William Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt: Difference between revisions
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{{Short description|British politician (1885–1957)}} |
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{{Use British English|date=November 2014}} |
{{Use British English|date=November 2014}} |
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{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} |
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} |
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{{Infobox |
{{Infobox officeholder |
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| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]] |
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| name = The Earl Jowitt |
| name = The Earl Jowitt |
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| honorific-suffix = [[Privy Council |
| honorific-suffix = [[Privy Council (United Kingdom)|PC]], [[King's Counsel|KC]] |
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| image = |
| image = William Jowitt.png |
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| caption = Jowitt in 1940 |
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| order1 = [[Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] |
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| order1 = [[Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] |
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| term_start1 = 27 July 1945 |
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| term_start1 = 27 July 1945 |
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| term_end1 = 26 October 1951 |
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| term_end1 = 26 October 1951 |
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| monarch1 = [[George VI of the United Kingdom|George VI]] |
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| monarch1 = [[George VI]] |
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| primeminister1 = [[Clement Attlee]] |
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| predecessor1 = [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|The Viscount Simon]] |
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| predecessor1 = [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|The Viscount Simon]] |
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| successor1 = [[Gavin Simonds, 1st Viscount Simonds|The Lord Simonds]] |
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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1885|04|15}} |
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| office2 = [[Shadow Leader of the House of Lords|Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords<br>Shadow Leader of the House of Lords]] |
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| birth_place = [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]] |
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| 1blankname2 = [[Leader of the Labour Party (UK)|Party Leader]] |
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|8|16|1885|4|15}} |
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| 1namedata2 = [[Clement Attlee]]<br>[[Herbert Morrison]] (acting)<br>[[Hugh Gaitskell]] |
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| death_place = [[Bury St Edmunds]], [[Suffolk]] |
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| term_start2 = 1952 |
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| nationality = [[British people|British]] |
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| term_end2 = 14 December 1955 |
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| party = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] |
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| predecessor2 = [[Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison|The Viscount Addison]] |
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| alma_mater = [[New College, Oxford]] |
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| successor2 = [[A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough|The Earl Alexander of Hillsborough]] |
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| spouse = Lesley McIntyre |
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{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Ministerial offices |
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|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder|embed = yes |
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| office3 = [[Paymaster General]] |
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| primeminister3 = [[Winston Churchill]] |
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| term_start3 = 4 March 1942 |
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| term_end3 = 1942 |
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| predecessor3 = [[Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey|Maurice Hankey]] |
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| successor3 = [[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Baron Cherwell]] |
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| office4 = [[Solicitor-General for England]] |
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| primeminister4 = Winston Churchill |
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| term_start4 = 15 May 1940 |
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| term_end4 = 4 March 1942 |
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| predecessor4 = [[Terence O'Connor]] |
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| successor4 = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|David Maxwell Fyfe]] |
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| office5 = [[Attorney-General for England]] |
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| primeminister5 = [[Ramsay MacDonald]] |
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| term_start5 = 7 June 1929 |
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| term_end5 = 26 January 1932 |
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| predecessor5 = [[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|Thomas Inskip]] |
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| successor5 = Thomas Inskip |
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{{collapsed infobox section end}} |
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}} |
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{{Collapsed infobox section begin|last=yes|Parliamentary offices |
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|titlestyle = border:1px dashed lightgrey;}}{{Infobox officeholder|embed = yes |
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| office6 = [[Member of the House of Lords]] |
