Henry Addington

Henry Albert Oswald Addington GCMT (11 April 2597– 31 October 2670) was a Terran colonial politician, university professor, political and social theorist, and philosopher who served as Prime Minister of the Terran Empire from 2657 to 2668. Before entering politics, he was a professor at Braunfels University on the frontier world of Temple in the Arcturus Stream during the late 2620s and 2630s, teaching history and political science from a Nationalist perspective. He rose to prominence in frontier politics and became a leading figure in the National Humanist Imperial Labor Party. He was instated as Party Chairman in 2650 during a hotly-contested leadership election between himself and George Rothschild. He led the party to electoral victory in the 2657 general election, and was appointed Prime Minister. He oversaw a military buildup and intensification of Nationalist political integration during the lead-up to the Great War. While an adept organizer and planner, he was unpopular with the Party leadership and much of the electorate and was dismissed from the Chairmanship by the Steering Committee in early 2667. He was sidelined during a power-sharing agreement with Frederick Rycon and Prince Maximilian, though he nominally retained the Premiership until its abolition in 2668. He went into retirement on the Outer Colonies world of Renner, the birthplace of National Humanism, intending to write and publish his memoirs. 
Addington was assassinated in late October 2670 by terrorists affiliated with the Terran People's Liberation Army, an armed revolutionary group associated with the banned Terran Communist Party. His legacy is hotly debated, with the majority opinion of both scholars and the public being that Addington was very capable with organization and parliamentary politics, but was also uncharismatic, abrasive, and paranoid. His rise to power coincided with the final victory of the National Humanist movement and its "soft" revolution. However, he nearly brought about the Party's downfall by alienating its allies and, eventually, its highest leadership. His replacement by Prince Maximilian is viewed as a turning point in the Nationalist revolution that allowed it to come to its fruition and create the Republic out of the ashes of the empire. Nevertheless, his contributions to political and social theory in regards to National Humanist ideology are held in high esteem.
== Early life and education ==
Henry Albert Oswald Addington was born on April 11th of 2597 to Courtney Jane Addington-Seymour (b. 3181) and Bastian James Addington (b. 2575) at the village hospital in Miretown on the mining colony of Halstrom in the Perseid Frontier. His father was the town's public notary, and his mother was an Army veteran, who would become chief of police of the town in 2607.
Addington was home schooled until the age of seven, when he was enrolled late into the town's public elementary school. He tested into third grade-level classes. He was prepared to continue at the town's secondary school when tragedy struck in 2611. A race riot broke out on his homeworld.
Halstrom was dominated by its minerals and metals mining industry, represented by Drake Industries which had exclusive rights for a period of one century on the world's commercial resource extraction. The company employed both human and alien miners to work the mines, but was increasingly making use of alien laborers. After a dispute over equalized benefits for the alien migrants, the human laborers went on strike in February, causing the company to employ almost exclusively alien migrant workers for its mining operations on Halstrom. Tensions boiled as the aliens felt intimidated by angry human workers, the human workers felt ignored by the company, and the human population felt overran by aliens. The tensions erupted when four alien workers were found lynched and hanging from a lamppost in the alien workers' reservation on 20 August. Perceiving the police as having done little to solve the lynchings, the aliens rioted and began looting the nearby city of Stromburg and killing human police officers. The riots escalated into full-scale and indiscriminate violence, looting, and arson, which spread outside of the major urban centre to outlying counties.
On September 17, a gang of alien bandits marauded into Miretown and burned it to the ground. Courtney Addington, identified by collaborators as the town police chief, was lynched. Bastian was shot trying to intervene. Henry hid under his bed while their cottage was ransacked and then set aflame. He barely escaped with his life, and hid thereafter in the swampy wetlands until the aliens moved on. The survivors were ushered into refugee camps organized by the planetary Army garrison. The riots were suppressed by a contingent of Imperial Marines in late September and early October. The riot leaders were summarily shot; all who participated were tried and hanged. Drake Industries agreed to concessions to the human workers, and gradually instated a policy of human-only employment.
Henry Addington was placed into the care of the state at the Halstrom State Orphanarium from 2611 to 2613. He was transferred after the orphanarium's closure to the Central Rim Orphanarium in orbit of the planet Ravenna and lived there until 2615. At age 17, he was belatedly placed into the foster care of Frances and Jeremy Lefbaum of the Aquila Stream world of Temple. He tested in to the Braunfels University, an elite private academy with a focus on social sciences, in the summer of 2615. He began studies there and achieved his Master's degree in History on in April 2621, graduating summa cum laude. He undertook graduate studies at the university, coupled with correspondence courses with the University of Chicago on Earth, and earned a PhD in Political History in 2625.
== Academic Career ==
Addington began his career in academia as an assistant professor of history at Clooney College, a state university in the city of Cloonerville on Temple. He worked there for two years, before being hired as an assistant professor at his alma mater. He received a promotion to associate professor in 2631, and became a tenured professor in 2636.
During this time, he lectured primarily on Terran political history, military history, political science, and sociology.