Lord Curzon

George Nathaniel Curzon (1859-1925). British politician/Statesman. Between 1888-94 he travelled widely in Asia (Russian Cetnral Asia, Persia, Afghanistan, Tibet, Japan, Korea, Indo-China). Was Viceroy of India 1899-1905 and became Britain's most widely travelled Foreign Secretary - but failed in his greatest ambition of becoming Prime Minister. Despite that he played a major part in British policy making from 1898 through to 1923 His actions as Viceroy were and are controversial but Nehru said of him "After every other Viceroy has been forgotten, Curzon will be remembered because he restored all that was beautiful in India". Inter alia he ensured proper funding of the ASI and appointed Marshall (who was later to discover the "Indus Valley Civilisation") as Director General. See - wiki

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Blenheim Palace Curzon's ambition and arrogance made him very unpopular with many. His cultivation of the highest in the land was lampooned in the short verse - "My name is George Nathaniel Curzon, I am a most superior person, My cheek is pink, my hair is sleek, I dine at Blenheim once a week." He later stated that "never has more harm been done to one single individual than that accursed doggerel has done to me."
Kaziranga National Park After his wife visited Assam in 1904 to see 1 horned Rhino - and failed to do, Curzon created Kaziranga Reserve Forest which formed the basis of the later NP.
Red Fort Large parts of the Red Fort were destroyed and/or looted by the British after the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Curzon initiated some restoration, often via the creation of gardens, but most significantly that of the Diwan-i-Am for which Curzon "ordered that the panels be brought back from Kensington Museum and reinstalled in the Red Fort, for his Durbar, which was to be held in 1903....... Additionally, all of the panels weren’t present to be restored, and therefore new panels were put in their places using the same stones, made by European artists. The restoration work was completed in 1909, and what we see in the Diwan-i-Am today is the result of Lord Curzon’s attempt to hide the “vandalism of an earlier age”...."
Taj Mahal Curzon personally initiated and even part-funded restoration of the gardens at the Taj. He also provided 2 lamps to replace ones looted during an 18th C conflict between Mughals and the Hindu Kingdom of Baratpur.
Westminster Curzon sat in both the House of Commons (as MP for Southport) and then later in the Lords (including as Leader of the House of Lords in the 1920s).

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