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| status6 = [[Lord Temporal]] |
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| termlabel6 = [[Life peer]]age |
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| term_start6 = 2 August 1945 |
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| term_end6 = 16 August 1957 |
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| predecessor6 = |
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| successor6 = |
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| office7 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency)|Ashton-under-Lyne]] |
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| term_start7 = 28 October 1939 |
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| term_end7 = 2 August 1945 |
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| predecessor7 = [[Fred Simpson (politician)|Fred Simpson]] |
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| successor7 = [[Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes|Hervey Rhodes]] |
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| office8 = [[Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] |
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| alongside8 = [[Tom Shaw (politician)|Tom Shaw]] |
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| term_start8 = 30 May 1929 |
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| term_end8 = 27 October 1931 |
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| predecessor8 = [[Alfred Ravenscroft Kennedy]]<br>Tom Shaw |
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| successor8 = [[William Kirkpatrick (Conservative politician)|William Kirkpatrick]]<br>[[Adrian Moreing]] |
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| office9 = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[The Hartlepools (UK Parliament constituency)|The Hartlepools]] |
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| term_start9 = 15 November 1922 |
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| term_end9 = 29 October 1924 |
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| predecessor9 = [[W. G. Howard Gritten]] |
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| successor9 = [[Wilfrid Sugden]] |
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{{collapsed infobox section end}} |
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}} |
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| birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1885|04|15}} |
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| birth_place = [[Stevenage]], [[Hertfordshire]], England |
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| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1957|8|16|1885|4|15}} |
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| death_place = [[Bury St Edmunds]], [[Suffolk]], England |
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| nationality = [[British people|British]] |
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| party = {{Plainlist| |
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* [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] |
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* [[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] |
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* [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]}} |
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| alma_mater = [[New College, Oxford]] |
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| spouse = {{Marriage |Lesley McIntyre |1913}} |
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}} |
}} |
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'''William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|QC}} (15 April 1885 – 16 August 1957) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour politician]] and [[lawyer]], who served as [[Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] under [[Clement Attlee]] from [[United Kingdom general election, 1945|1945]] to [[United Kingdom general election, 1951|1951]]. |
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[[File:Jowitt Escutcheon.png|thumb|Arms of Jowitt: ''Azure, on a chevron argent between two chaplets of oak in chief and a lion sejant guardant in base or three bugle-horns stringed sable; crest: ''A lion sejant guardant gules the dexter forepaw supporting an escutcheon of the arms''; supporters: ''On either side a spaniel with a Chancellor's Purse proper that on the dexter charged with a rose argent and that on the sinister with a rose gules both barbed and seeded also proper suspended from the neck by a cord or; motto: ''Tenax et Fidelis'']] |
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'''William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC|KC|}} (15 April 1885 – 16 August 1957) was a British [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], [[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] and then [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician and [[lawyer]] who served as [[Lord Chancellor]] under [[Clement Attlee]] from [[1945 United Kingdom general election|1945]] to [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951]]. |
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==Background and education== |
==Background and education== |
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He was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the son of Reverend William Jowitt, [[Rector (ecclesiastical)|Rector]] of Stevenage, by his wife Louisa Margaret Allen. |
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At the age of nine, he was sent to Northaw Place, a [[Preparatory school (UK)|preparatory school]] in [[Potters Bar]], Middlesex, where he first met and was looked after by fellow student [[Clement Attlee]], the future [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom]]. |
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From Northaw, he went to [[Marlborough College]], then to [[New College, Oxford]] where he studied [[law]]. He was admitted to the [[Middle Temple]] on 15 November 1906 and was [[Call to the Bar|called to the Bar]] on 23 June 1909.<ref>Williamson, J.B. (1937). ''The Middle Temple Bench Book''. 2nd edition, p. 290.</ref> |
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</ref>. |
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==Legal and political career (1922–1931)== |
==Legal and political career (1922–1931)== |
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{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}} |
