Halifax, Edward Frederick Lindley Wood, 1st Earl Of

(born April 16, 1881, Powderham Castle, Devonshire, Eng.—died Dec. 23, 1959, Garroby Hall, near York, Yorkshire) British statesman. He was elected to Parliament in 1910.

As viceroy of India (1925–31), he worked on terms of understanding with Mohandas K. Gandhi and accelerated constitutional advances. His tenure as foreign secretary (1938–40) in Neville Chamberlain's government was controversial because of Chamberlain's policy of appeasement toward Adolf Hitler, but Halifax kept the post into Winston Churchill's ministry. As ambassador to the U.S. (1941–46), he greatly served the Allied cause in World War II, for which he was created earl of Halifax in 1944.