[1st Viscount]. British politician and lawyer, born in London on the 23rd of February 1856. He was educated at Merchant Taylors’ school and St. John’s College, Oxford, and was called to the bar in 1880. He practised at the Chancery bar, and in 1904 became a K.C. In 1906 he was elected Unionist M.P. for Kingston, and on the formation of the Coalition Government in 1915 was made Solicitor-General and knighted. He became Home Secretary in 1916 on the accession of Mr. Lloyd George to power, and in this capacity was very prominent in the debates in the House of Commons on the police strike of August 1918. In November 1918 he resigned office, and was created a viscount, becoming in January 1919 a lord of appeal.
