Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham

The Right Honourable The Viscount Hailsham PC
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office 7 June 1935 – 9 March 1938
Monarchs	George V Edward VIII George VI
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by	The Viscount Sankey
Succeeded by	The Lord Maugham
In office 28 March 1928 – 4 June 1929
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by	The Viscount Cave
Succeeded by	The Viscount Sankey
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 5 November 1931 – 7 June 1935
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	The Marquess of Reading
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Londonderry
Secretary of State for War
In office 5 November 1931 – 7 June 1935
Preceded by	The Marquess of Crewe
Succeeded by	The Viscount Halifax
Lord President of the Council
In office 9 March 1938 – 31 October 1938
Prime Minister	Neville Chamberlain
Preceded by	The Viscount Halifax
Succeeded by	The Viscount Runciman of Doxford
Member of Parliament for St Marylebone
In office 15 November 1922 – 28 March 1928
Preceded by	Sir Samuel Scott
Succeeded by	Rennell Rodd
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 28 March 1928 – 16 August 1950 Hereditary peerage
Preceded by	peerage created
Succeeded by	2nd Viscount Hailsham
Personal details
Born	28 February 1872 (1872-02-28) England
Died	August 16, 1950(1950-08-16) (aged 78) England
Political party	Conservative
Spouse	Elizabeth Marjoribanks ​ ​ (m. 1905; died 1925)​

Douglas McGarel Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham, PC (28 February 1872 – 16 August 1950) was a British lawyer and Conservative politician.

Early life and career

Born in London, Hogg was the son of the merchant and philanthropist Quintin Hogg, seventh son of Sir James Hogg, 1st Baronet, and of Alice Anna Hogg, née Graham. He was educated at Cheam School and Eton College, before spending eight working for the family firm of sugar merchants, spending time in the West Indies and British Guiana.

After serving with the 19th (Berwick and Lothian) Yeomanry in the Boer War, he was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1902. He was appointed King's Counsel in 1917, and became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn in 1920.

Political career

Hogg was appointed Attorney General by Bonar Law in October 1922. Though not an MP, Hogg was chosen for the position because Bonar Law found himself short of law officers after the Conservative-Liberal coalition collapsed as a result of the Carlton Club meeting. Though he had been involved with Conservative politics before, his sudden appearance caused some comment. Harold Macmillan records the following exchange between the Earl of Derby and Duke of Devonshire:

'Ah,' said Lord Derby, 'you are too pessimistic. They have found a wonderful little man. One of those attorney fellows, you know. He will do all the work.' 'What's his name?', said the Duke. 'Pig,' said Lord Derby. Turning to me, the Duke replied, 'Do you know Pig? I know James Pigg [he was a great reader of Surtees]. I don't know any other Pig.' It turned out to be Sir Douglas Hogg! This was a truly Trollopian scene.

Hogg was elected to the House of Commons unopposed for St Marylebone in the 1922 general election. He received the customary knighthood and was sworn in the Privy Council in December 1922. Serving as Attorney General until Labour assumed office after the 1923 election, Hogg was reappointed to the post, with a seat in the Cabinet, when the Conservatives were returned to power in 1924.

As Attorney-General, Hogg guided the Trade Disputes Act of 1927 through the House of Commons after the general strike of 1926 which had ended with large-scale unemployment while those still employed were forced to accept longer hours, lower wages, and district wage agreements. The Trade Disputes and Trade Union Act made mass picketing and all sympathetic strikes illegal and directed that union members had to contract into any political levy. It also forbade civil service unions from affiliating with the Trades Union Congress.

Lord Chancellorship

On 29 March 1928, Hogg became Lord Chancellor in Stanley Baldwin's government, succeeding to the Viscount Cave, and on 5 April was created Baron Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex. His elevation to the peerage barred him from the premiership, and would later interfere with the political ambitions of his elder son, Quintin Hogg. He held the office until the government's defeat in 1929. In that year's Birthday Honours he was created Viscount Hailsham, of Hailsham in the County of Sussex.

Between 1930 and 1931 Hailsham was the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords. During that period, he was spoken of as Baldwin's potential successor. He was passed over for the Lord Chancellorship in the National Government of August–October 1931, and refused to join it as Lord Privy Seal. After the October 1931 elections he joined the second National Government as Secretary of State for War and Leader of the House of Lords.

In 1935, Hailsham returned to the Lord Chancellorship, first under Baldwin, then under Neville Chamberlain. During his second term, he was the last Lord High Steward to preside over the trial of a peer (the 26th Baron de Clifford) in the House of Lords. In 1938, ill-health led to his appointment as Lord President of the Council, a post with less onerous duties, but he had to retire from the government a few months later.

He died on 16 August 1950.

The first Viscount Hailsham served as President of the MCC in 1933. He was an important contributor to the diplomacy involved following the Bodyline Series problems of 1932-33 during the English Cricket tour of Australia under the captaincy of Douglas Jardine

Family

Lord Hailsham married Elizabeth Marjoribanks (née Brown), widow of Hon Archibald Marjoribanks, and daughter of James Trimble Brown of Tennessee, in 1905. They had two sons:

• Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham, later Baron Hailsham of St Marylebone (born 9 October 1907, died 12 October 2001), barrister, politician and Lord Chancellor who disclaimed the viscountcy and was later given a life peerage.
• Hon William Neil McGarel Hogg (born 1910, died 13 February 1995), diplomat.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by the Viscount Hailsham