appointing him Australia's first High Commissioner to London, although nothing came out of this. One of Lord Jersey's godparents was Queen Victoria. The Queen accepted her role as a token of friendship to Robert Peel, Prime Minister, who was Lord Jersey's grandfather (his mother, the 6th Countess, being Julia Peel). Other public appointments On 18 June 1875 the Earl was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 1st Glamorganshire Artillery Volunteers. Lord Jersey was Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire from 1877 and from 1885 also served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Warwickshire and as a Justice of the Peace for Warwickshire and Oxfordshire. He was Paymaster-General from 1889 to 1890. In 1894, he was sent to Ottawa to act as the British government's representative to the 1894 Colonial Conference. From 1896 to 1905 he was Chairman of the Light Railway Commission. He was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath in the 1900 Birthday Honours. Freemasonry A Freemason, he was initiated to the craft on 25 October 1865 in the Apollo University Lodge No. 357 at the age of 20. In December 1865 he was passed in the Churchill Lodge No. 478 and in February 1866 he was raised in his Mother Lodge. In 1870 he was appointed Senior Grand Warden of the United Grand Lodge of England and served for a year. In 1885 he was appointed Provincial Grand Master of Oxfordshire. When he became Governor of New South Wales, he became a member of the Lodge Ionic No. 65. On 11 June 1891 he was installed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New South Wales. Family Lord Jersey married the Hon. Margaret Elizabeth Leigh (29 October 1849 – 22 May 1945), daughter and eldest child of William Henry Leigh, 2nd Baron Leigh, on 19 September 1872. They had six children: George Henry Robert Child Villiers, 8th Earl of Jersey (1873–1923) Lady Margaret Child Villiers (1874–1874), died in infancy. Lady Margaret Child Villiers (1875–1959), married Walter Rice, 7th Baron Dynevor, and had issue. Lady Mary Julia Child Villiers (1877–1933), married Thomas Pakenham, 5th Earl of Longford, and had issue. Lady Beatrice Child Villiers (1880–1970), married Edward Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany, and had issue. Hon. Arthur George Child Villiers (1883–1969) Having suffered a stroke in 1909, Lord Jersey died at Osterley Park, Middlesex, in May 1915, aged 70. He was succeeded in the earldom by his eldest