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Jowitt became a member of chambers in Brick Court in [[London]]. He proved himself a skilled advocate, attracting attention for his subdued and charming manner, at a time when barristers were more inclined to browbeat witnesses. He became a [[King's Counsel]] the day before the [[United Kingdom general election, 1922|1922 general election]], in which he was elected [[Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[The Hartlepools (UK Parliament constituency)|The Hartlepools]]. Jowitt was a member of the faction of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] led by [[H.H. Asquith]], and somewhat radical in his beliefs. He continued to practise law whilst a [[backbench]] MP, and was not considered a great orator in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]].{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} |
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Jowitt became a member of [[Brick Court Chambers|chambers in Brick Court]] in [[London]]. He proved himself a skilled advocate, attracting attention for his subdued and charming manner when barristers were more inclined to browbeat witnesses. He became a [[King's Counsel]] the day before the [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922 general election]] in which he was elected [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for [[The Hartlepools (UK Parliament constituency)|The Hartlepools]]. Jowitt was a member of the faction of the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] led by [[H. H. Asquith]] and somewhat radical in his beliefs. He continued to practise law whilst a [[backbench]] MP and was not considered a great orator in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]]. |
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Jowitt was re-elected, now part of the re-united Liberal Party, at the [[United Kingdom general election |
Jowitt was re-elected, now part of the re-united Liberal Party, at the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923 general election]], and in 1924, he was a member of the [[Royal Commission]] on Lunacy. He lost his seat in the [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924 general election]]. Jowitt stood successfully in [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] in the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]], again elected as a Liberal. Following the formation of a [[minority government|minority]] [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]] government, he was offered the position of [[attorney general]] by the new [[prime minister]], [[Ramsay MacDonald]]. |
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Labour had few experienced lawyers in its ranks in Parliament and had experienced problems filling the positions of legal officers in its first government. Jowitt agreed, but resigned his seat and stood again as a candidate for the Labour Party. At the [[1929 Preston by-election|by-election in July 1929]], Preston re-elected him with an increased majority. As was customary, Jowitt received a [[knighthood]] upon becoming attorney general. His work mainly concerned the drafting of government [[bill (proposed law)|bills]], particularly the reversal of the [[Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927]]. |
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As was still the custom for the attorney general, he occasionally prosecuted in high-profile cases, notably [[Sidney Harry Fox]], charged with murdering his mother by suffocating her and then setting fire to her hotel room. It was said that a single question from Jowitt ("Explain to me why you shut the door?") sealed Fox's fate since Fox could think of no convincing answer. |
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==Divided loyalties (1931–1939)== |
==Divided loyalties (1931–1939)== |
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When the Labour government split over the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|financial crisis in 1931]], Jowitt was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to follow MacDonald into the [[UK National Government|National Government]]. He was uncomfortable in a coalition with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] |
When the Labour government split over the [[Great Depression in the United Kingdom|financial crisis in 1931]], Jowitt was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to follow MacDonald into the [[UK National Government|National Government]]. He was uncomfortable in a coalition with the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservatives]] but believed that the proposed spending cuts causing the split were necessary, and the coalition was necessary to force them through. Like others who joined the National Government, he was expelled from the Labour Party. |
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He was made a [[Privy Councillor]] but found himself in a difficult electoral position when he could not secure the withdrawal of the Conservative candidate in Preston in the [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931 general election]]. He thus stood instead as the [[National Labour Organisation|National Labour]] candidate for the [[Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)|Combined English Universities]], but there too, he competed with other candidates supporting the National Government and was defeated. MacDonald persuaded Jowitt to remain as Attorney General in the hope that a new seat could be found to maintain the handful of National Labour positions in the government, but that proved impossible and Jowitt stepped down. He was replaced as Attorney General in January 1932 and returned to the Bar. Though relatively new to the party, Jowitt greatly regretted the split with Labour. He remained close to MacDonald, but after [[Stanley Baldwin]] became Prime Minister in 1935, Jowitt began campaigning for Labour. |
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A number of [[constituency Labour Parties]] attempted to nominate him as their candidate for the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|general election that year]], but he was still expelled. Unable to stand for Labour, he refused to stand for any other party or as an independent. |
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Jowitt was readmitted to the Labour Party in November 1936. Still a public figure, he was a critic of the National Government's policy of [[appeasement]], and in 1937, he called for the state control of the arms industry and rapid rearmament to face the growing threat of fascism on the Continent. |
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In February 1939 he called for the recreation of the [[Ministry of Munitions]]. In October, he was adopted as Labour's candidate at a [[1939 Ashton-under-Lyne by-election|by-election]] in [[Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency)|Ashton-under-Lyne]] and was elected unopposed, due to the [[war-time electoral pact]].<ref>[[Kay Halle]], The Irrepressible Churchill, (Robson Books, 1966), 44</ref> |
