Harry Snell, 1st Baron Snell
Encyclopedia
Henry Snell, 1st Baron Snell CH
, PC (1 April 1865 – 21 April 1944), was a British
socialist politician
and campaigner. He served in government under Ramsay MacDonald
and Winston Churchill
, and as the Labour Party
's leader in the House of Lords
in the late 1930s.
in Nottinghamshire
, the son of agricultural workers, Harry Snell was educated at his local village school before beginning work as a farm hand at the age of eight. He worked full-time from the age of ten and became an indoor servant at the farm aged twelve. Dissatisfied with this work, Snell left and travelled around the county, taking a variety of jobs including work as a groom and ferryman at an inn on the River Trent
and as a French-polisher in Nottingham
. During long periods of unemployment he occupied himself with extensive reading, and was particularly influenced by the writing of Henry George
. Inspired by Charles Bradlaugh
and the cause of secularism
in Nottingham 1881, he joined the National Secular Society
. He rejected the austere and literalist Anglicanism of his up-bringing, but retained some religious faith and decided to join the Unitarian
Church, impressed by its scientific approach to Christian doctrine and its progressive and tolerant values.
A Unitarian teacher, John Kentish-White, introduced Snell to the works of Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
. Through acquaintances made in the Unitarian movement, Snell was able to find a job in London
as a clerk at the offices of the Midland Institute for the Blind. Here he continued his self-education at the reference library of University College, London, being influenced by the writings of Thomas Paine
, William Morris
, John Ruskin
and John Stuart Mill
. Eventually Unitarianism
would grow even too strict for him, and he became an agnostic and member of the National Secular Society
. After hearing Annie Besant
address a meeting of the Secular Society on the subject of socialism, Snell joined the Social Democratic Federation
. He worked on John Burns
' campaign for Parliament
in 1885, and began to address public meetings himself, appearing alongside the likes of Henry Hyndman
, Tom Mann
, Eleanor Marx
and Ben Tillett
. He was active in supporting the Bryant and May match factory strike and the London Dock Strike of 1889.
. He joined the Independent Labour Party
and, in 1894, the Fabian Society
, travelling extensively around Britain to lecture on socialist topics with speakers including Ramsay MacDonald
and Bruce Glasier. Snell also lectured for the British Ethical Society (eventually becoming President) and its American counterpart. Snell stood unsuccessfully in Huddersfield
as a candidate for the Labour Party in 1910 and 1918. He was elected to the London County Council
in 1919, serving until 1925, and became Member of Parliament
for Woolwich East
, the seat formerly held by Will Crooks
, at the 1922 General Election
, being re-elected in 1929
.
In late 1929, Snell was appointed to the Shaw Commission, which had been set up to investigate Arab
up-risings in Palestine. When the Commission published its findings in March 1931, Snell delivered a Minority Report, disagreeing with the Commission's recommendation that Jewish immigration and land-purchase be curtailed. Snell also dissented from the Commission's claims that Palestine was over-crowded, agreeing with reports published two years earlier that had found the area to be under-populated and greatly under-cultivated. He described the impact of Jewish immigration as having raised the standard of living for Arab workers, and asserted that the Commission was wrongly and dangerously encouraging the view that immigration was a menace to Arabs and threatened their economic future. Following this, Snell became a strong supporter of Zionism
.
, a leading member of the Trades Union Congress
, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Snell, of Plumstead in the County of Kent, on 23 March 1931. Ramsay Macdonald made him Under-Secretary of State for India
and, upon the formation of the National Government a few months later, asked Snell to continue in this role. However, Snell refused, choosing to remain loyal to the Labour Party. In the Lords, he spoke on and agricultural issues, with particular concern for rural workers, and on foreign affairs, and was a member of the British Institute of Parliamentary Affairs and the Empire Parliamentary Association. He was also appointed to the British Council
, eventually becoming Vice-Chairman. In 1935, when Arthur Ponsonby
chose to resign with George Lansbury
, Snell became Labour's leader in the Lords, serving under Clement Attlee
. He published an autobiography, Men, Movements and Myself, in 1936, and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1937.
