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Leslie Haden-Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest

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The Right Honourable
The Lord Haden-Guest
MC
Member of Parliament
for Islington North
In office
13 October 1937 – 3 February 1950
Preceded byAlbert Goodman
Succeeded byMoelwyn Hughes
Member of Parliament
for Southwark North
In office
6 December 1923 – 1927
Preceded byEdward Strauss
Succeeded byEdward Strauss
Personal details
Born(1877-03-10)10 March 1877
Oldham, Lancashire, England
Died20 August 1960(1960-08-20) (aged 83)
Political partyLabour
Alma materOwens College, Manchester
Military service
Allegiance British Empire
Branch/serviceBritish Army
RankMajor
UnitRoyal Army Medical Corps
Battles/warsSecond Boer War
World War I
World War II

Leslie Haden-Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest, MC (10 March 1877 – 20 August 1960) was a British author, journalist, doctor and Labour Party politician.

Early life

Haden-Guest was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, the son of Catharine Anna (née Johnson) and Alexander Haden-Guest,[1] a doctor and surgeon of Manchester who was an active worker for the Left. He was educated first at William Hulme's Grammar School, then studied medicine at Owens College, Manchester and the London Hospital.

Career

Haden-Guest served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Boer War, World War I, and World War II, being awarded the Military Cross. He was the founder of the Anglo-French Committee of the Red Cross. He was a member of the London County Council for Woolwich East (1919–1922).

He was a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Southwark North from 1923 until 1927 when he resigned in protest at Labour's opposition to sending troops to Shanghai.[2][3] He unsuccessfully contested Wycombe in the 1931 election, but succeeded in Islington North at the 1937 by-election where he remained an MP until 1950 upon his elevation to the peerage.

Haden-Guest founded the Labour Party Commonwealth Group, and was a member of the Anderson Committee whose work led to the development of the Government's Evacuation Scheme during summer 1938.

During the Second World War Haden-Guest contributed to a social survey published by the Fabian Society regarding evacuation. He recommended that school meals and milk should be supplied irrespective of the financial circumstances of the parents. He argued that to discriminate on grounds of income would be 'socially and psychologically disastrous'.[4]

Peerage

Haden-Guest was created a peer on 2 February 1950 as Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex,[5] and was a Lord-in-waiting to the King (February–October 1951), and thereafter an Assistant Opposition Whip in the House of Lords.

Personal life

In 1898, he married Edith, daughter of Max Low of London, by whom he had two sons, Stephen and Richard. The couple divorced in 1909 and in 1910 he married Muriel Carmel, the daughter of Albert Goldsmid. They had two sons, David, who was killed in the Spanish Civil War, and Peter; and a daughter, Angela. His third marriage was in 1944 to Edith Edgar MacQueen, daughter of George MacQueen, who was the first woman to be granted a Ph.D. by the University of St Andrews.[6] He was the grandfather of actor, writer, director, and musician Christopher Guest, who is now the 5th Baron, as well as the writer Anthony Haden-Guest.

Haden-Guest converted to Judaism before his marriage to Muriel Goldsmid, his second wife.[7] He "renounced Judaism" in 1924, describing himself subsequently as a "Konfessionslos".[8][9] He was the first Jew to stand for Parliament as a Labour candidate.[10]

Bertrand Russell described Haden-Guest as "a theosophist with a fiery temper and a considerable libido".[11]

References

  1. ^ Roberts, Ernest Stewar; Edward John Gross (1898). Biographical history of Gonville and Caius college, 1349-1897: containing a list of all known members of the college from the foundation to the present time, with biographical notes. University press. p. 554.
  2. ^ "Dr Haden Guest". Register (Adelaide, Sa : 1901 - 1929). 2 March 1927. p. 9.
  3. ^ Buchanan, Tom (2012). East Wind: China and the British Left, 1925-1976. ISBN 9780199570331.
  4. ^ Welshman, John (2010). Churchill's Children: The Evacuee Experience in Wartime Britain. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 179. ISBN 978-0-19-957441-4.
  5. ^ "No. 38830". The London Gazette. 3 February 1950. p. 594.
  6. ^ Aileen, Fyfe (22 March 2021). "Edith MacQueen". Women Historians St Andrews. University of St Andrews. Retrieved 14 July 2022.
  7. ^ Murray, William Henry (1952). Adam and Cain: symposium of old Bible history, Sumerian Empire, importance of blood of race, juggling juggernaut of the leaders of the Jews, the Gothic civilization of Adam and the ten commandments of his church. Murray.
  8. ^ Menorah Association (New York, N.Y.) (1957). "The Menorah Journal". 45. Intercollegiate Menorah Association: 93. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ "American Hebrew and Jewish Messenger". 141 (25). American Hebrew. 1937. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  10. ^ "the first Jewish Labour candidate, Captain Haden-Guest": The Jewish Chronicle 11 March 1966, page 8.
  11. ^ Russell, Bertrand (1969). Autobiography of Bertrand Russell (1914 - 1944). New York: Bantam Books. p. 136.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Southwark North
1923–1927 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Islington North
1937–1950 		Succeeded by
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Haden-Guest
1950–1960 		Succeeded by
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