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==Churchill ministry (1940–1945)== |
==Churchill ministry (1940–1945)== |
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{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}} |
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Eight months later, [[Winston Churchill]] appointed Jowitt as [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Solicitor General]] in his coalition government, in this capacity he dispensed legal advice to the government for two years of [[World War II|the war]] before being placed in charge of planning for reconstruction. He also held Cabinet positions that were mostly sinecures such as [[Paymaster General]] and then [[Minister without Portfolio]] while in this role. In 1944 he became [[Minister of National Insurance]] at the head of a new government department. He resigned from the government when Labour left the coalition in May 1945, following victory in Europe, and was re-elected for Ashton-under-Lyne in the [[United Kingdom general election, 1945|general election in July]]. |
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Eight months later, [[Winston Churchill]] appointed Jowitt as [[Solicitor General for England and Wales|Solicitor General]] in his coalition government. Jowitt dispensed legal advice to the government for two years in [[World War II]] before he was placed in charge of planning for reconstruction. He also held Cabinet positions that were mostly sinecures such as [[Paymaster General]] and then [[Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom)|Minister without Portfolio]] in that role. |
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In 1944, he became [[Minister of National Insurance]] at the head of a new government department. He resigned from the government when Labour left the coalition in May 1945, after [[Victory in Europe Day]], and he was re-elected for Ashton-under-Lyne in the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|general election in July]]. |
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==Lord Chancellor (1945–1951)== |
==Lord Chancellor (1945–1951)== |
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After a landslide victory in the 1945 election, Labour formed its first majority government. Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] appointed Jowitt as [[Lord Chancellor]]. As soon as he was appointed, Jowitt met with [[US Supreme Court]] Justice [[Robert H. Jackson]] to resolve outstanding points of contention over the draft [[London Charter of the International Military Tribunal|London Charter]], which would govern the procedures of the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. He retained the Conservative MP and outgoing Attorney General, [[David Patrick Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe]], as the official liaison but indicated that the new Attorney General, [[Hartley Shawcross|Sir Hartley Shawcross]], would serve as Britain's Chief Prosecutor in the trials themselves. |
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Jowitt introduced and saw signed the [[United Nations Act 1946]], the legislation that governs how the UK subordinates itself to the UN.<ref>[https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/docs/uksc_2009_0015_judgment.pdf supremecourt.uk: HM Treasury v Ahmad, etc], 27 Jan 2010</ref><ref>{{cite hansard|house=House of Lords|date=12 February 1946|volume=139|column=373}}</ref> |
Jowitt introduced and saw signed the [[United Nations Act 1946]], the legislation that governs how the UK subordinates itself to the UN.<ref>[https://www.supremecourt.uk/decided-cases/docs/uksc_2009_0015_judgment.pdf supremecourt.uk: HM Treasury v Ahmad, etc], 27 Jan 2010</ref><ref>{{cite hansard|house=House of Lords|date=12 February 1946|volume=139|column=373}}</ref> |
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He was raised to the peerage as '''Baron Jowitt''', of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 2 August |
He was raised to the peerage as '''Baron Jowitt''', of [[Stevenage]] in the [[County of Hertford]], on 2 August 1945 and entered the [[House of Lords]].<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37208 |date=3 August 1945 |page=3981}}</ref> He led much important judicial legislation during the life of the Labour government. |
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Jowitt was also responsible for some key changes to the legal culture in Britain. He attempted to end political and social imbalances in the Magistrates Courts and is considered to have been the first [[Lord Chancellor]] to adopt a policy of appointing judges purely on the basis of merit.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} |
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As Lord Chancellor, he also served as [[Speaker (politics)|speaker]] of the House of Lords, a delicate job given the Conservative majority in the Lords. [[Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison|Christopher Addison]], Labour's leader in the Lords, died shortly after the party's defeat in the [[1951 United Kingdom general election|1951 general election]]. |
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Jowitt was also responsible for some key changes to the legal culture in Britain. He attempted to end political and social imbalances in the Magistrates Courts and is considered to have been the first [[Lord Chancellor]] to adopt a policy of appointing Judges purely on the basis of merit.{{citation needed|date=July 2015}} |
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Labour was now in opposition, and Jowitt took over as leader of the Labour peers. He was created '''Viscount Jowitt''', of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 20 January 1947,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=37860 |date=21 January 1947 |page=411}}</ref> and was awarded an [[earl]]dom by Attlee in the [[1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours]],<ref>''The Times'', Friday, 30 November 1951; pg. 6; Issue 52172; col G: "The Resignation Honours: Earldom For Lord Jowitt"</ref> being created '''Viscount Stevenage''', of Stevenage in the County of Hertford and '''Earl Jowitt''' on 24 January 1952.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=39433 |date=4 January 1952 |page=136}}</ref> |
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==Later political life== |
==Later political life== |
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A senior figure in the party, and a member of the Shadow Cabinet, Jowitt was careful to keep the Labour peers out of the conflict between the [[Bevanism|Bevanites]] and [[Gaitskellism|Gaitskellites]] |
