Arthur Henderson, the son of a cotton spinner, was born in Glasgow
on 13th September, 1863. His father, suffered long periods of unemployment,
and so Arthur was forced to leave school at nine years old to find
work as an errand boy in a photographer's shop. Arthur's wages became
even more important to the family income after the death of his father
in 1874.
When Arthur's mother married Robert Heath, the family moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
At the age of twelve Arthur found work at the Robert
Stephenson locomotive works. Despite a ten hour day, Arthur attended
evening classes in an effort to improve his education.
Henderson had been brought up as a staunch Congregationalist,
but in 1879 he was converted by the preacher, Rodney Smith, to Methodism.
He became a lay preacher and an active member of the Temperance
Society.
After finishing his apprenticeship at seventeen, Arthur Henderson
moved to Southampton for a year and
then returned to work as a iron moulder in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Henderson became an active trade unionist and formed a reading a debating
society at the Stephenson locomotive works. In 1884 Henderson lost
his job and was out of work for fourteen months. Henderson used this
time to continue his education and to work as a lay preacher.
In 1892 Henderson was elected as a paid organiser of the Iron Founders
Union. Henderson was one of the worker representatives on the North
East Conciliation Board. A strong believer in arbitration and industrial
co-operation, Henderson opposed the formation of the General Federation
of Trade Unions as he believed it would increase the frequency of
industrial disputes.
On 27th February 1900, representatives of all the socialist groups
in Britain (the Independent Labour Party, the
Social Democratic Federation and the Fabian
Society, met with trade union leaders at the Memorial Hall in
Farringdon Street, London. Arthur Henderson was one of the 129 delegates
who decided to pass Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct
Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree
upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with
any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation
in the direct interests of labour." To make this possible the
Conference established a Labour Representation
Committee (LRC).
In 1903 Henderson was elected treasurer of the LRC. He was opposed
by members of the Independent Labour Party
who objected to the fact that Henderson was a liberal rather than
a socialist. In a by-election later that year, Henderson was elected
as MP for Barnard Castle. Three years later Henderson chaired the
conference at which the LRC was transformed into the Labour
Party. The party's first Chairman was James
Keir Hardie, but in 1908 he was replaced by Henderson.
Ramsay MacDonald became leader of the
Labour Party in 1911. However, he resigned
the post in 1914 because of his opposition to the First
World War. Henderson now became the new leader and in May 1915,
became the first member of the Labour Party
to hold a Cabinet post when Herbert Asquith
invited him to join his coalition government. Henderson was President
of the Board of Education (May, 1915 - October, 1916) and Paymaster
General (October, 1916 - August, 1917). Henderson resigned as a result
of David Lloyd-George, and the war Cabinet
voting against his proposal for an International Conference on the
war in Stockholm.
Arthur Henderson disagreed with those politicians who believed Germany
should be harshly treated after the First
World War, and as a result of the nationalist fervour of the 1918
General Election, he lost his seat. He returned to the House
of Commons the following year as MP for Widnes. Henderson became
chief whip of the party but was defeated at the 1922
General Election.
Elected for East Newcastle at a by-election at two months later, he
was defeated once again in the 1923 General Election.
He returned at a by-election at Burnley in February 1924 and joined
the government headed by Ramsay MacDonald
as Home Secretary.
Following Labour's defeat in the 1924 General
Election, Philip Snowden and other
leading figures in the movement tried to persuade Henderson to stand
against MacDonald as leader of the party. Henderson refused and once
again became chief whip of the party where he tried to unite the party
behind MacDonald's leadership. Henderson was also the main person
responsible for Labour and the Nation,
a pamphlet that attempted to clarify the political aims of the Labour
Party.
After the 1929 General Election victory,
Ramsay MacDonald appointed Henderson
as his Foreign Secretary. In this post Henderson attempted to reduce
political tensions in Europe. Diplomatic relations were re-established
with the Soviet Union and Henderson gave his full support to the League
of Nations by arguing for international arbitration, de-militarization
and collective security.
In 1931 Philip Snowden, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, suggested that the Labour government should introduce
new measures to balance the budget. This included a reduction in unemployment
pay. Several ministers, including Henderson, George
Lansbury and Joseph Clynes, refused
to accept the cuts in benefits and resigned from office.
Ramsay MacDonald was angry that his
Cabinet had voted against him and decided to resign. When he saw George
V that night, he was persuaded to head a new coalition government
that would include Conservative and
Liberal leaders as well as Labour
ministers. Most of the Labour Cabinet totally rejected the idea and
only three, Jimmy Thomas, Philip
Snowden and John Sankey agreed to
join the new government.
In October, MacDonald called an election. The 1931
General Election was a disaster for the Labour
Party with only 46 members winning their seats. Henderson lost
his seat at Burnley but returned to the House
of Commons at a by-election at Clay Cross in September 1933.
Over the next few years Henderson worked tirelessly for world peace.
Between 1932 and 1935 he chaired the Geneva Disarmament Conference
and in 1934 his work was recognised when he was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize. Arthur Henderson died in London
on 20th October, 1935.
(1)
Bruce Glasier, diary entry (May, 1915)
This is the first instance of a member of the Labour Party joining
the government. Henderson is a clever, adroit, rather limited-minded
man - domineering and a bit quarrelsome - vain and ambitious. He will
prove a fairly capable official front-bench man, but will hardly command
the support of organised Labour.
(2)
Ramsay
MacDonald appointed Clement
Attlee as Postmaster General in 1929. He wrote about MacDonald's
government in his autobiography, As It Happened (1954)
Many members of the Government, of whom I was one, were seriously
disturbed at the lack of constructive policy displayed by the leaders
of the Government. We were also conscious of a growing estrangement
between MacDonald and the rest of the Party. He was increasingly mixing
only with people who did not share the Labour outlook. This opposition,
however, did not crystallise, because the one man who could have taken
MacDonald's place, Arthur Henderson, was too loyal to lend himself
to any action against his leader.
Instead
of deciding on a policy and standing or falling by it, MacDonald and
Snowden persuaded the Cabinet to agree to the appointment of an Economy
Committee, under the chairmanship of Sir George May of the Prudential
Insurance Company, with a majority of opponents of Labour on it. The
result might have been anticipated. The proposals were directed to
cutting the social services and particularly unemployment benefit.
Their remedy for an economic crisis, one of the chief features of
which was excess of commodities over effective demand, was to cut
down the purchasing power of the masses. The majority of the Government
refused to accept the cuts and it was on this issue that the Government
broke up. Instead of resigning, MacDonald accepted a commission from
the King to form a so-called 'National' Government.
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