As leader in the Lords, Snell took a strong line against the growing threat of fascism
, and attacked the Government's appeasement of Nazi Germany
and its refusal to intervene to help the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War
. He also continued to champion Zionism. During a debate in the Lords in 1938 he spoke in support the policy of population transfer
of Arabs in Palestine for purposes of developing the land and creating cohesive settlements, pointing out that similar transfers had occurred in Libya
and other Arab countries without any protest. Aged seventy-five and with his health failing, he stood down as leader of the Labour peers in 1940. However, he recovered and was appointed by Winston Churchill
as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
) a year later (having been considered as Leader, but passed-over in favour of a Conservative
). He chaired several committees and inquiries during the Second World War
, and was awarded the Companion of Honour in 1943. Whilst still in the role of Deputy Leader, Snell fell ill at the end of March 1944, and died less than a month later, his peerage becoming extinct at that time.
Order of the Companions of Honour
The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by King George V in June 1917, as a reward for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry or religion....
, PC (1 April 1865 – 21 April 1944), was a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
socialist politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
and campaigner. He served in government under Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
and Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
, and as the Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
's leader in the House of Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
in the late 1930s.
Background
Born in Sutton-on-TrentSutton-on-Trent
Sutton-on-Trent is a village in Nottinghamshire. According to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,327.It is located 8 miles north of Newark-on-Trent....
in Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...
, the son of agricultural workers, Harry Snell was educated at his local village school before beginning work as a farm hand at the age of eight. He worked full-time from the age of ten and became an indoor servant at the farm aged twelve. Dissatisfied with this work, Snell left and travelled around the county, taking a variety of jobs including work as a groom and ferryman at an inn on the River Trent
River Trent
The River Trent is one of the major rivers of England. Its source is in Staffordshire on the southern edge of Biddulph Moor. It flows through the Midlands until it joins the River Ouse at Trent Falls to form the Humber Estuary, which empties into the North Sea below Hull and Immingham.The Trent...
and as a French-polisher in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
. During long periods of unemployment he occupied himself with extensive reading, and was particularly influenced by the writing of Henry George
Henry George
Henry George was an American writer, politician and political economist, who was the most influential proponent of the land value tax, also known as the "single tax" on land...
. Inspired by Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh
Charles Bradlaugh was a political activist and one of the most famous English atheists of the 19th century. He founded the National Secular Society in 1866.-Early life:...
and the cause of secularism
Secularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
in Nottingham 1881, he joined the National Secular Society
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
. He rejected the austere and literalist Anglicanism of his up-bringing, but retained some religious faith and decided to join the Unitarian
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
Church, impressed by its scientific approach to Christian doctrine and its progressive and tolerant values.
A Unitarian teacher, John Kentish-White, introduced Snell to the works of Lord Byron and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, Romantic, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best known for his poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla...
. Through acquaintances made in the Unitarian movement, Snell was able to find a job in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
as a clerk at the offices of the Midland Institute for the Blind. Here he continued his self-education at the reference library of University College, London, being influenced by the writings of Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine
Thomas "Tom" Paine was an English author, pamphleteer, radical, inventor, intellectual, revolutionary, and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States...
, William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
, John Ruskin
John Ruskin
John Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, also an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent social thinker and philanthropist. He wrote on subjects ranging from geology to architecture, myth to ornithology, literature to education, and botany to political...
and John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill
John Stuart Mill was a British philosopher, economist and civil servant. An influential contributor to social theory, political theory, and political economy, his conception of liberty justified the freedom of the individual in opposition to unlimited state control. He was a proponent of...
. Eventually Unitarianism
Unitarianism
Unitarianism is a Christian theological movement, named for its understanding of God as one person, in direct contrast to Trinitarianism which defines God as three persons coexisting consubstantially as one in being....
would grow even too strict for him, and he became an agnostic and member of the National Secular Society
National Secular Society
The National Secular Society is a British campaigning organisation that promotes secularism and the separation of church and state. It holds that no-one should gain advantage or disadvantage because of their religion or lack of religion. It was founded by Charles Bradlaugh in 1866...
. After hearing Annie Besant
Annie Besant
Annie Besant was a prominent British Theosophist, women's rights activist, writer and orator and supporter of Irish and Indian self rule.She was married at 19 to Frank Besant but separated from him over religious differences. She then became a prominent speaker for the National Secular Society ...
address a meeting of the Secular Society on the subject of socialism, Snell joined the Social Democratic Federation
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on June 7, 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury and Eleanor Marx. However, Friedrich Engels, Karl Marx's long-term...