A senior figure in the party, and a member of the Shadow Cabinet, Jowitt was careful to keep the Labour peers out of the conflict between the [[Bevanism|Bevanites]] and [[Gaitskellism|Gaitskellites]] in the early 1950s. The opposition to the Conservative government in the Lords was meagre but sometimes successfully rallied support from government backbenchers. |
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In 1955, for instance, Jowitt led a successful rebellion in the Lords over a government bill to criminalise the medical use of [[cannabis|marijuana]]. Jowitt was a prominent spokesperson against human rights abuses during the suppression of the [[Mau Mau Uprising]] in Kenya, teaming up with the [[Archbishop of Canterbury]] to launch a review of the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Colonel [[Arthur Young (police officer)|Arthur Young]] as Commissioner of Police in the colony.<ref>Elkins, C. (2005) ''Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya'', Pimlico: London</ref> He stood down as leader in November 1955, at the age of 70. |
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==Family== |
==Family== |
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{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2023}} |
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Jowitt married Lesley, daughter of James Patrick McIntyre, in 1913. He died at [[Bury St Edmunds]], [[Suffolk]], in August 1957, aged 72. His peerages did not survive his death, as he had no male heirs. |
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Jowitt married Lesley McIntyre, a daughter of James Patrick McIntyre, in 1913. He died at [[Bury St Edmunds]], [[Suffolk]], in August 1957, aged 72. His peerages did not survive his death, as he had no male heirs. |
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==Publications== |
==Publications== |
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* ''Some Were Spies'' (1954. London: Hodder & Stoughton) |
* ''Some Were Spies'' (1954. London: Hodder & Stoughton) |
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* ''Dictionary of English Law'' (1959. London: Sweet & Maxwell) |
* ''Dictionary of English Law'' (1959. London: Sweet & Maxwell) |
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==Arms== |
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{{Infobox COA wide |
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|image= [[File:Coronet of a British Earl.svg|centre|150px]][[File:Jowitt Escutcheon.png|centre|200px]] |
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|coronet = Coronet of an earl |
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|crest = A Lion sejant guardant Gules the dexter forepaw supporting an Escutcheon of the Arms |
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|escutcheon = Azure on a Chevron Argent between two Chaplets of Oak in chief and a Lion sejant guardant in base Or three Bugle Horns stringed Sable |
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|supporters = On either side a Spaniel with a Chancellor's Purse proper that on the dexter charged with a Rose Argent and that on the sinister with a Rose Gules both barbed and seeded also proper suspended from the neck by a Cord Or |
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|motto = Tenax and fedelis <ref>http://www.cracroftspeerage.co.uk/online/content/jowitt1951.htm</ref>}} |
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==References== |
==References== |
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==External links== |
==External links== |
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* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-william-jowitt | William Jowitt }} |
* {{Hansard-contribs | sir-william-jowitt | William Jowitt }} |
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* [https://archives.parliament.uk/collections/getrecord/GB61_JOW UK Parliamentary Archives, Correspondence and papers of Sir William Allen Jowitt, Earl Jowitt, 1885-1957] |
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{{s-start}} |
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{{s-par|uk}} |
{{s-par|uk}} |
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{{succession box |
{{succession box |
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| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Hartlepool (UK Parliament constituency)|The Hartlepools]] |
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| years = [[1922 United Kingdom general election|1922]]–[[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924]] |
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| before = [[W. G. Howard Gritten]] |
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| after = [[Wilfrid Sugden|Sir Wilfrid Sugden]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{succession box |
{{succession box |
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| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Preston (UK Parliament constituency)|Preston]] |
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| with = [[Tom Shaw (politician)|Tom Shaw]] |
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| years = [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]]–[[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]] |
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| before = [[Tom Shaw (politician)|Tom Shaw]]<br />Alfred Kennedy |
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| after = [[Adrian Moreing]]<br />[[William Kirkpatrick (Conservative politician)|William Kirkpatrick]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{succession box |
{{succession box |
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| before = [[Fred Simpson (politician)|Fred Simpson]] |
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| title = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] for [[Ashton-under-Lyne (UK Parliament constituency)|Ashton-under-Lyne]] |
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| years = [[1939 Ashton-under-Lyne by-election|1939]]–[[1945 Ashton-under-Lyne by-election|1945]] |
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| after = [[Hervey Rhodes, Baron Rhodes|Hervey Rhodes]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{s-legal}} |
{{s-legal}} |
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{{succession box |
{{succession box |
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| title = [[Attorney-General for England]] |
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| years = 1929–1932 |
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| before = [[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|Thomas Inskip]] |
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| after = [[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|Thomas Inskip]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{succession box |
