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The Right Honourable
The Viscount Horne of Slamannan
GBE PC KC
The Right Honourable The Viscount Horne of Slamannan GBE PC KC
Chancellor of the Exchequer
	In office; 1 April 1921 – 19 October 1922
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Austen Chamberlain
Succeeded by	Stanley Baldwin
President of the Board of Trade
	In office; 19 March 1920 – 1 April 1921
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Sir Auckland Geddes
Succeeded by	Stanley Baldwin
Minister of Labour
	In office; 10 January 1919 – 19 March 1920
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	George Henry Roberts
Succeeded by	Thomas James Macnamara
Member of Parliament; for Glasgow Hillhead
	In office; 14 December 1918 – 9 June 1937
Preceded by	Constituency created
Succeeded by	James Reid
Personal details
Born	Robert Stevenson Horne; 28 February 1871; Slamannan, Stirlingshire
Died	3 September 1940 (aged 69)
Political party	Unionist
Alma mater	University of Glasgow
Profession	Advocate

Robert Stevenson Horne, 1st Viscount Horne of Slamannan (28 February 1871 – 3 September 1940) was a Scottish businessman, advocate and Unionist politician. He served under David Lloyd George as Minister of Labour between 1919 and 1920, as President of the Board of Trade between 1920 and 1921 and as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1921 and 1922. In 1937 he was ennobled as Viscount Horne of Slamannan.

Background and education

Horne was born at Slamannan, Stirlingshire, the son of Reverend Robert Stevenson Horne, the village's Church of Scotland minister, and Mary, daughter of Thomas Lockhead. He was educated at George Watson's College in Edinburgh and the University of Glasgow, where he studied Law^{[citation needed]} and was President of the Students' Representative Council.^{[citation needed]}

Career until 1918

Horne then spent a year teaching philosophy at the University College of North Wales, before being elected to the Faculty of Advocates (Scottish Bar) in 1896.^{[citation needed]} He became a successful advocate, specialising in commercial and shipping cases,^{[citation needed]} and became a King's Counsel in 1910. He also served as Examiner in Philosophy (1896–1900)^{[citation needed]} and Rector (1921–1924) at the University of Aberdeen. He was a board member of several companies including directorships of the Suez Canal Company, chairman of the Great Western Railway Company and director of several other companies and banks.^[1]

During the First World War, Horne became Director of Railways on the Western Front with the honorary rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the Royal Engineers. In 1917 he joined the Admiralty as Assistant Inspector-General of Transportation, becoming Director of Materials and Priority in 1918, and Director of Labour and Third Civil Lord later the same year.^[2]

Political career

Having unsuccessfully stood for Stirlingshire in both general elections of 1910,^{[citation needed]} Horne was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Hillhead in 1918.^[3] He served under David Lloyd George as Minister of Labour between 1919 and 1920, as President of the Board of Trade between 1920 and 1921 and as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1921 and 1922.^{[citation needed]} It was in that capacity that he was involved in the negotiations leading to the signing of the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement. Leonid Krasin pressurised Horne to support the treaty by threatening to cancel orders with textile mills in Yorkshire, as only the mills with Soviet orders were working full-time.^[4] When the treaty was signed, it was the first recognition by Britain of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic.^{[citation needed]}

When the Lloyd George Coalition Government fell in 1922, Horne refused to join the new government of Bonar Law. Two years later, Stanley Baldwin offered to make Horne Minister of Labour once more, but Horne declined, preferring to concentrate on work in the City.^[1] Although he remained a Member of Parliament until 1937,^[3] he never again held ministerial office. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1918 for his war services, and raised to Knight Grand Cross (GBE) in the 1920 civilian war honours for his services as Minister of Labour.^{[citation needed]} In 1919, he was also sworn of the Privy Council.^[5] He was ennobled as Viscount Horne of Slamannan, of Slamannan in the County of Stirling, on 9 June 1937.^[6]

Personal life

Horne, a womanising bachelor, was famously referred to by Baldwin as a "Scots cad", a remark that has stuck.^[7] He died in September 1940, aged 69. The viscountcy became extinct with his death.

References

^ ^a ^b Williamson, Philip (2004). "Horne, Robert Stevenson, Viscount Horne of Slamannan (1871-1940), politician and businessman". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/33991. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Kent, Marian (2005). The Great Powers and the End of the Ottoman Empire. Routledge. p. 225. ISBN 9781135778002.
^ ^a ^b leighrayment.com House of Commons: Hertford to Honiton^[usurped]
^ Jacobson, Jon (1994). When the Soviet Union Entered World Politics. berkeley: University of California Press.
^ "No. 31174". The London Gazette. 11 February 1919. p. 2147.
^ "No. 34408". The London Gazette. 15 June 1937. p. 3856.
^ Watkins, Alan (6 September 1998). "To hold the purse-strings, sport your top hat - The Chancellors by Roy Jenkins Macmillan pounds 25: From a 'Scots cad' to the originator of the Anderson shelter, the pre-1945 Chancellors were a colourful bunch". The Independent on Sunday. Retrieved 27 January 2019.

External links

Media related to Robert Horne, 1st Viscount Horne of Slamannan at Wikimedia Commons

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Glasgow Hillhead 1918–1937	Succeeded by James Reid
Political offices
Preceded by George Henry Roberts	Minister of Labour 1919–1920	Succeeded by Thomas James Macnamara
Preceded by Sir Auckland Geddes	President of the Board of Trade 1920–1921	Succeeded by Stanley Baldwin
Preceded by Austen Chamberlain	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1921–1922	Succeeded by Stanley Baldwin
Academic offices
Preceded by The Viscount Cowdray	Rector of the University of Aberdeen 1921–1924	Succeeded by The Viscount Cecil of Chelwood
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation	Viscount Horne of Slamannan 1937–1940	Extinct