Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee

Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee

Charles Ritchie in a caricature by Carlo Pellegrini in Vanity Fair magazine , October 31, 1885

Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee PC (* 9. November 1838 in Dundee , Scotland ; † 9. January 1906 in Biarritz , Pyrénées-Atlantiques , France ) was a British lawyer and politician of the Conservative Party , which between 1874 and in 1905, with a three-year break, was a member of the House of Commons and from 1900 to 1902 Minister of the Interior and from 1902 to 1903 Chancellor of the Exchequer . In 1905 he was raised to hereditary nobility as Baron Ritchie of Dundee and was a member of the House of Lords until his death.

Life

Member of the House of Commons, Local and Trade Minister

After attending the City of London School, Ritchie was employed by William Ritchie & Sons , a family company based in London and Dundee that traded with British India and in the field of jute and textile manufacturers.

He was elected to the House of Commons for the first time as a candidate of the Conservative Party on January 31, 1874, where he initially represented the constituency of Tower Hamlets until November 24, 1885 and then between November 24, 1885 and July 4, 1892 constituency Tower Hamlets St George .

After the election victory of the conservative Tories , he took on June 23, 1885 following his appointment by Prime Minister Robert Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury as Parliamentary Secretary Admiralty (Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty) his first government post and has held this initially until the first February 1886. After the Marquess of Salisbury had again assumed the office of Prime Minister on August 3, 1886, he became Minister of Local Government (President of the Board of Local Government) and this time held the office until August 15, 1892. During his tenure, the Metropolitan Board of Works (MBW) was dissolved in 1889 because of the growing corruption there and this body was replaced by the London County Council (LCC).

After Ritchie lost his constituency of Tower Hamlets St George to John Benn , the father of William Benn and grandfather of Tony Benn , in the general election of July 4, 1892 , he resigned from the House of Commons and was not accepted until the next election on May 24 May 1895 re-elected to the House of Commons, in which he represented the constituency of Croydon until December 22, 1905 .

On June 25, 1895 Ritchie Prime Minister Salisbury was appointed Trade Minister (President of the Board of Trade ) called and held this position until November 7 1900's.

Minister of the Interior, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Member of the House of Lords

Then he took over on November 12, 1900 as part of a cabinet reshuffle from Matthew White Ridley, the office of Home Secretary , while Gerald Balfour was his successor as President of the Board of Trade.

After the inauguration of Arthur Balfour as Prime Minister on 11 July 1902, he gave the post of interior minister to Aretas Akers-Douglas , while he himself Balfour on August 11, 1902, the Office of the Chancellor of the Exchequer (Chancellor of the Exchequer) was appointed and thus to Successor to Michael Hicks Beach . He held the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer until October 9, 1903 and was then replaced by Austen Chamberlain .

Ritchie was after his departure from the House by a Letters Patent of 22 December 1905 as Baron Ritchie of Dundee , of Welders in the Parish of Chalfont St. Giles in the County of Buckingham, in the hereditary nobility (Hereditary peerage) collected and belonged thus joined the House of Lords as a member until his death only fourteen days later.

His marriage to Margaret Ower on December 7, 1858 resulted in two daughters and son Charles Ritchie , who inherited the title of 2nd Baron Ritchie of Dundee after his death.

Web links

• Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee in the Hansard (English)
• Entry in Cracroft's Peerage
• Entry in Leigh Rayment Peerage
• Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee on thepeerage.com , accessed August 19, 2015.

predecessor	Office	successor
New title created	Baron Ritchie of Dundee 1905-1906	Charles Ritchie
James Bryce	President of the Board of Trade 1895-1900	Gerald Balfour
Matthew White Ridley	Home Secretary 1900-1902	Aretas Akers-Douglas
Michael Hicks Beach	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1902–1903	Austen Chamberlain