. He worked on John Burns
John Burns
John Elliot Burns was an English trade unionist and politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, particularly associated with London politics. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was anti-alcohol and a keen sportsman...
' campaign for Parliament
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
in 1885, and began to address public meetings himself, appearing alongside the likes of Henry Hyndman
Henry Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman was an English writer and politician, and the founder of the Social Democratic Federation and the National Socialist Party.-Early years:...
, Tom Mann
Tom Mann
Tom Mann was a noted British trade unionist. Largely self-educated, Mann became a successful organiser and a popular public speaker in the labour movement.-Early years:...
, Eleanor Marx
Eleanor Marx
Jenny Julia Eleanor "Tussy" Marx , also known as Eleanor Marx Aveling, was the English-born youngest daughter of Karl Marx. She was herself a socialist activist, who sometimes worked as a literary translator...
and Ben Tillett
Ben Tillett
Benjamin Tillett was a British socialist, trade union leader and politician. He was born in Bristol and began his working life as a sailor, before travelling to London and taking up work as a docker....
. He was active in supporting the Bryant and May match factory strike and the London Dock Strike of 1889.
Member of Parliament
In 1890, Snell began social work for the Woolwich Charity Organisation Society, and later became secretary to the director of the London School of EconomicsLondon School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
. He joined the Independent Labour Party
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...
and, in 1894, the Fabian Society
Fabian Society
The Fabian Society is a British socialist movement, whose purpose is to advance the principles of democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist, rather than revolutionary, means. It is best known for its initial ground-breaking work beginning late in the 19th century and continuing up to World...
, travelling extensively around Britain to lecture on socialist topics with speakers including Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
and Bruce Glasier. Snell also lectured for the British Ethical Society (eventually becoming President) and its American counterpart. Snell stood unsuccessfully in Huddersfield
Huddersfield (UK Parliament constituency)
-Elections in the 2000s:-Elections in the 1990s:- Notes and references :...
as a candidate for the Labour Party in 1910 and 1918. He was elected to the London County Council
London County Council
London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...
in 1919, serving until 1925, and became Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Woolwich East
Woolwich East (UK Parliament constituency)
Woolwich East was a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 1983...
, the seat formerly held by Will Crooks
Will Crooks
William Crooks was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London, and a member of the Fabian Society...
, at the 1922 General Election
United Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
, being re-elected in 1929
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
.
In late 1929, Snell was appointed to the Shaw Commission, which had been set up to investigate Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...
up-risings in Palestine. When the Commission published its findings in March 1931, Snell delivered a Minority Report, disagreeing with the Commission's recommendation that Jewish immigration and land-purchase be curtailed. Snell also dissented from the Commission's claims that Palestine was over-crowded, agreeing with reports published two years earlier that had found the area to be under-populated and greatly under-cultivated. He described the impact of Jewish immigration as having raised the standard of living for Arab workers, and asserted that the Commission was wrongly and dangerously encouraging the view that immigration was a menace to Arabs and threatened their economic future. Following this, Snell became a strong supporter of Zionism
Zionism
Zionism is a Jewish political movement that, in its broadest sense, has supported the self-determination of the Jewish people in a sovereign Jewish national homeland. Since the establishment of the State of Israel, the Zionist movement continues primarily to advocate on behalf of the Jewish state...
.
House of Lords
Snell resigned his seat in the Commons in 1931, to make way for George HicksGeorge Hicks
Ernest George Hicks was a British trades unionist and Labour Party politician.Hicks was born in 1879 in Venham Dean, Hampshire. Along with fellow bricklayers Jack Fitzgerald and F. K. Cadman, he was one of the founding members of the Socialist Party of Great Britain in June 1904...
, a leading member of the Trades Union Congress
Trades Union Congress
The Trades Union Congress is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in the United Kingdom, representing the majority of trade unions...
, and was raised to the peerage as Baron Snell, of Plumstead in the County of Kent, on 23 March 1931. Ramsay Macdonald made him Under-Secretary of State for India
Under-Secretary of State for India
This is a list of Parliamentary Under-Secretaries of State and Permanent Under-Secretaries of State at the India Office during the period of British rule between 1866 and 1948, and for Burma from 1858-1948....
and, upon the formation of the National Government a few months later, asked Snell to continue in this role. However, