A liberal, academic, political theorist, sociologist, social philosopher, pioneer of social liberalism and journo, Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (1864-1929) was born in St Ive, four miles north-east of Liskeard (not to be confused with St Ives), with an archetypal Cornish middle name, literally something taken straight from the pages of ‘Treasure Island’. As for his politics and beliefs, he was assuredly centre ground leaning to left of centre whilst his passion for sociology would help elevate this to the status of an academic discipline.
There haven’t been many famous bods named Hobhouse although there was John Cam Hobhouse, 1st Baron Broughton de Gyffard (1786-1869), a radical statesman, writer and pal of Byron, who invented the term ‘His Majesty’s Opposition’. The most famous Cornish Hobhouse was definitely our Leonard who also had something of the baronetcy about him as there was a grandparent and great-grandparent who’d taken it in turns to lord it over others whilst his uncle, Arthur Hobhouse, 1st Baron Hobhouse (1819-1904) was an eminent lawyer/judge.
Born on September 8, 1864, Hobhouse would grow up in a relatively small household with just elder sister Emily (1860-1926) for company who’d go on to become a welfare activist. They were the children of Reginald Hobhouse, an Anglican clergyman and Rector of St Ive, and Caroline Trelawny, hence Leonard’s middle name. It seems the family had some pretensions and connections as Reginald reputedly got his living in St Ive courtesy of his familiarity with none other than Sir Robert Peel. Ironically then, the latest male Hobhouse became an atheist from quite an early age, which must have perplexed his father who became an archdeacon. It reminds me of when my Methodist lay preacher grandfather found me watching a TV programme about Charles Darwin; he wasn’t impressed. Hobhouse believed in rationality and objectivity. He summed up his views thus, that he was ‘in politics … a firm radical. In religion … an (if possible yet firmer) agnostic’.
A student of Marlborough College (when Hobhouse defied family Tory and Anglican tradition by becoming both a radical and agnostic) and Corpus Christi, Oxford, from which he graduated with First Class Honours in 1887, Hobhouse would also become a Prize Fellow of Merton College, Oxford before becoming a Full Fellow at his former stomping ground of Corpus Christi as he became a college tutor between 1887-97. Hobhouse married in 1891 to Nora Hawden and became the father of three. Another of Hobhouse’s passions was anti-imperialism and pacifism which saw him opposing the 2nd Boer War (1899-1902) with sister Emily exposing the appalling conditions in the concentration camps the British had established in South Africa; neither of the Hobhouse siblings made themselves popular as the general mood was one of Jingoist war fervour.
Breaking from academia, Hobhouse had joined the editorial staff of the Manchester Guardian (today’s Guardian) as a leader-writer in 1897 before transferring to the editorship of the Sociological Review (1908), a quarterly academic journal which he established. During that same period (1903-05), Hobhouse was secretary of the Free Trade Union, when he arbitrated several labour disputes, and also became the political editor of the Tribune (1906-07). Those helping shape his views were William Ewart Gladstone, the four-time Liberal Prime Minister of the UK, John Stuart Mill, the philosopher/economist, the atheist MP, Charles Bradlaugh, John Morley, a Liberal statesman and newspaper editor, and Sir Charles Dilke, another radical Liberal MP whose own career was ended courtesy of a divorce scandal when he was named co-respondent. This bunch of worthies helped shape Hobhouse’s political colours, his causes embracing feminism and an unwavering belief in the enfranchisement of women, democracy (i.e. more of it) and secularism (i.e. religion not being such a factor in shaping policy).
Hobhouse enthusiastically embraced the mood of change in the early-20th century, reflected in the New Liberal movement under the likes of Herbert Henry Asquith and David Lloyd George, our last two Liberal Prime Ministers. The new state pension was an example of the redistribution of wealth and greater social conscience that Hobhouse felt was needed in this country and very much tallied with his belief that with wealth and property came responsibility including to those less fortunate. His Liberal socialism makes him very much an antecedent of today’s Liberal Democrats so his influence continues to be felt, although perhaps not as strongly as he would have liked. He believed in the freedom of the individual and creating the conditions for that person to improve their lot. He considered this might be best achieved by some form of co-operation between the Liberal tradition and the nascent Labour movement although this proved elusive with the latter replacing the former instead. It had been Hobhouse’s hope, however, that there was a way of reconciling liberalism with collectivism in the interests of social progress and the greater good. In seeking to improve the lot of the many, rather than just a few, Hobhouse became an intractable opponent of laissez-faire (leave alone) economics, believing some Government interference and control was necessary to create the conditions for that mass benefit. The steady decline of the Liberal Party after WW1 was a source of considerable regret to Hobhouse leading to him laying bare his disappointment after the 1929 General Election when he was: ‘Sorry that the Liberals did not get more seats, as I think (I know it’s blasphemy) they carry more brains to the square inch’.
From 1907 Hobhouse was Professor of Sociology at the University of London, thereby sharing the distinction with Edward Westermarck of being the first such professor anywhere in the UK. Hobhouse would remain in this post until his death in 1929. Four years earlier, in 1903, Hobhouse had co-founded The Sociological Society. Hobhouse’s pacifism saw him oppose Britain’s participation in WW1 although he later came to support the war which he presumably came to regard as a just war. He was an internationalist at heart, however, so was opposed to a narrow pursuit of British national interest, preferring instead co-operation between nations as per the League of Nations; he would have found the current British position, a UN and NATO member, but no longer an EU member, a hard one to get his head around.
Leonard Hobhouse died in France on June 21, 1929, aged 64. His best-known works are his first book, Labour Movement (1893), Theory of Knowledge (1896), and Development and Purpose (1913). His magnum opus though was Liberalism (1911) where he fully developed his ideas.
CHRONOLOGY
1864 – Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse born in St Ive (September 8).
1887 – Departs Corpus Christi, Oxford, graduating with First Class Honours.
1891 – Marries Nora Hawden and goes on to be the father of three.
1897 – A Fellow of the University, Hobhouse completes a decade as college tutor.
1907 – Professor of Sociology at the University of London (until his death).
1908 – Establishes the ‘Sociological Review’, also becoming its first editor.
1911 – Publication of Hobhouse’s seminal work, ‘Liberalism’.
1929 – Death of Leonard Hobhouse in France (June 21) aged 64.
