Britain
Richard Haldane
1856–1928 Secretary of State for War, 1905–1912; Lord Chancellor, 1912–1915
Born in Edinburgh in 1856, Richard Haldane studied philosophy at Edinburgh and Göttingen, became a barrister and sat as Liberal member for Haddingtonshire from 1885. As Secretary of State for War from December 1905 he reorganized the British Army, creating the Territorial Force of 14 divisions and an expeditionary force of six infantry divisions and one cavalry division. Knowing Germany well, he went to Berlin in February 1912 to ease tension between Britain and Germany, but the mission failed because Germany wanted a pledge of British neutrality. Lord Chancellor from June 1912, he backed Kitchener's appointment to the War Office as war began. In May 1915 he was dropped from the coalition cabinet after a press campaign over his alleged pro-German sympathies. He died on 19 August 1928.
In the chronicle
Sources
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Haldane,_1st_Viscount_Haldane
- en.wikisource.org/wiki/1922_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Haldane,_Richard_Burdon_Haldane,_1st_Visct.
- en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclopædia_Britannica/Haldane,_Richard_Burdon
- api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-richard-haldane
- archive.org/download/beforewar00hald/beforewar00hald_djvu.txt
- archive.org/download/autobiography00hald/autobiography00hald_djvu.txt