Sir Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse (15 February 1886 – 20 January 1965) was a long-serving English local government

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician, who is best remembered as the architect of the system of

national parks of England and Wales National parks of the United Kingdom ( cy, parciau cenedlaethol; gd, pàircean nàiseanta) are areas of relatively undeveloped and scenic landscape across the country. Despite their name, they are quite different from national parks in many ot ...

Early life

Hobhouse was the son of prominent Liberal politician and MP

Henry Hobhouse Henry Hobhouse may refer to: * Henry Hobhouse (archivist) (1776–1854), English archivist * Henry Hobhouse (East Somerset MP) Henry Hobhouse (1 March 1854 – 25 June 1937) was an English landowner and Liberal, and from 1886 Liberal Unionis ...

and the brother of peace activist, prison reformer, and religious writer Stephen Henry Hobhouse. Arthur Hobhouse was educated at

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

St Andrews University (Aien aristeuein) , motto_lang = grc , mottoeng = Ever to ExcelorEver to be the Best , established = , type = Public research university Ancient university , endowment ...

and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, where he graduated in

Natural Sciences Natural science is one of the branches of science concerned with the description, understanding and prediction of natural phenomena, based on empirical evidence from observation and experimentation. Mechanisms such as peer review and repeatab ...

. At

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

, he was a

Cambridge Apostle The Cambridge Apostles (also known as ''Conversazione Society'') is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar.W. C. Lubenow, ''The Ca ...

and a member of the

Cambridge University Liberal Club Cambridge University Liberal Association (CULA) is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at Cambridge University. It is the successor to the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats, which in turn was formed from the merger of Cam ...

, becoming Secretary in 1906 and was also the lover of

John Maynard Keynes John Maynard Keynes, 1st Baron Keynes, ( ; 5 June 1883 – 21 April 1946), was an English economist whose ideas fundamentally changed the theory and practice of macroeconomics and the economic policies of governments. Originally trained in ...

and

Duncan Grant Duncan James Corrowr Grant (21 January 1885 – 8 May 1978) was a British painter and designer of textiles, pottery, theatre sets and costumes. He was a member of the Bloomsbury Group. His father was Bartle Grant, a "poverty-stricken" major i ...

Career

Hobhouse practised as a solicitor until the outbreak of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, when he joined the British Expeditionary Force. After the War he joined the Claims Commission, dealing with claims against Allied forces in the

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

area, and rose to the rank of Staff Captain. Returning to civilian life, Hobhouse took to farming on a family estate Hadspen house and garden in

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

Political career

He stood as Liberal candidate for

Wells Wells most commonly refers to: * Wells, Somerset, a cathedral city in Somerset, England * Well, an excavation or structure created in the ground * Wells (name) Wells may also refer to: Places Canada *Wells, British Columbia England * Wells ...

at the 1922 General Election when he finished a strong second. He was elected Member of Parliament for Wells at the 1923 General Election but lost the seat in 1924. He failed to regain Wells in 1929.

Electoral record

Local government

He was elected to

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

in 1925, became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in 1934, and was chairman of the council from 1940 to 1947. In 1945 he was appointed by

Lewis Silkin Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician. Career Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889 to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian ...

, the Minister of Town and Country Planning, to chair the

National Parks A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual ...

Committee. The resulting Hobhouse Report was the basis for the

National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 The National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which created the National Parks Commission which later became the Countryside Commission and then the Countryside Agency, which became ...

. Of the twelve parks it proposed, ten were implemented in the 1950s, while the remaining two, the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

and the

South Downs The South Downs are a range of chalk hills that extends for about across the south-eastern coastal counties of England from the Itchen valley of Hampshire in the west to Beachy Head, in the Eastbourne Downland Estate, East Sussex, in the east. ...

, were proposed in 1999 and finally designated in 2005 and 2009, respectively. Hobhouse was

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

ed in 1942. Sir Arthur also served as Chairman of the Rural Housing Committee 1942–1947, was pro-chancellor of

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

, and was both Chairman and President of the

County Council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

s Association (now part of the

Local Government Association The Local Government Association (LGA) is the national membership body for local authorities. Its core membership is made up of 339 English councils and the 22 Welsh councils through the Welsh Local Government Association. The LGA is p ...

). For many years he was President of the

Open Spaces Society The Open Spaces Society is a campaign group that works to protect public rights of way and open spaces in the United Kingdom, such as common land and village greens. It is Britain's oldest national conservation body and a registered charity. Found ...

, till his resignation in 1955.

Personal life

In his youth, Hobhouse's affairs were exclusively homosexual. He had long-standing affairs with the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group—or Bloomsbury Set—was a group of associated English writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the first half of the 20th century, including Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster and Lytton Strac ...

members

Lytton Strachey Giles Lytton Strachey (; 1 March 1880 – 21 January 1932) was an English writer and critic. A founding member of the Bloomsbury Group and author of ''Eminent Victorians'', he established a new form of biography in which psychological insight ...

, and

. Hobhouse was considered extremely desirable in Edwardian gay circles, and was the subject of much infighting amongst the men of Bloomsbury. Hobhouse married Konradin Huth Jackson, daughter of

Frederick Huth Jackson Frederick Huth Jackson (1863–1921), was a British banker, and a partner of the merchant bank, Frederick Huth & Co, founded by his great-grandfather, Frederick Huth. Early life He was the son of Thomas Hughes Jackson (1834–1930) and Hermi ...

, and they had five children together: *Elizabeth Hobhouse (1921–1995) *

(1924–2016) *Paul Rodbard Hobhouse (1927–1994) * Mary Hermione Hobhouse (1934–2014) *Anne Virginia Hobhouse (1936–) Hobhouse's eldest daughter married first Michael Francis Eden later Lord Henley, and secondly Michael King, son of

Cecil Harmsworth King Cecil Harmsworth King (20 February 1901 – 17 April 1987) was Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Sunday Pictorial Newspapers and the International Publishing Corporation (1963–1968), and a director at the Bank of England (1965–1968). Bio ...

. Hobhouse's eldest son, Henry, wrote '' Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind''. Henry was married three times, and had a daughter,

Janet Janet may refer to: Names * Janet (given name) * Janet (French singer) (1939–2011) Surname * Charles Janet (1849–1932), French engineer, inventor and biologist, known for the Left Step periodic table * Jules Janet (1861–1945), French psych ...

, who died in 1991. A younger son, Paul, married Penelope Chichester-Clark.

Sources

* Obituary: 'Sir Arthur Hobhouse: A long record of public service', ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 21 January 1965

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hobhouse, Arthur 1886 births 1965 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of the University of St Andrews Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Knights Bachelor Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Somerset County Council UK MPs 1923–1924

Arthur Arthur is a common male given name of Brittonic languages, Brythonic origin. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. The etymology is disputed. It may derive from the Celtic ''Artos'' meaning “Bear”. An ...

LGBT politicians from England Bisexual politicians LGBT members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom LGBT military personnel