Arthur Henderson

**Arthur Henderson** (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour politician. He was the first Labour cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniquely, served three separate terms as Leader of the Labour Party in three different decades. He was popular among his colleagues, who called him "Uncle Arthur".

He was born in Glasgow,  His father was a textile worker who died when Arthur was ten years old.  The Hendersons then moved to Newcastle upon Tyne. When he was 12 he  worked as an apprentice at Robert Stephenson and Sons' General Foundry Works until he was 17. Then  he moved to Southampton for a year and then returned to work as an iron moulder.

In 1892 he was elected as a paid organiser for the Friendly Society of Iron Founders. He was involved in setting up the  Labour Representation Committee in 1900.   In 1903, he was elected Treasurer of the Committee and was also elected as Member of Parliament for Barnard Castle at a by-election. From 1903 to 1904, Henderson he was also mayor of Darlington.

In 1908 he was elected Leader of the Labour Party.  He resigned in 1910.  In 1914 he was elected leader again when Ramsay MacDonald resigned. In 1915,  Prime Minister H. H. Asquith's created a coalition government, Henderson became the first member of the Labour Party to become a member of the Cabinet, as President of the Board of Education. In 1916, David Lloyd George forced Asquith to resign and replaced him as Prime Minister. Henderson became a member of the small War Cabinet with the post of Minister without Portfolio. He resigned on 11 August 1917 after his proposal for an international conference on the war was rejected by the rest of the Cabinet.

In 1918 he concentrated on building up the membership and organisation of the Labour Party.  Henderson lost his seat parliament in the "Coupon Election" of 14 December 1918 which was a landslide victory for a coalition formed by Lloyd George. Henderson returned to Parliament in 1919 after winning a by-election in Widnes. He then became Labour's Chief Whip.

Henderson lost his seat again, at the general election of 1922. He returned to Parliament via another by-election, this time representing Newcastle East, but again, he was unseated at the general election of 1923. He returned to Parliament just two months later after winning another by-election in Burnley.  In 1924, Henderson was made Home Secretary in the first-ever Labour government, led by MacDonald. In 1929 MacDonald appointed Henderson as Foreign Secretary.

MacDonald  formed an emergency National Government in 1931 with members from all parties. MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party. Henderson accepted the leadership of the main Labour Party and led it into the general election on 27 October against the cross-party National coalition. It was a disastrous result for Labour, which was reduced to a small minority of 52. MacDonald won the largest landslide in British electoral history. Henderson lost his seat, at Burnley. The following year, he resigned the party leadership.

Henderson returned to Parliament after winning a by-election at Clay Cross in 1933. He was elected a total of five times at by-elections in constituencies where he had not previously been the MP. He holds the record for the greatest number of comebacks from losing a previous seat.

Henderson spent the rest of his life trying to halt the gathering storm of World War II. He worked with the World League of Peace and chaired the Geneva Disarmament Conference, and in 1934 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

## Infobox (officeholder)

- **embed**: yes
- **constituency mp**: Clay Cross
- **term start**: 1 September 1933
- **term end**: 20 October 1935
- **predecessor**: Charles Duncan (politician), Charles Duncan
- **successor**: Alfred Holland (politician), Alfred Holland
- **constituency mp1**: Burnley
- **term start1**: 28 February 1924
- **term end1**: 7 October 1931
- **predecessor1**: Dan Irving
- **successor1**: Gordon Campbell (Royal Navy officer), Gordon Campbell
- **constituency mp2**: Newcastle upon Tyne East
- **term start2**: 17 January 1923
- **term end2**: 16 November 1923
- **predecessor2**: Joseph Nicholas Bell
- **successor2**: Sir Robert Aske, 1st Baronet, Sir Robert Aske
- **constituency mp3**: Widnes
- **term start3**: 30 August 1919
- **term end3**: 26 October 1922
- **predecessor3**: William Hall Walker
- **successor3**: George Christopher Clayton
- **constituency mp4**: Barnard Castle
- **term start4**: 30 August 1903
- **term end4**: 25 November 1918
- **predecessor4**: Sir Joseph Pease, 1st Baronet, Sir Joseph Pease
- **successor4**: John Edmund Swan


## Infobox (officeholder)

- **honorific-prefix**: The Right Honourable
- **name**: Arthur Henderson
- **image**: 1910 Arthur Henderson.jpg
- **office**: Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition
- **term start**: 1 September 1931
- **term end**: 25 October 1932
- **monarch**: George V
- **primeminister**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **predecessor**: Stanley Baldwin
- **successor**: George Lansbury
- **office1**: Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party
- **deputy1**: John Robert Clynes
- **term start1**: 28 August 1931
- **term end1**: 25 October 1932
- **predecessor1**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **successor1**: George Lansbury
- **term start2**: 5 August 1914
- **term end2**: 24 October 1917
- **predecessor2**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **successor2**: William Adamson
- **term start3**: 22 January 1908
- **term end3**: 14 February 1910
- **predecessor3**: Keir Hardie
- **successor3**: George Barnes (British politician), George Barnes
- **office4**: Foreign Secretary (United Kingdom), Foreign Secretary
- **term start4**: 7 June 1929
- **term end4**: 24 August 1931
- **primeminister4**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **predecessor4**: Austen Chamberlain
- **successor4**: Rufus Isaacs, 1st Marquess of Reading, The Marquess of Reading
- **office9**: Home Secretary
- **primeminister9**: Ramsay MacDonald
- **term start9**: 23 January 1924
- **term end9**: 4 November 1924
- **predecessor9**: William Bridgeman, 1st Viscount Bridgeman, William Bridgeman
- **successor9**: Sir William Joynson-Hicks
- **office10**: Minister without portfolio (United Kingdom), Minister without portfolio
- **primeminister10**: David Lloyd George
- **term start10**: 10 December 1916
- **term end10**: 12 August 1917
- **predecessor10**: Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, The Marquess of Lansdowne
- **successor10**: George Nicoll Barnes
- **office11**: Paymaster General
- **primeminister11**: H. H. Asquith
- **term start11**: 18 August 1916
- **term end11**: 10 December 1916
- **predecessor11**: Thomas Legh, 2nd Baron Newton, Thomas Legh
- **successor11**: Joseph Compton-Rickett
- **office12**: Secretary of State for Education and Skills, President of the Board of Education
- **primeminister12**: H. H. Asquith
- **term start12**: 25 May 1915
- **term end12**: 18 August 1916
- **predecessor12**: Jack Pease
- **successor12**: Robert Crewe-Milnes
- **birth date**: 13 September 1863
- **birth place**: Glasgow, Scotland
- **death place**: London, England
- **party**: Labour Party (UK), Labour Party
- **caption**: Henderson