Arthur Henderson

The British statesman Arthur Henderson (1863-1935) was an architect of the Labour party and served as foreign secretary from 1929 to 1931.

Arthur Henderson, the second son of a Scottish cotton spinner, David Henderson, was born in Glasgow on Sept. 13, 1863. He grew up in a poor but hardworking family and attended school in Glasgow and in Newcastle upon Tyne in Northumbria. At age 12 he terminated his schooling and began working in a local foundry.

In his late teens several things happened that profoundly influenced Henderson for the remainder of his life. He happened to hear the famed evangelist Gipsy Smith, who was a captain in the Salvation Army. Henderson was captured by the evangelist's eloquence and joined a local Wesleyan Methodist church. He also became interested in the trade union movement and joined the Friendly Society of Iron founders (later renamed the National Union of Foundry Workers).

Henderson entered politics as an admirer of William Gladstone, who was then in the twilight of his long career. He engaged in local politics as a member of the radical wing of the Liberal party, and in 1892 he was elected a member of the Newcastle City Council. It was the first of several local positions that he held. Throughout this period of his life he remained active in trade union activities and rightfully deserves to be considered one of the founders of the emerging Labour party. In 1911 he became secretary of the Labour party and retained this position until 1934. He entered Parliament in 1903 as a member of the Independent Labour party.

In the House of Commons, Henderson quickly won the respect of his colleagues for his keen knowledge of social and labor problems. When World War I broke out in 1914, he replaced Ramsay MacDonald as Labour leader in the House, and in 1915 he was brought into H. H. Asquith's Cabinet as president of the board of education. Later he resigned this post and accepted the less demanding one of paymaster general. In 1916 the new prime minister, David Lloyd George, made him a member of his War Cabinet. After the first Russian revolution of 1917, Lloyd George sent him on an important mission to Russia. After his return from Russia, however, he broke with Lloyd George over the question of British representation at the proposed conference of international socialists to be held at Stockholm. Consequently, he resigned his Cabinet position and redirected his energies to Labour party affairs.

After the war Henderson remained an instrumental figure in party activities, and he continued to serve, with some interruptions, in the House of Commons. He is best remembered for the 2 years (1929-1931) he spent at the Foreign Office, where he championed policies such as support for the League of Nations and disarmament. He later presided over the World Disarmament Conference which met in Geneva in 1932. He received the Nobel Peace Prize for 1934.

Henderson was known in Labour party ranks as "Uncle Arthur" and was recognized internationally as an "Apostle of Peace." He was respected for his sincere and straightforward ways and throughout his life revealed a great strength of character based upon his strong religious convictions. In 1888 he married Eleanor Watson; they had three sons and one daughter. His family was extremely close and a source of great satisfaction to him. Henderson suffered a heart attack and died on Oct. 20, 1935.

Further Reading

The best biography of Henderson is Mary Agnes Hamilton, Arthur Henderson (1938). Edwin Alfred Jenkins, From Foundry to Foreign Office (1933), is a less complete, journalistic account of his life. Both authors knew Henderson and are sympathetic toward him. For his role in the Labour party, G. D. H. Cole, A History of the Labour Party from 1914 (1948), should be consulted. A perceptive chapter on Henderson's years at the Foreign Office can be found in Gordon A. Craig and Felix Gilbert, eds., The Diplomats, 1919-1939 (1953).

Additional Sources

Carlton, David, MacDonald versus Henderson: the foreign policy of the second Labour Government, New York, Humanities Press, 1970.

Carlton, David, MacDonald versus Henderson: the foreign policy of the second Labour Government, London, Macmillan, 1970.

Leventhal, F. M., Arthur Henderson, Manchester, UK; New York: Manchester University Press; New York: Distributed exclusively in the USA by St. Martin's Press, 1989.

Wrigley, Chris, Arthur Henderson, Cardiff: GPC Books, 1990. □

Henderson, Arthur (b. 20 Sept. 1863, d. 20 Oct. 1935). British Foreign Secretary 1929–31 Born in Glasgow, he grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he worked in an iron foundry, and was an active trade unionist. In 1903, he was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party, of which he became an important member, staying on the right of the party while remaining conscious of its trade-union constituency. In 1908–10, he was chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and in 1912 became secretary of the Labour Party, holding the post until 1934. On the outbreak of war in 1914, he took over from Ramsay MacDonald as chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party once again, and entered Asquith's coalition Cabinet in 1915. During the war, he was closely involved with the government's industrial relations, and when Lloyd George became Prime Minister in 1916, he was made a member of the select War Cabinet. He was forced to resign in 1917, when he advocated Labour participation in an international socialist conference which would be attended by representatives from all countries, including Britain's wartime enemies. He was briefly out of Parliament from 1918 until 1919, but was Home Secretary in the Labour government of 1924, and Foreign Secretary, 1929–31. When MacDonald formed the National Government in 1931, Henderson briefly became Labour leader. He lost his seat in 1931, but was returned to the Commons in 1933.

Henderson, Arthur (1863–1935). Labour politician. Brought up on Tyneside and apprenticed as an ironfounder, Henderson, then a fervent Gladstonian Liberal, moved slowly to the view that the political future of the manual working classes lay in separation from Liberalism. Elected as MP for Barnard Castle under the auspices of the Labour Representation Committee in 1903, Henderson succeeded to the secretaryship of its successor, the Labour Party, in 1911. Unlike Ramsay MacDonald, Henderson approved of the British war effort in 1914; he succeeded MacDonald as leader of the parliamentary Labour party, and in 1915 agreed to serve in Asquith's government, becoming a member of Lloyd George's war cabinet the following year. In 1917 he resigned from the government over his support for a negotiated peace, and while playing a major part in the constitutional restructuring of the Labour Party in 1918 he devoted himself increasingly to international reconciliation and support for the League of Nations; he was foreign secretary in the second Labour government.

Geoffrey Alderman

Arthur Henderson 1863–1935, British statesman, organizer and leader of the British Labour party . In early life he was an ironworker and a labor union leader. Elected (1903) to Parliament, he was chairman of the parliamentary Labour party (1908–10, 1914–17), president of the Board of Education (1915–16), paymaster general (1916), and a member of the war cabinet (1916–17). In Ramsay MacDonald's first ministry (1924) he was home secretary. As foreign secretary (1929–31) Henderson worked to moderate Franco-German problems and supported the League of Nations. He led Labour opposition to the formation of the National government in 1931 and lost his seat in Parliament. From 1932 until his death he was president of the World Disarmament Conference, and he was awarded the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize. His writings include The Aims of Labour (1919).

Bibliography: See biography by M. A. Hamilton (1938); study by D. Carlton (1970).

Henderson, Arthur (1863–1935). Labour politician. Brought up on Tyneside and apprenticed as an ironfounder, Henderson, then a Gladstonian Liberal, moved slowly to the view that the political future of the working classes lay in separation from Liberalism. Elected for Barnard Castle under the auspices of the Labour Representation Committee in 1903, Henderson succeeded to the secretaryship of its successor, the Labour Party, in 1911. Unlike Ramsay MacDonald, Henderson approved of the war in 1914; he succeeded MacDonald as leader of the parliamentary Labour party, and in 1915 agreed to serve in Asquith's government, becoming a member of Lloyd George's war cabinet the following year. In 1917 he resigned from the government over his support for a negotiated peace. He was foreign secretary in the second Labour government.