Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth
LLD (23 September 1869 – 13 August 1948), was a British businessman and
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. He served as
Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
This article lists past and present Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State serving the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office.
Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present
*April 1782: Evan Nepean
*April 1 ...
in 1915 and as
Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is a vacant junior position in the British government, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affa ...
between 1919 and 1922.
Background
Harmsworth was born at Alexandra Terrace,
St John's Wood
St John's Wood is a district in the City of Westminster, London, lying 2.5 miles (4 km) northwest of Charing Cross. Traditionally the northern part of the ancient parish and Metropolitan Borough of Marylebone, it extends east to west from ...
,
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, the third son of
Alfred Harmsworth
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...
and Geraldine Mary, daughter of William Maffett. He was the younger brother of newspaper proprietors
Alfred Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the '' Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journa ...
, and
Harold Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere
Harold Sidney Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Rothermere, (26 April 1868 – 26 November 1940) was a leading British newspaper proprietor who owned Associated Newspapers Ltd. He is best known, like his brother Alfred Harmsworth, later Viscount Nort ...
, and the elder brother of
Sir Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet
Sir Robert Leicester Harmsworth, 1st Baronet (1 November 187019 January 1937) was a British businessman and Liberal politician.
Background
Harmsworth was the fourth son of Alfred Harmsworth, a barrister, and Geraldine Mary, daughter of William ...
, and
Sir Hildebrand Harmsworth, 1st Baronet
Sir Hildebrand Aubrey Harmsworth, 1st Baronet (15 March 1872 – 18 April 1929) was a British newspaper proprietor, twice unsuccessful parliamentary candidate, and member of the Harmsworth publishing family.
Early life and family
Hildebrand H ...
. He also had four other younger brothers and four sisters. He was educated at
St Marylebone Grammar School
St Marylebone Grammar School (SMGS) was a grammar school located in the London borough of the City of Westminster, from 1792 to 1981.
History Philological School
Founded as the Philological Society by Thomas Collingwood, under the patronage of ...
and
Trinity College Dublin
, name_Latin = Collegium Sanctae et Individuae Trinitatis Reginae Elizabethae juxta Dublin
, motto = ''Perpetuis futuris temporibus duraturam'' (Latin)
, motto_lang = la
, motto_English = It will last i ...
.
[thepeerage.com Cecil Bisshopp Harmsworth, 1st Baron Harmsworth](_blank)
/ref>
Career
Harmsworth was the 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 ...
candidate in the 1901 by-election for the North East Lanarkshire constituency, but lost to the Liberal Unionist
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington (later the Duke of Devonshire) and Joseph Chamberlain, the party established a politic ...
candidate. He was elected to the House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...
for Droitwich
Droitwich Spa (often abbreviated to Droitwich ) is an historic spa town in the Wychavon district in northern Worcestershire, England, on the River Salwarpe. It is located approximately south-west of Birmingham and north-east of Worcester.
The ...
in 1906
Events
January–February
* January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, ...
, a seat he held until he was defeated at the January 1910 general election. He re-entered the House of Commons as the representative for Luton
Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable a ...
in a 1911 by-election, and continued to sit for the constituency until 1922. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Walter Runciman between 1911 and 1915 and then briefly held office under H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...
as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department
This article lists past and present Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State serving the Home Secretary of the United Kingdom at the Home Office.
Non-permanent and parliamentary under-secretaries, 1782–present
*April 1782: Evan Nepean
*April 1 ...
between February and May 1915. However, he did not serve in the coalition government formed by Asquith in May 1915.
After David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...
became Prime Minister in December 1916, Harmsworth was a member of the Prime Minister's Secretariat between 1917 and 1919 and Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs is a vacant junior position in the British government, subordinate to both the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and since 1945 also to the Minister of State for Foreign Affa ...
between 1919 and 1922 in Lloyd George's coalition government. He also served briefly as Acting Minister of Blockade
The onset of the 20th Century saw England as the world's foremost naval and colonial power, supported by a 100,000-man firefighting army designed to fight small wars in its outlying colonies. Since the Napoleonic Wars nearly a century earli ...
in 1919. In 1939 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Harmsworth, of Egham in the County of Surrey. He became a regular contributor in the House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...
, making his last speech in June 1945.
Apart from his political career Harmsworth was a director of Amalgamated Press
The Amalgamated Press (AP) was a British newspaper and magazine publishing company founded by journalist and entrepreneur Alfred Harmsworth (1865–1922) in 1901, gathering his many publishing ventures together under one banner. At one point the ...
and chairman of Associated Newspapers
DMG Media (stylised in lowercase) is an intermediate holding company for Associated Newspapers, Northcliffe Media, Harmsworth Printing, Harmsworth Media and other subsidiaries of Daily Mail and General Trust. It is based at Northcliffe House in ...
, founded by his brother Lord Northcliffe
Alfred Charles William Harmsworth, 1st Viscount Northcliffe (15 July 1865 – 14 August 1922), was a British newspaper and publishing magnate. As owner of the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Mirror'', he was an early developer of popular journal ...
. He published ''Pleasure and Problem in South Africa'' (1908), ''Immortals at First Hand'' (1933) and ''A Little Fishing Book'' (1942).
Harmsworth purchased Dr Johnson's House
Dr Johnson's House is a writer's house museum in London in the former home of the 18th-century English writer and lexicographer Samuel Johnson. The house is a Grade I listed building.
Description
Built at the end of the seventeenth century b ...
and restored it into a museum open to the public. He also was an active member of the Sylvan Debating Club
The Sylvan Debating Club is a free speech society in which topical issues are discussed. Founded in London in 1868, it meets monthly and employs a traditional motion-based debating format."The Sylvan Debating Club. Mr. Maxse and the Sanctity of C ...
, which was founded by his father, and served as its treasurer.
His diaries include social meetings with influential people including suffragists like Agnes Harben
Agnes Helen Harben (née Bostock; 15 September 1879 – 29 October 1961) was a British suffragist leader who also supported the militant suffragette hunger strikers, and was a founder of the United Suffragists.
Family and life
Harben was bor ...
and her husband.
Family
Lord Harmsworth married his cousin Emilie Alberta, daughter of William Hamilton Maffett, in 1897. His wife was born in 1873 and died in 1942. Lord Harmsworth survived her by six years and died in August 1948, aged 78. He was succeeded in the barony by his eldest surviving son, Cecil.
Arms
References
External links
*
Cecil Harmsworth papers at the University of Exeter
{{DEFAULTSORT:Harmsworth, Cecil Harmsworth, 1st Baron
1869 births
1948 deaths
Cecil
Cecil may refer to:
People with the name
* Cecil (given name), a given name (including a list of people and fictional characters with the name)
* Cecil (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name)
Places Canada
*Cecil, Alberta, ...
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1906–1910
UK MPs 1910–1918
UK MPs 1918–1922
UK MPs who were granted peerages
Barons created by George VI