Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee PC (19 November 1838 – 9 January 1906) was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
businessman and politician. He served as
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
from 1900 to 1902 and as
Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
from 1902 to 1903.
Ritchie was born at
DundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and, fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It lies on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the third son of William Ritchie, of Rockhill near Broughty Ferry in Forfarshire, head of the firm of William Ritchie & Sons, of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and Dundee, East India merchants, jute spinners and manufacturers.
Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee PC (19 November 1838 – 9 January 1906) was a
BritishThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is a sovereign state located off the northwestern coast of continental Europe. It is an island country, spanning an archipelago including Great Britain, the northeastern part of Ireland, and many small islands...
businessman and politician. He served as
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
from 1900 to 1902 and as
Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
from 1902 to 1903.
Background and education
Ritchie was born at
DundeeDundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and, fully named as Dundee City, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. It lies on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea....
,
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, the third son of William Ritchie, of Rockhill near Broughty Ferry in Forfarshire, head of the firm of William Ritchie & Sons, of
London[]London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. It has been a major settlement for two millennia, and the history of London goes back to its founding by the Romans, when it was named Londinium. London's core, the ancient City of London, the 'square mile', retains its medieval boundaries...
and Dundee, East India merchants, jute spinners and manufacturers. The Ritchie family had long been connected with the town of Dundee. His elder brother James Ritchie was
Lord Mayor of LondonThe Right Honourable Lord Mayor of London is the legal title for the Mayor of the City of London Corporation. The Lord Mayor of London is to be distinguished from the Mayor of London; the former is an officer only of the City of London, while the Mayor of London is the Mayor of Greater London and...
from 1903 to 1904 and was created a Baronet in 1903 (a title which became extinct on his death; see
Ritchie BaronetsThere have been two Baronetcies created for persons with the surname Ritchie, both in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. Both creations are extinct....
). Ritchie was educated at the
City of London SchoolThe City of London School is a boys' independent day school on the banks of the River Thames in the City of London, England. It is the brother school of the City of London School for Girls and of the co-educational City of London Freemen's School...
, after which he went into business.
He married Margaret Ower, daughter of Thomas Ower of Perth, on 7 December 1858.
Political career
In 1874 was returned to parliament as
ConservativeThe Conservative and Unionist Party, more commonly known as the Conservatives, the Conservative Party, or Tory Party is a conservative political party in the United Kingdom...
member for the
Tower HamletsTower Hamlets was a constituency in, Middlesex, England from 1832 to 1885. It elected two members to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
. In 1885 he was made secretary to the
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty.In...
, and from 1886 to 1892 was
President of the Local Government BoardThe President of the Local Government Board was a ministerial post, frequently a Cabinet position, in the United Kingdom, established in 1871. The Local Government Board itself was established in 1871 and took over supervisory functions from the Board of Trade and the Home Office, including the...
in Lord Salisbury's second administration, sitting as member for St Georges in the East. He was responsible for the
Local Government Act 1888The Local Government Act 1888 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which established county councils and county borough councils in England and Wales...
, instituting county councils; and a large section of the Conservative party always owed him a grudge for having originated the
London County CouncilLondon County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889-1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
.
In Lord Salisbury's later ministries, as member for
CroydonCroydon is a major commercial centre in Greater London and the principal settlement of the London Borough of Croydon. It is south of Charing Cross, and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan...
(1895–1906), he was President of the Board of Trade (1895–1900) and
Home SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Home Department, commonly known as the Home Secretary, is the minister in charge of the Home Office of the United Kingdom, and one of the country's four Great Offices of State...
(1900–1902); and when Sir Michael Hicks-Beach retired in 1902, he became
Chancellor of the ExchequerThe Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called The Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...
in
Balfour'sArthur James Balfour, 1st Earl of Balfour, KG, OM, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician and statesman...
cabinet. Though in his earlier years he had been a fair-trader, he was strongly opposed to
Colonial SecretaryThe Secretary of State for the Colonies or Colonial Secretary was the British Cabinet official in charge of managing the various British colonies. The position was first created in 1768 to deal with the increasingly troublesome North American colonies...
Joseph Chamberlain'sJoseph Chamberlain was an influential British businessman, politician, and statesman.In his early years Chamberlain was a radically minded Liberal Party member, a campaigner for educational reform, and President of the Board of Trade. He later became a Liberal Unionist in alliance with the...
movement for a preferential tariff, and he was sacked by Balfour in September 1903.
On 22 December 1905, he was created a peer as
Baron Ritchie of Dundee, of Welders in the Parish of Chalfont St Giles in the County of Buckingham. However, he was in ill-health, and died at
BiarritzBiarritz is a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast, in south-western France. It is a luxurious seaside town and is popular with tourists and surfers....
in January 1906. He was succeeded in the title by his second but only surviving son, Charles.