Arthur Hobhouse

This article is about the English politician. For the English judge, see Arthur Hobhouse, 1st Baron Hobhouse.

Sir Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse (15 February 1886 – 20 January 1965) was a long-serving English local government Liberal politician, who is best remembered as the architect of the system of national parks of England and Wales.

Sir Arthur Hobhouse
Arthur Hobhouse, circa 1922
Born	Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse 15 February 1886
Died	20 January 1965 (1965-01-21) (aged 78)
Nationality	British
Education	Eton College
Alma mater	St Andrews University Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)	solicitor, politician
Known for	MP, Chairman, National Parks Committee
Spouse	Konradin Huth Jackson
Children	5, including Henry Hobhouse and Hermione Hobhouse
Parent(s)	Henry Hobhouse Margaret Heyworth Potter
Relatives	Stephen Henry Hobhouse (brother)

Early life

Hobhouse was the son of prominent Liberal politician and MP Henry Hobhouse and the brother of peace activist, prison reformer, and religious writer Stephen Henry Hobhouse.

Arthur Hobhouse was educated at Eton College, St Andrews University and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated in Natural Sciences. At Cambridge, he was a Cambridge Apostle and a member of the Cambridge University Liberal Club, becoming Secretary in 1906 and was also the lover of John Maynard Keynes and Duncan Grant.

Career

Hobhouse practised as a solicitor until the outbreak of World War I, when he joined the British Expeditionary Force. After the War he joined the Claims Commission, dealing with claims against Allied forces in the Abbeville area, and rose to the rank of Staff Captain. Returning to civilian life, Hobhouse took to farming on a family estate Hadspen house and garden in Somerset.

Political career

He stood as Liberal candidate for Wells at the 1922 General Election when he finished a strong second. He was elected Member of Parliament for Wells at the 1923 General Election but lost the seat in 1924. He failed to regain Wells in 1929.

Electoral record

General election 1922: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Robert Bruford	10,210	47.7
	Liberal	Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse	7,156	33.4
	Labour	Leonard Smith	4,048	18.9
Majority			3,054	14.2
Turnout				77.8
	Unionist hold		Swing

General election 1923: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse	10,818	48.2	+14.8
	Unionist	Robert Bruford	9,909	44.2	−3.5
	Labour	Charles Henry Whitlow	1,713	7.6	−11.3
Majority			909	4.0	18.3
Turnout				79.1	+1.3
	Liberal gain from Unionist		Swing	+9.1

General election 1924: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Rt Hon. Robert Arthur Sanders	12,642	52.6	+8.4
	Liberal	Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse	8,668	36.1	−12.1
	Labour	Wilfred Thomas Young	2,726	11.3	+3.7
Majority				16.5	20.5
Turnout				82.2	+3.1
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+10.2

General election 1929: Wells

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Anthony John Muirhead	13,026	43.6	−9.0
	Liberal	Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse	12,382	41.4	+5.3
	Labour	Mrs R D Q Davies	4,472	15.0	+3.7
Majority			644	2.2	−14.3
Turnout				82.5	+0.3
	Unionist hold		Swing	-7.2

Local government

He was elected to Somerset County Council in 1925, became an alderman in 1934, and was chairman of the council from 1940 to 1947.

In 1945 he was appointed by Lewis Silkin, the Minister of Town and Country Planning, to chair the National Parks Committee. The resulting Hobhouse Report was the basis for the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act 1949. Of the twelve parks it proposed, ten were implemented in the 1950s, while the remaining two, the New Forest and the South Downs, were proposed in 1999 and finally designated in 2005 and 2009, respectively.

Hobhouse was knighted in 1942. Sir Arthur also served as Chairman of the Rural Housing Committee 1942–1947, was pro-chancellor of Bristol University and was both Chairman and President of the County Councils Association (now part of the Local Government Association). For many years he was President of the Open Spaces Society, till his resignation in 1955.

Personal life

In his youth, Hobhouse's affairs were exclusively homosexual. He had long-standing affairs with the Bloomsbury Group members Lytton Strachey, Duncan Grant, and John Maynard Keynes. Hobhouse was considered extremely desirable in Edwardian gay circles and was the subject of much infighting amongst the men of Bloomsbury.

Hobhouse married Konradin Huth Jackson, daughter of Frederick and Annabel Huth Jackson; they had five children:

• Elizabeth Hobhouse (1921–1995)
• Henry Hobhouse (1924–2016)
• Paul Rodbard Hobhouse (1927–1994)
• Mary Hermione Hobhouse (1934–2014)
• Anne Virginia Hobhouse (1936–2023)

Hobhouse's eldest daughter married first Michael Francis Eden later Lord Henley, and secondly Michael King, son of Cecil Harmsworth King. Hobhouse's eldest son, Henry, wrote Seeds of Change: Five Plants That Transformed Mankind. Henry was married three times, and had a daughter, Janet, who died in 1991. A younger son, Paul, married Penelope Chichester-Clark.

Sources

• Obituary: 'Sir Arthur Hobhouse: A long record of public service', The Times, 21 January 1965

See also

• List of Bloomsbury Group people

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Hobhouse