. The result was a decisive victory for the employers, but in the following year labour representatives were able to dominate the situation in the New South Wales parliament. To complicate the situation, rash land speculations were just then contributing to the financial difficulties of Australia, and some harsh criticism in the London financial press had been deeply resented in the colony. Lord Jersey, however, showed himself capable of dealing tactfully with the situation. He set himself to win the confidence of the people of New South Wales and to show them that he recognized that they were neither dishonest nor bankrupt. In this he proved eminently successful, and although he remained governor for less than two and a half years he made himself greatly beloved, and as ex-governor became a trusted unofficial ambassador of the Commonwealth in London.
In 1893 Lord Jersey returned to England. His sound abilities and his banking experience as principal proprietor of Child's Bank were always thereafter at the service of the Empire. In 1894 he represented the United Kingdom at the Ottawa colonial conference, and in the same year he revisited Australia and received a warm welcome. In 1904–1905 he acted as agent-general for New South Wales, and on the foundation of the Australian Commonwealth (1901) was offered the position of first high commissioner. He declined on the ground that he preferred to remain an unofficial representative of the Commonwealth.
As a great landowner Lord Jersey was keenly interested in local administration and agricultural questions. He acted as chairman of the light railway commission (1896–1905), was lord-lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1887 till his death, and a member of the Oxfordshire County Council. He died at Osterley Park, Isleworth, 31 May 1915.
Lord Jersey married in 1872 the Hon. Margaret Elizabeth, eldest daughter of William Henry Leigh, second Baron Leigh; they had two sons and four daughters. He was succeeded by his eldest son George Henry Robert Child (1873–1923).
A portrait of Lord Jersey is included in H. Jamyn Brooks's picture ‘Private View at the Royal Academy, 1888’, in the National Portrait Gallery.
[The Times, 1 June 1915.]