[Herbert Albert Laurens]. British man of letters and politician, born in London on the 21st of March 1865. He was educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, being elected in 1888 to a fellowship at his own college. After further study in Paris and Göttingen, he returned to Oxford as tutor at New College, and soon earned recognition as a scholarly historian. He delivered the South African lectures in 1908, the Lowell lectures in 1909, and in 1911 was Chichele lecturer in modern history. He was also a member of the royal commission on the public services of India (1912–15). In 1912 he became vice-chancellor of Sheffield University. In 1915 he was appointed a member of the Government committee on German outrages. On the formation of Mr. Lloyd George’s Government in 1916, Mr. Fisher accepted the invitation to become Minister of Education, and was elected to Parliament for the Hallam division of Sheffield. In 1918 he became member for the English universities. An Education bill was introduced by him August 10, 1917, the most noteworthy proposals of which were the removal of the limit of the 2d. rate which might be raised by local authorities for education, the establishment of nursery schools for children under five, the amending of the law of school attendance, the placing of further restrictions upon the employment of children of school age, the improvement of measures for physical training, and the establishment of continuation schools for young people up to the age of eighteen.
Mr. Fisher has published The Medieval Empire (1898); Studies in Napoleonic Statesmanship (1903); A Political History of England (1906); Bonapartism (1908); Life of F. W. Maitland (1910); The Republican Tradition in Europe (1911); Political Unions (1911) and Napoleon Bonaparte (1913); besides essays and review articles.
