Henry Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton

The Right Honourable
The Viscount Wolverhampton
GCSI PC
The Right Honourable The Viscount Wolverhampton GCSI PC
Secretary of State for India
	In office; 10 March 1894 – 21 June 1895
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Earl of Rosebery
Preceded by	The Earl of Kimberley
Succeeded by	Lord George Hamilton
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster
	In office; 10 December 1905 – 13 October 1908
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Henry Campbell-Bannerman ; H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Sir William Walrond, Bt
Succeeded by	The Lord Fitzmaurice
Lord President of the Council
	In office; 13 October 1908 – 16 June 1910
Monarchs	Edward VII; George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	The Lord Tweedmouth
Succeeded by	The Lord Beauchamp
Personal details
Born	16 May 1830; Sunderland, County Durham. England
Died	25 February 1911 (aged 80); Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, England
Political party	Liberal
Spouse	Ellen Thorneycroft
Children	Ellen, Edith, and Henry

Henry Hartley Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton, GCSI, PC (16 May 1830 – 25 February 1911) was a British solicitor and Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1880 until 1908 when he was raised to the peerage. A member of the Wesleyan Methodist Church, he was the first solicitor and the first Methodist to enter the Cabinet or to be raised to the peerage.[1]

Early life

Fowler was born in Sunderland, the son of Rev, Joseph Fowler. He was educated at Woodhouse Grove School, Apperley Bridge, Bradford (1840–42) and later at St. Saviour's Grammar School, Southwark.

He moved to Wolverhampton and was admitted as a solicitor in 1852. He served as a local councillor and was Mayor of Wolverhampton in 1866. He was chairman of Wolverhampton School Board in 1870, and was a Deputy Lieutenant for Staffordshire and JP for Wolverhampton.[2]

Political career

At the 1880 general election Fowler was elected as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the borough of Wolverhampton,[3] a seat he held until the borough was divided under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.[4] He then was then returned at the 1885 general election as the MP for Wolverhampton East,[5] and held that seat until he was ennobled in 1908.[6] He served under William Ewart Gladstone as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department from 1884 to 1885, as Financial Secretary to the Treasury in 1886 and as President of the Local Government Board from 1892 to 1894 and under Lord Rosebery as Secretary of State for India from 1894 to 1895.[7] In 1886, he was sworn of the Privy Council.

Fowler later held office under Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman and H. H. Asquith as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1905 and 1908. The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Viscount Wolverhampton, of Wolverhampton in the County of Stafford,[8] and served under Asquith as Lord President of the Council until 1910.[7] He was widely thought of as a future Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, but his ill health prevented this.

In his approach to policymaking, according to Neil Smith, Sir Henry Fowler (who became Viscount Wolverhampton in 1908) was supportive of reform legislation in the areas of pensions, education, and the Poor Law.[9] According to his private secretary, however, he did not have "the patience to suffer Radical and Labour members gladly."[10]

He was an elected President of The Law Society 1901–02.[11]

Lord Wolverhampton died on 25 February 1911, aged 80.

Family

Fowler married Ellen Thorneycroft, daughter of ironmaster and first Mayor of Wolverhampton, George Benjamin Thorneycroft, in 1857. They had a son and two daughters.

Their son Henry succeeded to the viscountcy. Their daughters were the authors the Hon. Ellen Thorneycroft Fowler and the Hon. Edith Henrietta Fowler (who wrote a biography of her father).[12]

Viscountess Wolverhampton's great nephew was Peter Thorneycroft.

Arms

Coat of arms of Henry Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton
	Crest Upon a rock a stork Argent holding in the beak a cross-moline Sable. Escutcheon Per pale Gules and Sable on a chevron between in chief two lions passant and in base a portcullis all Argent a rose of the first barbed and seeded Proper. Supporters Dexter a wolf Or charged on the shoulder with an escutcheon Gules thereon two keys in saltire wards upwards Argent sinister a Royal tiger Or striped Sable charged on the shoulder with an escutcheon Azure thereon an estoile Argent. Motto In Te Domine Speravi[13]

References

ODNB Online, article "Fowler, Henry Hartley" (accessed 2 July 2010)
Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
"No. 24829". The London Gazette. 2 April 1880. p. 2359.
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 339. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
"No. 25541". The London Gazette. 18 December 1885. p. 6139.
Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 212. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wolverhampton, Henry Hartley Fowler, Viscount" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 781.
Edinburgh Gazette
Smith, Neil (October 1972). "Social reform in Edwardian liberalism: the genesis of the policies of national insurance and old age pensions, 1906-11" (PDF). Durham e-Theses. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
Haworth, Alan; Hayter, Dianne (22 April 2015). Men Who Made Labour. ISBN 9781135390488.
"The Law Society". The Times. No. 36752. London. 26 April 1902. p. 8.
"Review of The Life of Henry Hartley Fowler, First Viscount Wolverhampton by his daughter Edith Henrietta Fowler (Hon. Mrs. R. Hamilton), published in 1912 by Hutchinson & Company". The Athenaeum (4434): 439–440. 19 October 1912.
Debrett's Peerage. 1921.

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography – Fowler, Henry Hartley

External links

Works by or about Henry Fowler, 1st Viscount Wolverhampton at Internet Archive
Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Fowler

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[1] ODNB Online, article "Fowler, Henry Hartley" (accessed 2 July 2010)

[2] Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886

[3] "No. 24829". The London Gazette. 2 April 1880. p. 2359.

