Arthur Oswald James Hope, 2nd Baron Rankeillour (7 May 1897 – 26 May 1958) was a British politician, soldier and administrator. He was a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

and served as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

for

Nuneaton Nuneaton ( ) is a market town in the borough of Nuneaton and Bedworth in northern Warwickshire, England, close to the county border with Leicestershire and West Midlands County.OS Explorer Map 232 : Nuneaton & Tamworth: (1:25 000) : Nuneaton's ...

from 1924 to 1929 and for Birmingham Aston from 1931 to 1939, after which he was Governor of the

Madras Presidency The Madras Presidency, or the Presidency of Fort St. George, also known as Madras Province, was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At its greatest extent, the presidency included most of southern India, including the ...

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

from 1940 to 1946. Hope was born to the first Lord Rankeillour in 1897 and had his early education in England. He served with distinction in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

during the

First World War 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 ...

and entered public life soon after his military service was over. Hope married Grizel Gilmour (daughter of Brig.-Gen. Sir Robert Wolrige Gordon, 8th of Craigmillar and 13th of Liberton, 1st Bt. and Lady Susan Lygon) in 1919 and had four daughters. He died on 26 May 1958, nineteen days after his 61st birthday.

Early life

Arthur Oswald James Hope was born to

James Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour James Fitzalan Hope, 1st Baron Rankeillour, PC (11 December 1870 – 14 February 1949), was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chairman of Ways and Means from 1921 to 1924 and again from 1924 to 1929. Background and education A mem ...

, by his marriage to Mabel Ellen Riddell, at

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An Civil parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish and latterly a ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

on 7 May 1897. His father had served as a Deputy Speaker of 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. ...

. Arthur was the eldest of four children, the others being Henry John Hope, 3rd Baron Rankeillour (1899–1967), Joan Mary Hope, and Richard Frederick Hope (1901–1964). Hope was educated at

The Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC Co-educational independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading. Founded in 1859 by Saint John Henry Newman, The Oratory has historical ties t ...

and at Sandhurst. He joined the

Coldstream Guards The Coldstream Guards is the oldest continuously serving regular regiment in the British Army. As part of the Household Division, one of its principal roles is the protection of the monarchy; due to this, it often participates in state ceremonia ...

in 1914 at the outbreak of the

and rose to be a

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. He was wounded in action in France and was

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

and the

Croix de Guerre The ''Croix de Guerre'' (, ''Cross of War'') is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awa ...

Public life

Hope left the army at the conclusion of the First World War and entered public life. He joined the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

and at the 1924 general election was elected to the

Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United Kingdom is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of Westminster, London. It alone possesses legislative suprema ...

from the Nuneaton constituency in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. Hope served a total of fourteen years in the House of Commons, representing Nuneaton from 1924 to 1929 and Birmingham Aston from 1931 to 1940. At the 1935 election, he defeated the only other candidate (Labour's Rudolph Putnam Messel) by a margin of 10,355 votes. He was still a member of the House of Commons when appointed as Governor of Madras but gave up his seat, thereby causing a by-election in Birmingham Aston. Hope served as the

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to Colonel George Lane Fox,

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines is a now defunct office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade. In 1929, the department took over responsibility for petroleum. In 1940, the department was divided with Geoffrey ...

from 1924 to 1926 and was a whip from 1935 to 1939, first as an unpaid Assistant Whip in 1935, then as an unpaid

Lord of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...

from 1935 to 1937, as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household from May 1937 to October 1937 and finally as

Treasurer of the Household The Treasurer of the Household is a member of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. The position is usually held by one of the government deputy Chief Whips in the House of Commons. The current holder of the office is Ma ...

from 1937 to 1939. He was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

er for a time and played a

first-class match First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

for the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

against

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

at Fenners Ground on 7 June 1926.

