Lord Curzon (1859-1925), British statesman. George Nathaniel Curzon, 1^st Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, was born in Kedleston, England. He was elected to the House of Commons in 1886 and served as undersecretary for India (1891-92) and for foreign affairs (1895-98). As governor-general of India from 1899 to 1905, he reorganized Indian finances, improved irrigation and commerce, and struck a blow at Indian nationalism by partitioning the restless province of Bengal. He became an earl in 1911 and was active in the House of Lords during World War I. In 1915 he became lord privy seal, a cabinet position. The following year he became a member of the inner war cabinet under David Lloyd George. From 1919 to 1924 he was secretary of state for foreign affairs. The Soviet-Polish boundary he proposed in 1919 was called the Curzon Line in his honor. Curzon presided over the Lausanne Conference on a settlement for the Middle East in 1922-23.