Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth

Edward Marjoribanks in period costume

Edward Marjoribanks, 2nd Baron Tweedmouth KT , PC ( July 8, 1849 - September 15, 1909 ) was a British statesman.

family

Marjoribanks married Lady Fanny Octavia Louise Spencer-Churchill (1853-1904) on June 9, 1873, a daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 7th Duke of Marlborough , and sister of Lord Randolph Churchill . The marriage resulted in a son, Dudley Churchill Marjoribanks , who inherited the title and rank of Baron Tweedmouth after the death of his father .

Lord Randolph's son Winston Churchill , whose political advancement Marjoribanks promoted, belonged together with this from 1905 to 1908 the liberal government of Campbell-Bannerman and Asquith . From March to September 1908 both sat together in the cabinet (Churchill as Minister of Commerce and Marjoribanks as Lord President of the Council ). In addition, Marjoribanks had contributed to his nephew's change of party in April 1904 from the Conservative to the Liberal Party, by encouraging the latter in general in talks to turn his back on the Conservatives in favor of the Liberals, and secondly by being within the Liberals Party prepared the ground for his relative by influencing the Liberal leaders to accept Churchill.

Early life (1849-1875)

Marjoribanks attended boarding school in Harrow . He first studied at Christ Church College at the University of Oxford , from which he was expelled because of a student prank. After completing his studies, he first traveled extensively and began a career as a lawyer in 1874, which he gave up a year later to devote himself to politics.

Political activity (1875–1909)

Marjoribanks belonged to the Liberal Party. After he had unsuccessfully applied for a lower house seat in a by-election in 1875 , he succeeded in 1880 with a large majority (1086 to 504 votes) as MP for the constituency of Berwickshire in the House of Commons , where he became a loyal follower of William Ewart Gladstone stood out . He sat there until 1894 - when after the death of his father Dudley Marjoribanks, 1st Baron Tweedmouth , whose title passed to him - he moved to the House of Lords , the British House of Lords , in which he sat until his death in 1909. From 1892 to 1894 he also served as parliamentary secretary in the Treasury, a government office that is regularly occupied by the chief whip of the government faction . From 1886 he acted as one of the Whips of the Liberals from 1892 until his move into the House of Lords in 1894 as Chief Whip.

From 1894 to 1895 he acted as Gladstone's successor as Lord Seal Keeper and at the same time took the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster . From 1905 to 1908 he was First Lord of the Admiralty (Minister of the Navy) and in 1908 as Lord President of the Council for a few months . He was also a member of the Privy Council since 1886 and was accepted into the Order of the Thistle in 1908 , the highest Scottish order.

MP and Whip (1880-1894)

Since 1886, Marjoribanks acted as one of the Whips (faction executives) of the Liberal faction in the House of Commons. It was their task to ensure that the members of the parliamentary group adhered to party discipline and to ensure that they appeared as full as possible for the votes in parliament so that the ruling party could play to its mandate strength. In particular, Marjoribanks was responsible for the parliamentarians of his party - like himself - from Scottish constituencies. His position as Whip was of particular importance at this time, as the dispute over the Home Rule for Ireland sought by Gladstone threatened to split the Liberal Party. In his efforts to hold the faction together, Marjoribanks proved so successful that he was appointed chief whip in 1892, the chief group manager of the Liberals. Gladstone recognized Marjoribank's ability with the words: "His very presence brought sunlight" . Vanity Fair magazine judged the end of his career as Whip on the occasion of his move into the House of Lords in 1894, saying that Marjoribanks was "the best whip the Liberal party ever had" .

Secretary of the Navy and Tweedmouth Affair (1905-1908)

Of lasting historical interest is Marjoribank's tenure as First Lord of the Admiralty, which coincided with the ever-accelerating German-British naval rivalry in the decade before the First World War . In his capacity as Minister of the Navy, Marjoribanks is considered one of the British opponents of Admiral Alfred von Tirpitz , the creator of the German deep-sea fleet . Marjoribanks and his fleet chief John Arbuthnot Fisher reacted to the "German challenge" with a massive armament of the British Navy . Among other things, they managed a reorganization of the naval bases, an improvement in the salary of the naval personnel and finally the construction of large combat ships known as " dreadnoughts " - practically only after Marjoribank's departure from the Admiralty in 1908 - which is why they got into the crosshairs of German criticism.

In the course of the so-called Tweedmouth Affair , the German Kaiser tried to influence the British Minister in 1908 with a document that had become famous as the "Tweedmouth Letter". A move that was perceived by the British public as undue interference in internal UK affairs, contributed to a further deterioration in German-British relations and also partially anticipated the Daily Telegraph affair of the following year.

The last years (1908–1909) and aftermath

After Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman's resignation as Prime Minister, a cabinet reshuffle became necessary in the spring of 1908. At the urging of the prospective Prime Minister Herbert Henry Asquith, Marjoribanks resigned as Minister of the Navy and took over the post of Lord President of the Council in the newly formed Asquith Cabinet. Asquith's request that Marjoribanks not remain as Minister of the Navy was officially based on the notion that the Minister of Navy should have a seat in the House of Commons rather than in the House of Lords like Marjoribanks. Unofficially, however, it was agreed that Marjoribank's drastically deteriorating health was the real reason for his release. His successor as Minister of the Navy was Reginald McKenna . After a stroke in September 1908, Marjoribanks finally resigned from the post of Lord President and largely said goodbye to private life.

As a personality, Marjoribanks has almost disappeared from the collective memory today, as a statesman, according to the family chronicle of the Marjoribanks, he was "now almost entirely forgotten (even) by historians" in 1996. Although he was a great statesman, as Minister of the Navy he was an "honorable failure, though far from a disaster".

literature

• Ishbel Maria Hamilton-Gordon (Ed.): Edward Majoribanks Lord Tweedmouth, KT 1849-1909. Notes and Recollections , Constable & Co., London 1909.
• Edward Marjoribanks : The Late Lord Tweedmouth. "The most untiring whip the party ever had". Some personal reminiscences . (Reprinted from "The Westminster Gazette".), London 1909. [biography written by his nephew]

predecessor	Office	successor
Dudley Marjoribanks	Baron Tweedmouth 1894-1909	Dudley Marjoribanks
Frederick Campbell	First Lord of the Admiralty 1905–1908	Reginald McKenna