As Governor of Madras

Hope was appointed Governor of Madras in 1940 and succeeded

John Erskine, Lord Erskine John Francis Ashley Erskine, Lord Erskine GCSI, GCIE (12 April 1895 – 3 May 1953) was a British soldier, Conservative Party politician and administrator who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Weston-super-Mare and Brighton. Erskine also ...

on 12 March 1940. Hope served as the Governor throughout the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the Japanese conquest of

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, there were strong apprehensions about possible Japanese attacks on coastal Indian cities. On 18 April 1942, in a secret communication to

Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow, (24 September 1887 – 5 January 1952) was a British Unionist politician, agriculturalist, and colonial administrator. He served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943 ...

, the

Viceroy of India The Governor-General of India (1773–1950, from 1858 to 1947 the Viceroy and Governor-General of India, commonly shortened to Viceroy of India) was the representative of the monarch of the United Kingdom and after Indian independence in 19 ...

, Hope described reports of a Japanese force heading towards India. There were Japanese air raids on the coastal towns of

Vizagapatam , image_alt = , image_caption = From top, left to right: Visakhapatnam aerial view, Vizag seaport, Simhachalam Temple, Aerial view of Rushikonda Beach, Beach road, Novotel Visakhapatnam, INS Kursura submarine museum, ...

and

Cocanada Kakinada ( formerly called Kakinandiwada, Coringa, and Cocanada; ) is the sixth largest city of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and serves as the district headquarters of the Kakinada District. It lies on the coast of the Bay of Bengal. J. ...

on 6 April 1942 followed by sea attacks on Madras port. Hope responded by evacuating commercial and administrative establishments and business offices along the Madras coast and moving them inland. Madras was in a state of emergency when Hope assumed his post, as the last elected government had resigned in October 1939. An anti-British campaign, the

Quit India Movement The Quit India Movement, also known as the August Kranti Movement, was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8th August 1942, during World War II, demanding an end to British rule in ...

, was launched in 1942. The provincial governments responded with a crackdown. Hope imposed censorship of newspapers in the Presidency and reporting on internal politics was suppressed. In protest against the government's actions, newspapers all over India were suspended for a day. Hope responded by withdrawing special privileges accorded to striking newspapers. Due to economic reasons, the different battalions of the

Madras Regiment The Madras Regiment is the oldest infantry regiment of the Indian Army, originating in the 1750s. The regiment took part in numerous campaigns with both the British Indian Army and the post-independence Indian Army. History The town of Madras wa ...

had been disbanded in stages. With the transferring of the 1st Battalion in 1928, the Madras Regiment ceased to exist. When Hope became governor in 1940, he tried to revive the Madras Regiment and canvassed for the same. Due to the efforts of Hope, the Madras Regiment was revived in 1942 and Hope was appointed the regiment's first Colonel-in-chief. A training centre was raised at

Madukkarai Madukkarai is a suburb of Coimbatore city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the gateway to Coimbatore city from Kerala State and is located around 12 km from the Kerala border. The Coimbatore International Airport is about 27&nbs ...

Coimbatore district Coimbatore district is one of the 38 districts in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. Coimbatore is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is one of the most industrialized districts and a major textile, industrial, commercial, educ ...

in July 1942 and the regiment fought with distinction in the Burma campaign. In 1945, Hope inaugurated a polytechnic college built by

G. D. Naidu G. D. Naidu (Gopalaswamy Doraiswamy Naidu) (23 March 1893 – 4 January 1974) was an Indian inventor and engineer who is referred to as the " Edison of India" and "the wealth creator of Coimbatore". He is credited with the manufacture of the fi ...

Coimbatore Coimbatore, also spelt as Koyamputhur (), sometimes shortened as Kovai (), is one of the major metropolitan cities in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyyal River and surrounded by the Western Ghats. Coimbato ...

which was later named "Arthur Hope Polytechnic" in his honour. The polytechnic was later upgraded to a college of science and technology and renamed Government College of Science and Technology in 1950. Though the college was renamed and moved to a new campus, the area where it was originally located is still called "Hope College".

