Henry Campbell-Bannerman

The Right Honourable Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (7 September 1836 – 22 April 1908) was a British Liberal statesman who served as Prime Minister from February 5 1906 until resigning due to ill health on April 3 1908.

Related Topics:
The Right Honourable - 7 September - 1836 - 22 April - 1908 - British - Liberal - Statesman - Prime Minister - February 5 - 1906 - April 3

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Campbell-Bannerman was born at Kelvinside House in Glasgow in 1836 as "Henry Campbell" to Sir James Campbell, Lord Provost of Glasgow and Janet Bannerman. He was educated at Glasgow High School, Glasgow University and Trinity College, Cambridge. In 1868 he was elected to the House of Commons as a Liberal, and entered Gladstone's second cabinet as Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1884. In Gladstone's Third (1886) and Fourth (1892-1894) Cabinets and Rosebery's Government (1894-1895) he served as Secretary for War, where his most notable accomplishment was persuading the Duke of Cambridge, the Queen's cousin, and an obstacle to necessary army reforms, to resign as Commander-in-Chief. This earned Campbell-Bannerman a knighthood. In 1898 Sir Henry succeeded Sir William Vernon Harcourt as leader of the Liberals in the House of Commons. Campbell-Bannerman had a difficult job holding together the strongly divided party, and when the Liberals returned to power in 1906, he became Prime Minister.

Related Topics:
Glasgow University - Trinity College, Cambridge - 1868 - House of Commons - Gladstone's - Chief Secretary for Ireland - 1884 - 1886 - 1892 - 1894 - 1895 - Queen's - 1898 - Sir William Vernon Harcourt - 1906 - Prime Minister

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Campbell-Bannerman's premiership was a frustrating one, as the Conservative Lords blocked most of the Liberals' reform measures, but it did see the achievement of an Entente with Russia in 1907 by his Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey. In that same year, Campbell-Bannerman achieved the honour of becoming the Father of the House, the only serving British Prime Minister to do so to date. But his health soon took a turn for the worse, and he died on 22 April 1908 at 10 Downing Street. He was succeeded as Prime Minister by his Chancellor of the Exchequer, Herbert Henry Asquith.

Related Topics:
Entente - 1907 - Sir Edward Grey - Father of the House - 22 April - 1908 - Chancellor of the Exchequer - Herbert Henry Asquith

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