After having been an official in the household of
Frederick, Prince of Wales, Halifax was made
Master of the Buckhounds in December 1744. During the
Jacobite rising of 1745, he raised
his own regiment to support the King's cause. In 1748 he became
President of the Board of Trade. While filling this position he helped to found
Halifax, the capital of
Nova Scotia, which was named after him, and he helped foster trade, especially with North America. About this time he attempted, unsuccessfully, to become a Secretary of State, but was only allowed to enter the Cabinet in 1757. In March 1761, Halifax was appointed
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and during part of the time which he held this office he was also
First Lord of the Admiralty. He became
Secretary of State for the Northern Department under
Lord Bute in October 1762, switching to the
Southern Department in 1763 and was one of the three ministers to whom
King George III entrusted the direction of affairs during the premiership of
George Grenville. In 1762, in search of evidence of
sedition, he authorised a raid on the home of
John Entick, declared unlawful in the case of
Entick v. Carrington. In 1763, he signed the general warrant for the "authors, printers and publishers" of
The North Briton number 45, under which
John Wilkes and 48 others were arrested, and for which, six years later, the courts of law made Halifax pay damages. He was also mainly responsible for the exclusion of the name of the King's mother,
Augusta, Princess of Wales, from the
Regency Bill of 1765. Together with his colleagues, Halifax left office in July 1765, returning to the Cabinet as
Lord Privy Seal under his nephew,
Lord North, in January 1770. He had just been restored to his former position of Secretary of State when he died. ==Cricket==