Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham
The Right Honourable The Viscount Hailsham PC, KC | |
---|---|
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain | |
In office 28 March 1928 – 4 June 1929 | |
Monarch | George V |
Prime Minister | Stanley Baldwin |
Preceded by | The Viscount Cave |
Succeeded by | The Viscount Sankey |
In office 7 June 1935 – 9 March 1938 | |
Monarch |
George V Edward VIII George VI |
Prime Minister |
Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain |
Preceded by | The Viscount Sankey |
Succeeded by | The Lord Maugham |
Leader of the House of Lords | |
In office 5 November 1931 – 7 June 1935 | |
Prime Minister | Ramsay MacDonald |
Preceded by | The Marquess of Reading |
Succeeded by | The Marquess of Londonderry |
Secretary of State for War | |
In office 5 November 1931 – 7 June 1935 | |
Preceded by | The Marquess of Crewe |
Succeeded by | The Viscount Halifax |
Lord President of the Council | |
In office 9 March 1938 – 31 October 1938 | |
Prime Minister | Neville Chamberlain |
Preceded by | The Viscount Halifax |
Succeeded by | The Viscount Runciman of Doxford |
Personal details | |
Born |
28 February 1872 England |
Died |
August 16, 1950 78) England | (aged
Nationality | British |
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse(s) |
Elizabeth Marjoribanks (m. 1905; her death 1925) |
Douglas McGarel Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham, PC, KC (28 February 1872 – 16 August 1950) was a British lawyer and Conservative politician.[1]
Biography
Born in London, Hogg was the son of the merchant and philanthropist Quintin Hogg, seventh son of Sir James Hogg, 1st Baronet. He was educated at Cheam School and Eton College, before studying sugar growing in the West Indies. After serving in the Boer War he was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn in 1902, was appointed King's Counsel in 1917, and became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1920.[2]
Political career
Hogg was appointed Attorney General by Andrew Bonar Law in October 1922. Though not an MP, Hogg was chosen for the position because Bonar Law found himself short of law officers after the Conservative-Liberal coalition collapsed as a result of the Carlton Club meeting. He was elected to the House of Commons unopposed the following month for St Marylebone in the general election. He received the customary knighthood and was sworn in the Privy Council in December 1922. Serving as Attorney General until Labour assumed office after the 1923 election, Hogg was reappointed to the post, with a seat in the Cabinet, when the Conservatives were returned to power in 1924.
As Attorney-General, Hogg guided the Trade Disputes Act of 1927 through the House of Commons after the general strike of 1926 which had ended with large-scale unemployment while those still employed were forced to accept longer hours, lower wages, and district wage agreements. The Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act made mass picketing and all sympathetic strikes illegal and directed that union members had to contract into any political levy. It also forbade civil service unions from affiliating with the Trades Union Congress.
In 1928, he became Lord Chancellor in Stanley Baldwin's government, and was created Baron Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex.[3] He served until the government's defeat in 1929.
In 1929, he was created Viscount Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex. From 1931 to 1935 he served as Secretary of State for War. He again served as Lord Chancellor from 1935 to 1938, first under Baldwin, then under Neville Chamberlain. During his second term he was the last Lord High Steward to preside over the trial of a peer (26th Baron de Clifford) in the House of Lords. In 1938, ill-health led to his appointment as Lord President of the Council, a post with less onerous duties, but he had to retire from the government a few months later.[2]
He died on 16 August 1950.[1]
Marriage and children
Lord Hailsham married Elizabeth Marjoribanks (née Brown), widow of Hon Archibald Marjoribanks, and daughter of James Trimble Brown of Tennessee, in 1905. They had two sons:[4][5]
- Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham, later Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone (born 9 October 1907, died 12 October 2001), barrister, politician and Lord Chancellor who disclaimed the viscountcy and was later given a life peerage.
- Hon William Neil McGarel Hogg (born 1910, died 13 February 1995), diplomat.
References
- 1 2 "Lord Hailsham, 78, Legal Leader, Dies. Former Attorney General and Lord Chancellor in Britain. Powerful Conservative Aided Defeat of MacDonald Was Acting Prime Minister". New York Times. August 17, 1950.
- 1 2 Ramsden, John. "Hogg, Douglas McGarel, first Viscount Hailsham (1872–1950)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33925. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
- ↑ "King Appoints Hogg Lord High Chancellor. Inskip Succeeds Him As Attorney General And Merriman Becomes Solicitor General". New York Times. Associated Press. March 29, 1928.
- ↑ The Peerage, entry for 1st Viscount Hailsham
- ↑ "Lady Douglas Hogg Dead. Wife of British Attorney General Was a Nashville Judge's Daughter". New York Times. May 11, 1925.
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Hailsham