Embezzlement and forced resignation

Hope's tenure came to an end on 26 February 1946. Papers preserved at

The National Archives National archives are central archives maintained by countries. This article contains a list of national archives. Among its more important tasks are to ensure the accessibility and preservation of the information produced by governments, both ...

indicate

Lord Wavell Field Marshal Archibald Percival Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell, (5 May 1883 – 24 May 1950) was a senior officer of the British Army. He served in the Second Boer War, the Bazar Valley Campaign and the First World War, during which he was wounded ...

(by then Viceroy) and the British government feared scandal after it became known to officials that Hope was receiving loans from wealthy Indians to pay off large debts incurred by Hope "speculating on the racecourse" before his appointment. Hope eventually claimed this assumption was accurate. It was feared by Lord Wavell that Hope might be sued if he was merely removed from office; governors had protection from litigation while they remained in office. It was decided that Hope must be quickly removed as governor without raising suspicion. Hope was diagnosed as suffering from Tropical Neurasthenia, a pseudo-medical health condition used at the time for the cover of Europeans returning home. Hope was succeeded by

Henry Foley Knight Sir Henry Foley Knight KCSI CIE (b. 19 January 1886 - d. 1960) was a British administrator and civil servant who served as the Acting Governor of Madras in 1946. Early life Henry Foley Knight was born to John Henry Knight and Elizabeth Bligh ...

in early March 1946 who served as the Acting Governor till the arrival of Hope's designated successor

Archibald Edward Nye Lieutenant-general (United Kingdom), Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Edward Nye, (23 April 1895 – 13 November 1967) was a senior British Army officer who served in both world wars. In the latter he served as Vice Chief of the General Staff ( ...

. Nye told his superiors in September 1946, that he discovered Hope had misappropriated 50,000 rupees (£3,750) given to him the previous year and intended for the Red Cross in India (equivalent to £ in ). Other money given to Hope was found to have been misappropriated in the same way; no proper auditing of what was termed a "special pod account" had taken place. The prime minister of the day,

Clement Attlee Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...

, consented in April 1947 for Hope's debts to paid off from British government funds. An account based in India was used to prevent any indication to the local population London had become involved in the issue. Hope is thought to have misappropriated about £40,000 (equivalent to £ in ) to settle his debts. His obituary in ''

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 ...

'', published in 1958, maintained the official account given a decade earlier: "He was compelled by ill-health to resign . . . before his extended term of office was complete."

Honours

Hope was appointed to the

Order of the Indian Empire The Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria on 1 January 1878. The Order includes members of three classes: #Knight Grand Commander (GCIE) #Knight Commander ( KCIE) #Companion ( CIE) No appoi ...

as a Knight Grand Commander in 1939 just before his appointment as Governor of Madras. Arthur Hope succeeded to the barony on the death of his father, the 1st Baron on 14 February 1949.

Death

Hope died on 26 May 1958 at the age of 61.

Family

On 2 June 1919, at the age of 22, Hope married Grizel Gilmour, the second daughter of Brigadier-General Sir Robert Gordon Gilmour (1857–1939) and Lady Susan Lygon (1870–1962). The couple had four daughters: * Bridget Mary Hope (b. 1920) * Jean Margaret Hope (b. 1923) * Alison Mary Hope (b. 1927) * Barbara Mary Hope (b. 1930) On Hope's death in 1958, as he had no son, his title and Scottish estate were inherited by his younger brother, Henry John Hope (1899–1967), a barrister.

Notes

External links

CricketArchive: Arthur Hope
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hope, Arthur Rankeillour, Arthur Hope, 2nd Baron Rankeillour, Arthur Hope, 2nd Baron Rankeillour, Arthur Hope, 2nd Baron British Army cricketers British Army personnel of World War I Coldstream Guards officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Embezzlement English cricketers Governors of Madras Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst

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 ...

Knights Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939 Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Recipients of the Military Cross Treasurers of the Household UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Military personnel from London Rankeillour, Arthur Hope, 2nd Baron