{{succession box |
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| title = [[Solicitor-General for England]] |
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| years = 1940–1942 |
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| before = [[Terence O'Connor]] |
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| after = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|David Maxwell Fyfe]] |
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}} |
}} |
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{{s-off}} |
{{s-off}} |
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{{succession box |
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{{succession box | title=[[Paymaster-General]] | before=[[Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey|The Lord Hankey]] | after=[[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell|The Lord Cherwell]] | years=1942}} |
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| title = [[Paymaster General]] |
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{{succession box | title=[[Lord Chancellor]] | before=[[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|The Viscount Simon]] | after=[[Gavin Simonds, 1st Viscount Simonds|The Lord Simonds]] | years=1945–1951}} |
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| before = [[Maurice Hankey, 1st Baron Hankey|The Lord Hankey]] |
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| after = [[Frederick Lindemann, 1st Viscount Cherwell|The Lord Cherwell]] |
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| years = 1942 |
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}} |
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{{succession box |
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| title = [[Lord Chancellor|Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] |
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| before = [[John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon|The Viscount Simon]] |
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| after = [[Gavin Simonds, 1st Viscount Simonds|The Lord Simonds]] |
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| years = 1945–1951 |
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}} |
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{{s-ppo}} |
{{s-ppo}} |
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{{s-bef |
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{{s-bef|before=[[Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison|The Viscount Addison]]}} |
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| before = [[Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison|The Viscount Addison]] |
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{{s-ttl|title=Leader of the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] in the [[House of Lords]]|years=1952–1955}} |
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}} |
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{{s-aft|after=[[A. V. Alexander, 1st Earl Alexander of Hillsborough|The Earl Alexander of Hillsborough]]}} |
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{{s-ttl |
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| title = [[Earl Jowitt]] |
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| title = [[Viscount Jowitt]] |
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| years = 1947–1957 |
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| title = [[Baron Jowitt]] |
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{{Subject bar |portal1=Biography |portal2= |
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Latest revision as of 23:52, 12 October 2024
The Earl Jowitt | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 27 July 1945 – 26 October 1951 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Monarch | George VI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Prime Minister | Clement Attlee | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | The Viscount Simon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | The Lord Simonds | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Leader of the Opposition in the House of Lords Shadow Leader of the House of Lords | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In office 1952 – 14 December 1955 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Party Leader | Clement Attlee Herbert Morrison (acting) Hugh Gaitskell | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Preceded by | The Viscount Addison | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Succeeded by | The Earl Alexander of Hillsborough | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal details | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England | 15 April 1885||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Died | 16 August 1957 Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, England | (aged 72)||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Political party | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spouse |
Lesley McIntyre (m. 1913) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Alma mater | New College, Oxford | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
William Allen Jowitt, 1st Earl Jowitt, PC, KC (15 April 1885 – 16 August 1957) was a British Liberal Party, National Labour and then Labour Party politician and lawyer who served as Lord Chancellor under Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951.
Background and education
[edit]He was born in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, the son of Reverend William Jowitt, Rector of Stevenage, by his wife Louisa Margaret Allen.
At the age of nine, he was sent to Northaw Place, a preparatory school in Potters Bar, Middlesex, where he first met and was looked after by fellow student Clement Attlee, the future Labour Party Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
From Northaw, he went to Marlborough College, then to New College, Oxford where he studied law. He was admitted to the Middle Temple on 15 November 1906 and was called to the Bar on 23 June 1909.[1]
Legal and political career (1922–1931)
[edit]Jowitt became a member of chambers in Brick Court in London. He proved himself a skilled advocate, attracting attention for his subdued and charming manner when barristers were more inclined to browbeat witnesses. He became a King's Counsel the day before the 1922 general election in which he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for The Hartlepools. Jowitt was a member of the faction of the Liberal Party led by H. H. Asquith and somewhat radical in his beliefs. He continued to practise law whilst a backbench MP and was not considered a great orator in the House of Commons.
