George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (28 January 1784 – 14 December 1860), styled
Lord Haddo from 1791 to 1801, was a British politician, diplomat and landowner, successively a
Tory,
Conservative and
Peelite, who served as Prime Minister from 1852 until 1855 in a coalition between the Whigs and Peelites, with Radical and Irish support. The
Aberdeen ministry was filled with powerful and talented politicians, whom Aberdeen was largely unable to control and direct. Despite trying to avoid this happening, it took Britain into the
Crimean War, and fell when its conduct became unpopular, after which Aberdeen retired from politics.