England Objects to the Treaty of Versailles, June 1, 1919

Journal of Liberal History

On This Day

09 January 1861

Birth of Stanley Owen Buckmaster, 1st Viscount Buckmaster, Lord Chancellor in the 1915 coalition

Buckmaster was a successful barrister. After taking silk in 1902 he was able to take forward his political ambitions and was elected Liberal MP for Cambridge in 1906. He lost in January 1910 and failed to regain the constituency in December, so a seat was found for him at Keighley at a by-election in 1911. He became Solicitor General in 1913 and Lord Chancellor in 1915 but lost this position when the Lloyd George coalition took office in December 1916. His loyalty to Asquith ruled out further political office but in 1929 Buckmaster was appointed chairman of the Political Honours Scrutiny Committee, set up to stop the abuses of the honours system which had occurred during Lloyd George’s premiership. He died in 1934.