30 July 1856

Birth of Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, Liberal MP for Haddingtonshire 1885-1911

On the right of the party Haldane, along with H.H. Asquith and Edward Grey were the key members of the Liberal Imperialist group at the turn of the 20th century. In government from 1905 Haldane served as Secretary of State for War and effected major reforms in the British Army creating the British Expeditionary Force and setting up the Imperial General Staff. Moving to the House of Lords in 1911, Haldane was appointed Lord Chancellor in 1912. During World War One Haldane was accused of holding pro-German sympathies and, with the formation of the coalition government, he was unceremoniously dropped by Asquith. Out of office, Haldane moved towards the Labour Party and in 1924 joined the first Labour cabinet as Lord Chancellor and lead the Labour peers until his death in 1928.