Philip Snowden 1st Viscount Snowden

Philip Snowden Snowden, 1st Viscount , 1864-1937, British statesman. Born to poverty, he was a civil service clerk until crippled by a spinal ailment. Resigning in 1893, he began to work for the Independent Labour party (ILP). He was twice (1903-6, 1917-20) chairman of the party, but resigned in 1927 in favor of the Labour party proper as a protest against what he considered the revolutionary tendencies of the ILP. He belonged to the pacifist minority of the socialist group during World War I. Snowden served in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1918 and from 1922 until 1931. As an acknowledged specialist in finance, he became chancellor of the exchequer in the Labour ministries formed by Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929. He won popularity by his refusal to accept a reduction in the British share of German reparations in the Young Plan (1929). However, his rigidly orthodox financial measures, including the maintenance of free trade and balanced budgets, were insufficient to stem the growing economic depression. Snowden remained chancellor in the national government of 1931 and announced (1931) the suspension of the gold standard. Created Viscount Snowden of Ickornshaw in 1931, he served (1931-32) as lord privy seal but resigned when free trade was abandoned.

Bibliography: See his autobiography (1934); biography by K. Laybourne (1988).

Snowden, Philip, 1st Viscount (1864–1937) British politician. Permanently crippled in a bicycle accident, he became a socialist and worked for the INDEPENDENT LABOUR PARTY as a journalist. Elected to Parliament for Blackburn in 1906, he became known for his outspoken views, opposing British intervention in World War I, and advocating self-government for India. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1924 and 1929–31, and again in 1931–32 in the NATIONAL GOVERNMENT. He did not support the GENERAL STRIKE of 1926 and his cautious approach to welfare spending alienated many Labour supporters. His 1931 budget, which reduced unemployment benefits because of the alarming international financial crisis, further antagonized them. The abandonment of FREE TRADE under the OTTAWA AGREEMENTS caused his resignation.

Snowden, Philip, Viscount Snowden of Ickornshaw (b. 18 July 1864, d. 15 May 1937). British Chancellor of the Exchequer 1924, 1929–31 Born in Ickornshaw, Yorkshire, and educated in York. He worked as a school teacher, an insurance clerk, and for the Inland Revenue. He joined the Independent Labour Party in 1894, was its Chairman in 1903–6, and became an MP for Blackburn in 1906. He opposed British entry into World War I and lost his seat in 1918, though he was re-elected for Colne Valley in 1922. A crucial moderating influence upon the Labour Party, he insisted that only moderate and gradual policies would ensure electoral success. As the party's first Chancellor of the Exchequer under MacDonald in 1924, therefore, he surprised many by proposing a tax-cutting budget. As Chancellor of the Exchequer again in 1929, he rejected schemes to tackle unemployment through public spending, and in 1931, supported the proposal to cut unemployment benefits, which resulted in MacDonald forming the National Government. He was, briefly, Chancellor of the Exchequer in this government, but went to the House of Lords as Lord Privy Seal in November 1931. The lifelong free trader resigned the following year, in opposition to the imposition of protection (tariff reform) in the Ottawa Agreements.