[craig1832-1885-4] Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 339. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.

[5] "No. 25541". The London Gazette. 18 December 1885. p. 6139.

[craig1885-1918-6] Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 212. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.

[EB1911-7] Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Wolverhampton, Henry Hartley Fowler, Viscount" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 781.

[8] Edinburgh Gazette

[9] Smith, Neil (October 1972). "Social reform in Edwardian liberalism: the genesis of the policies of national insurance and old age pensions, 1906-11" (PDF). Durham e-Theses. Archived (PDF) from the original on 6 May 2022. Retrieved 24 December 2022.

[10] Haworth, Alan; Hayter, Dianne (22 April 2015). Men Who Made Labour. ISBN 9781135390488.

[11] "The Law Society". The Times. No. 36752. London. 26 April 1902. p. 8.

[12] "Review of The Life of Henry Hartley Fowler, First Viscount Wolverhampton by his daughter Edith Henrietta Fowler (Hon. Mrs. R. Hamilton), published in 1912 by Hutchinson & Company". The Athenaeum (4434): 439–440. 19 October 1912.

[13] Debrett's Peerage. 1921.

Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society
19th century	1834–1836 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1836–1838 Sir Charles Lemon, Bt 1838–1840 The Earl FitzWilliam 1840–1842 Viscount Sandon 1842–1843 The Marquess of Lansdowne 1843–1845 Lord Ashley 1845–1847 The Lord Monteagle of Brandon 1847–1849 The Earl FitzWilliam 1849–1851 The Earl of Harrowby 1851–1853 The Lord Overstone 1853–1855 The Earl FitzWilliam 1855–1857 The Earl of Harrowby 1857–1859 Lord Stanley 1859–1861 Lord John Russell 1861–1863 Sir John Pakington, Bt 1863–1865 William Henry Sykes 1865–1867 The Lord Houghton 1867–1869 William Ewart Gladstone 1869–1871 William Newmarch 1871–1873 William Farr 1873–1875 William Guy 1875–1877 James Heywood 1877–1879 George Shaw-Lefevre 1879–1880 Thomas Brassey 1880–1882 James Caird 1882–1884 Robert Giffen 1884–1886 Rawson W. Rawson 1886–1888 George Goschen 1888–1890 Thomas Graham Balfour 1890–1892 Frederic J. Mouat 1892–1894 Charles Booth 1894–1896 The Lord Farrer 1896–1897 John Biddulph Martin 1897 Alfred Edmund Bateman 1897–1899 Leonard Courtney 1899–1900 Henry Fowler 1900–1902 The Lord Avebury
20th century	1902–1904 Patrick George Craigie 1904–1905 Sir Francis Powell, Bt 1905–1906 The Earl of Onslow 1906–1907 Richard Martin 1907–1909 Sir Charles Dilke, Bt 1909–1910 Jervoise Athelstane Baines 1910–1912 Lord George Hamilton 1912–1914 Francis Ysidro Edgeworth 1914–1915 The Lord Welby 1915–1916 Lord George Hamilton 1916–1918 Bernard Mallet, Registrar General 1918–1920 Herbert Samuel 1920–1922 R. Henry Rew 1922–1924 The Lord Emmott 1924–1926 Udny Yule 1926–1928 The Viscount D'Abernon 1928–1930 A. William Flux 1930–1932 Sir Josiah Stamp 1932–1934 The Lord Meston 1934–1936 Major Greenwood 1936–1938 The Lord Kennet 1938–1940 Arthur Lyon Bowley 1940–1941 Henry William Macrosty 1941 Hector Leak 1941–1943 William Beveridge 1943–1945 Ernest Charles Snow 1945–1947 The Lord Woolton 1947–1949 David Heron 1949–1950 Sir Geoffrey Heyworth 1950–1952 Austin Bradford Hill 1952–1954 Ronald Fisher 1954–1955 The Lord Piercy 1955–1957 Egon Pearson 1957–1959 Harry Campion 1959–1960 Hugh Beaver 1960–1962 Maurice Kendall 1962–1964 Joseph Oscar Irwin 1964–1965 Sir Paul Chambers 1965–1966 L. H. C. Tippett 1966–1967 M. S. Bartlett 1967–1968 Frank Yates 1968–1969 Arthur Cockfield 1969–1970 R. G. D. Allen 1970–1971 Bernard Benjamin 1971–1972 George Alfred Barnard 1972–1973 Harold Wilson 1973–1974 D. J. Finney 1974–1975 Henry Daniels 1975–1977 Stella Cunliffe 1977–1978 Henry Wynn 1978–1980 Sir Claus Moser 1980–1982 David Cox 1982–1984 Peter Armitage 1984–1985 Walter Bodmer 1985–1986 John Nelder 1986–1987 James Durbin 1987–1989 John Kingman 1989–1991 Peter G. Moore 1991–1993 T. M. F. Smith 1993–1995 D. J. Bartholomew 1995–1997 Adrian Smith 1997–1999 Robert Nicholas Curnow 1999–2001 Denise Lievesley
21st century	2001–2003 Peter Green 2003–2005 Andy Grieve 2005–2007 Tim Holt 2008–2009 David Hand 2010–2010 Bernard Silverman (resigned Feb 2010; replaced pro tem by David Hand) 2011–2012 Valerie Isham 2013–2014 John Pullinger 2014–2016 Peter Diggle 2017–2018 David Spiegelhalter 2019– Deborah Ashby
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