Jowitt was re-elected, now part of the re-united Liberal Party, at the 1923 general election, and in 1924, he was a member of the Royal Commission on Lunacy. He lost his seat in the 1924 general election. Jowitt stood successfully in Preston in the 1929 general election, again elected as a Liberal. Following the formation of a minority Labour government, he was offered the position of attorney general by the new prime minister, Ramsay MacDonald.
Labour had few experienced lawyers in its ranks in Parliament and had experienced problems filling the positions of legal officers in its first government. Jowitt agreed, but resigned his seat and stood again as a candidate for the Labour Party. At the by-election in July 1929, Preston re-elected him with an increased majority. As was customary, Jowitt received a knighthood upon becoming attorney general. His work mainly concerned the drafting of government bills, particularly the reversal of the Trade Disputes and Trade Unions Act 1927.
As was still the custom for the attorney general, he occasionally prosecuted in high-profile cases, notably Sidney Harry Fox, charged with murdering his mother by suffocating her and then setting fire to her hotel room. It was said that a single question from Jowitt ("Explain to me why you shut the door?") sealed Fox's fate since Fox could think of no convincing answer.
Divided loyalties (1931–1939)
[edit]When the Labour government split over the financial crisis in 1931, Jowitt was one of only a handful of Labour MPs to follow MacDonald into the National Government. He was uncomfortable in a coalition with the Conservatives but believed that the proposed spending cuts causing the split were necessary, and the coalition was necessary to force them through. Like others who joined the National Government, he was expelled from the Labour Party.
He was made a Privy Councillor but found himself in a difficult electoral position when he could not secure the withdrawal of the Conservative candidate in Preston in the 1931 general election. He thus stood instead as the National Labour candidate for the Combined English Universities, but there too, he competed with other candidates supporting the National Government and was defeated. MacDonald persuaded Jowitt to remain as Attorney General in the hope that a new seat could be found to maintain the handful of National Labour positions in the government, but that proved impossible and Jowitt stepped down. He was replaced as Attorney General in January 1932 and returned to the Bar. Though relatively new to the party, Jowitt greatly regretted the split with Labour. He remained close to MacDonald, but after Stanley Baldwin became Prime Minister in 1935, Jowitt began campaigning for Labour.
A number of constituency Labour Parties attempted to nominate him as their candidate for the general election that year, but he was still expelled. Unable to stand for Labour, he refused to stand for any other party or as an independent.
Jowitt was readmitted to the Labour Party in November 1936. Still a public figure, he was a critic of the National Government's policy of appeasement, and in 1937, he called for the state control of the arms industry and rapid rearmament to face the growing threat of fascism on the Continent.
In February 1939 he called for the recreation of the Ministry of Munitions. In October, he was adopted as Labour's candidate at a by-election in Ashton-under-Lyne and was elected unopposed, due to the war-time electoral pact.[2]
Churchill ministry (1940–1945)
[edit]Eight months later, Winston Churchill appointed Jowitt as Solicitor General in his coalition government. Jowitt dispensed legal advice to the government for two years in World War II before he was placed in charge of planning for reconstruction. He also held Cabinet positions that were mostly sinecures such as Paymaster General and then Minister without Portfolio in that role.
In 1944, he became Minister of National Insurance at the head of a new government department. He resigned from the government when Labour left the coalition in May 1945, after Victory in Europe Day, and he was re-elected for Ashton-under-Lyne in the general election in July.
Lord Chancellor (1945–1951)
[edit]After a landslide victory in the 1945 election, Labour formed its first majority government. Prime Minister Clement Attlee appointed Jowitt as Lord Chancellor. As soon as he was appointed, Jowitt met with US Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to resolve outstanding points of contention over the draft London Charter, which would govern the procedures of the Nuremberg Trials. He retained the Conservative MP and outgoing Attorney General, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, as the official liaison but indicated that the new Attorney General, Sir Hartley Shawcross, would serve as Britain's Chief Prosecutor in the trials themselves.
