Evening star., 1935-10-21
HENDERSON DIES,
IGNORANT OF WAR
News of Ethiopian Conflict
Was Kept From British
Peace Exponent.
Bv the Associated Press.

derson, implacable foe Of war. died
without knowing his great dream OF
world peace had been shattered by
the boom of guns in East Africa.
Attaches of the West End Nursing
Home were the president Of the
World Disarmament Conference died
last night disclosed today that Hen
derson-whose indefatigable crusade
for peace was inspired by the death
of his eldest son in the World War
had not seen a newspaper for six
weeks.
Nor had the 72-year- statesman
been told of the mounting European
crisis for fear the shock would prove
too great.
Known as "Uncle Arthur"
Scores of the nations leaders in
tent on forging Great Britain's for
eign policy where he left of in 1881,
when the labor government fell, paid
him tribute as a gentle, beloved
idealist known as Uncle Arthur"
George Lansbury. who succeeded
Henderson as chairman of the Par
liamentary party in 1881, said: i
wish his passing might induce states
men of the world, even at this late
hour, to call halt in the mad race
of armaments."
The death of Henderson, who start
ed life as an iron molder in Glas-
gov, Scotland, marks the passing OF
the first of coterie of humble born
British workmen who dedicated their
youth to the upbuilding Of British
labor in the pre-war years.
They made labor a powerful force
in British public life during and after
the war and rose to power on labors
forward surge.
Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
Henderson, who less than q month
ago underwent an operation, won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 1884.
His death brough expressions OF
sorrow in Geneva. An attempt to
revive the World Disarmament Con-
ference was made last month, but it
was abandoned on the ground that
the Italo- Ethiopian conflict and other
reasons made it hopeless SO far as
achieving anything was concerned.
The Council of the League of Ma
tions, which appoints the president
Of the conference, must decide
whether to replace him.
Had Been Long Sick.
Arthur Henderson was sick man
when, as its chairman, he opened the
World Conference on Disarmament at
Geneva in February, 1882.
Sicker, probably, than many of those
who saw and heard him realized, for
ruddy good health and geniality
sloughed rapidly away from him after
the Labor partys catastrophe defeat
In the English general elections in
the Fall of 1881.
Possibly the strain Of the campaign
and the hectic months that went be-
fore it, the opposition of old friends
and the fact that he was the focal
point Of the attack, may have aegra-
waited his ailment. At all events. he
learned the news Of his own over
whelming defeat while lying Ill In
hotel bed room.
He was chairman Of England's La
Dor party, succeeding Ramsay Mac
Donald, and for the moment it must
have seemed the collapse of a life
times hard work. His illness prevent
ed further public appearances in Eng
land for many weeks and he went to
the south of France to recuperate
For time 1t was thought that an
operation would be necessary.
Tenacious Character.
known from Lands End to John o.
Groats as genial, smiling, expansive
almost an impersonation of the we'll
known figure Of John Bull-Hender-
sons face was haggard, drawn with
suffering and deeply creased when the
Geneva Conference met. But despite
the bitter campaign which had sprung
up in England against his keeping the
post of chairman, he did so. Certainly
this told something of his tenacity of
character.
He was born in Glasgow September
13, 1853, into a poor family. As
youth he was apprenticed to the iron
workers trade in Newcastle and 1t
was through his trade union that he
climbed into national politics and
prominence.
BY 1903 he was mayor of Newcastle.
The next year he was elected to Par
lament. holding the seat until 1918.
He was defeated in the khaki" elec-
ton Of that year along with most Of
the other Labor party candidates. But
he came back in 1922.
Chairman of Labor Party.
Henderson was first made chairman
OF the Labor party in 1908, and in
1914, when pacifism forced Ramsay
Macdonald out of politics, he again
took the reins.
Joining the wartime coalition gov.
ernment. ne became president OF the
Board Of Education. In 1915 he was
paymaster general and labor adviser
to the government.
The next year the cabinet sent him
on the first British mission to Russia,
with authority to stay there as Am
bassador at $4,000 a year If he
thought it the thing to do. In Lloyd
Georges war cabinet he was minister
without portfolio until, annoyed BY
the Welshman's tactics, he resigned.
He was home secretary in the first
Labor government and secretary of
state for foreign affairs and a world
figure in the l929-1931 Labor cabinet.
Triumphs- in Foreign Fields.
Most Of Labor's triumphs In this,
It's second. government came in the
foreign field-which Is to say that
Arthur Henderson did good Job.
One of his maxims was that Moth
ing was more vital to world stability
and peace than an understanding be-
tween Britain and America.
His other preoccupation in the for
eign field was disarmament and he
spent no little of his health in It's be-
half.
He was married In 1883. but Mrs.
Henderson kept quietly in the back
ground. They had three sons and one