Frederic Herbert Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham, (20 October 1866 – 23 March 1958) was a British barrister and judge who was

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

from March 1938 until September 1939.

Background and education

Born in

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, Maugham was the second son of Robert Ormond Maugham, a solicitor, by his wife, Edith, daughter of Major Charles Snell. The author W. Somerset Maugham was his younger brother. His grandfather, Robert Maugham, was one of the founders of the Law Society. He was educated at Dover College and at

Trinity Hall, Cambridge Trinity Hall (formally The College or Hall of the Holy Trinity in the University of Cambridge, colloquially "Tit Hall" ) is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1350, it is th ...

. He rowed for the winning

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crew in the 1888 Boat Race and was also in the winning Trinity Hall Boat Club coxless four which won the

Stewards' Challenge Cup The Stewards' Challenge Cup is a rowing event for men's coxless fours at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through ...

Henley Royal Regatta Henley Royal Regatta (or Henley Regatta, its original name pre-dating Royal patronage) is a Rowing (sport), rowing event held annually on the River Thames by the town of Henley-on-Thames, England. It was established on 26 March 1839. It diffe ...

that year. He was in the winning Cambridge crew in the Boat Race again in 1889. He also became President of the Cambridge Union Society in Lent Term 1889.

Political and legal career

Maugham was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

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in 1890, and embarked upon a legal career, becoming a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

in 1913. In 1922, he briefly considered entering politics as a

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Member of Parliament but could not find a seat. He was a Judge of the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

(Chancery Division) from 1928 to 1934 and a

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

from 1934 to 1935. He was knighted in 1928 and sworn of the Privy Council in 1934. The following year he became a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary, was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

on 7 October 1935 and entered the

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as Baron Maugham, ''of Hartfield in the County of Sussex''. Three years later he was offered the position of

by Prime Minister

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from ...

. Such was Maugham's lack of political experience that Chamberlain and he had never met before. He was offered the role because there were very few obvious available choices amongst the ranks of parliamentary supporters of the National Government to replace the ailing Lord Hailsham—for the obvious successor, Sir Thomas Inskip, could not be moved from the position of Minister for Coordination of Defence. As Maugham was already 71 years old it was widely expected that he would prove to be a mere stop-gap appointment, to be succeeded by Inskip as soon as it was possible for the latter to leave Defence. However, by the time this occurred in early 1939, Chamberlain was sufficiently impressed with Maugham's work to offer to retain him, whilst allowing Inskip the opportunity to defer choosing between becoming Lord Chancellor or remaining in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

with the possibility of becoming

prime minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

, a choice that Hailsham had always regretted. Chamberlain intended to make a change at the next general election, which was expected to take place that year. However, war intervened and Chamberlain carried out a full-scale reconstruction of his government. As part of this Maugham was allowed to retire, to be finally succeeded by Inskip, who was ennobled as Viscount Caldecote. Maugham took the retirement honour, of being created Viscount Maugham, ''of Hartfield in the County of Sussex'' on 22 September 1939, which, unlike his barony, was hereditary. He again served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until 1941.

Family

Maugham married Helen Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Romer, in 1896. They had four children: *The Hon. Kate Mary Maugham (1897–1961, married Robert Charles Bruce) *The Hon. Edith Honor Maugham (1901–1996, married Sebastian Earl) *The Hon. Diana Julia Maugham (1908–2007, married Kenneth Marr-Johnson) * Robert Cecil Romer Maugham (1916–1981), 2nd Viscount. Known as Robin Maugham. He wrote about his father in two volumes of autobiography, ''Escape from the Shadows'' (1970) and ''Search for Nirvana'' (1977). Lady Maugham died in October 1950, aged 78. Lord Maugham survived her by seven years, dying in March 1958, aged 91. He is buried in the grounds of the parish church in Hartfield, East Sussex, alongside his wife and son.

Publications

*''The Case of Jean Calas'' published by W. Heinemann (1928) *''The Tichbourne Case'' (1936) *''Lies As Allies or Hitler at War'' published by

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(1941) *''The Truth About The Munich Crisis'' (1944) *''U.N.O. and War Crimes'' (1951) *''At The End of The Day'' (autobiography) (1951)

References

External links