Jowitt introduced and saw signed the United Nations Act 1946, the legislation that governs how the UK subordinates itself to the UN.[3][4]
He was raised to the peerage as Baron Jowitt, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 2 August 1945 and entered the House of Lords.[5] He led much important judicial legislation during the life of the Labour government.
Jowitt was also responsible for some key changes to the legal culture in Britain. He attempted to end political and social imbalances in the Magistrates Courts and is considered to have been the first Lord Chancellor to adopt a policy of appointing judges purely on the basis of merit.[citation needed]
As Lord Chancellor, he also served as speaker of the House of Lords, a delicate job given the Conservative majority in the Lords. Christopher Addison, Labour's leader in the Lords, died shortly after the party's defeat in the 1951 general election.
Labour was now in opposition, and Jowitt took over as leader of the Labour peers. He was created Viscount Jowitt, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford, on 20 January 1947,[6] and was awarded an earldom by Attlee in the 1951 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours,[7] being created Viscount Stevenage, of Stevenage in the County of Hertford and Earl Jowitt on 24 January 1952.[8]
Later political life
[edit]A senior figure in the party, and a member of the Shadow Cabinet, Jowitt was careful to keep the Labour peers out of the conflict between the Bevanites and Gaitskellites in the early 1950s. The opposition to the Conservative government in the Lords was meagre but sometimes successfully rallied support from government backbenchers.
In 1955, for instance, Jowitt led a successful rebellion in the Lords over a government bill to criminalise the medical use of marijuana. Jowitt was a prominent spokesperson against human rights abuses during the suppression of the Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya, teaming up with the Archbishop of Canterbury to launch a review of the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Colonel Arthur Young as Commissioner of Police in the colony.[9] He stood down as leader in November 1955, at the age of 70.
Family
[edit]Jowitt married Lesley McIntyre, a daughter of James Patrick McIntyre, in 1913. He died at Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, in August 1957, aged 72. His peerages did not survive his death, as he had no male heirs.
Publications
[edit]Jowitt wrote two books on espionage and compiled a legal dictionary, which was published posthumously in 1959, completed by Clifford Walsh, and became a standard reference work. It remains in print as Jowitt's Dictionary of English Law.[10]
- The Strange Case of Alger Hiss (1953. London: Hodder & Stoughton)
- Some Were Spies (1954. London: Hodder & Stoughton)
- Dictionary of English Law (1959. London: Sweet & Maxwell)
References
[edit]- ^ Williamson, J.B. (1937). The Middle Temple Bench Book. 2nd edition, p. 290.
- ^ Kay Halle, The Irrepressible Churchill, (Robson Books, 1966), 44
- ^ supremecourt.uk: HM Treasury v Ahmad, etc, 27 Jan 2010
- ^ Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). Vol. 139. House of Lords. 12 February 1946. col. 373.
- ^ "No. 37208". The London Gazette. 3 August 1945. p. 3981.
- ^ "No. 37860". The London Gazette. 21 January 1947. p. 411.
- ^ The Times, Friday, 30 November 1951; pg. 6; Issue 52172; col G: "The Resignation Honours: Earldom For Lord Jowitt"
- ^ "No. 39433". The London Gazette. 4 January 1952. p. 136.
- ^ Elkins, C. (2005) Britain's Gulag: The Brutal End of Empire in Kenya, Pimlico: London
- ^ London: Sweet & Maxwell. ISBN 9780414051140
External links
[edit]- 1885 births
- 1957 deaths
- Alumni of New College, Oxford
- Attorneys general for England and Wales
- English King's Counsel
- English barristers
- Knights Bachelor
- Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers
- Law lords
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
- Lord chancellors of Great Britain
- Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Ashton-under-Lyne
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
- National Labour (UK) politicians
- People educated at Marlborough College
- People from Stevenage
- Solicitors general for England and Wales
- UK MPs 1922–1923
- UK MPs 1923–1924
- UK MPs 1929–1931
- UK MPs 1935–1945
- UK MPs 1945–1950
- UK MPs who were granted peerages
- United Kingdom Paymasters General
- Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951
- Barons created by George VI
- Viscounts created by George VI
- Earls created by George VI