Henry Hobhouse (MP)
Encyclopedia
Henry Hobhouse was an English landowner and Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1906.

Hobhouse was the son of Henry Hobhouse, of Hadspen House Somerset and his wife the Hon. Charlotte Etruria Talbot de Malahide daughter of Talbot de Malahide. He was educated at Eton
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....

 and was called to the Bar at Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...

. He practised as a parliamentary draughtsman and was a J.P.
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...

 for Somerset.

In the 1885 general election, Hobhouse was elected MP
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for East Somerset
East Somerset (UK Parliament constituency)
East Somerset was the name of a parliamentary constituency in Somerset, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom between 1832 and 1918....

. He held the seat until 1906. Hobhouse was particularly concerned with education. He was appointed to the Board of Education in 1900 and was behind the establishment of the 1902 Education Act
Education Act 1902
The Education Act 1902 , also known as Balfour's Act, is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom affecting education in England and Wales. At the time of passage of the Act, the Conservative Party was in power...

.

Hobhouse was involved in the founding of Sexey's School and Sunny Hill at Bruton
Bruton
Bruton is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated on the River Brue seven miles south-east of Shepton Mallet, just south of Snakelake Hill and Coombe Hill, ten miles north-west of Gillingham and twelve miles south-west of Frome in the South Somerset district. The town has a...

. He was also pro-chancellor of Bristol University and an honorary LLD of the University,. He worked hard on behalf of the university and left a collection of books to the library.

Hobhouse was a county figure and knowledgeable about local matters. A member of Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council
Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county.-Area covered:...

, he was responsible for forming the County Councils Association. He was also behind the establishment of the Cider Institute in 1902 and was its chairman.

Hobhouse lived at Hadspen House, Castle Cary
Castle Cary
Castle Cary is a market town and civil parish in south Somerset, England, north west of Wincanton and south of Shepton Mallet.The town is situated on the River Cary, a tributary of the Parrett.-History:...

, Somerset and died at the age of 83.

His daughter Rachel (1883–1981) married Sir George Felix Neville Clay, 5th Baronet, and had a son Sir Henry Felix Clay, 6th Baronet who was also an MP.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK