than three weeks and was merged in the second Macalister ministry. Herbert then left for England, having gained the sort of experience which was to be very useful to him in later years. Career in England A few months after Herbert's arrival in England, he was appointed Assistant-Secretary to the Board of Trade. In 1870 was made Assistant Under-Secretary for the Colonies, while his relative, Henry Herbert, 4th Earl of Carnarvon, was the serving Secretary of State and, in 1871, became Permanent Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies. He held that position with great distinction for 21 years. In 1899/1900 he briefly took on the role as Acting Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies because of illness to Sir Edward Wingfield. His attitude was generally conciliatory and he was tactful in dealing with men who came in contact with him. In 1882, he was created K.C.B. and, in 1892, G.C.B. In the same year, he was appointed chancellor of the Order of St Michael and St George. He left the Colonial Office in 1892, but afterwards took up his duties again for a few months at the special request of Joseph Chamberlain. In 1893-6, he was agent-general for Tasmania, and did active work in connection with the formation of the British Empire League. In December 1903, he was chairman of the tariff commission. Later years In later years, Robert Herbert suffered from heart trouble. Believing his health would benefit from a sea voyage, he went for a cruise in the Mediterranean. He met his sister in Marseilles, France, where his health worsened and he returned immediately to England. He was taken in an ambulance railway car on the Great Eastern Railway to his residence at Ickleton, Cambridgeshire, where he died on 6 May 1905. Personal life Robert Herbert met his companion, John Bramston, at Balliol College Oxford University, England in the early 1850s. The pair shared rooms at Oxford, and also in London. When Herbert was Premier of Queensland, and Bramston his Attorney-General, the two created a farm on what is now the site of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital. They named the farmhouse in which they both lived "Herston", a combination of their names. Herbert never married, and modern historians, such as Robert Aldrich and Garry Wotherspoon, conclude that he was likely gay. In 1864, Herbert gave this explanation as to why he had not married: "It does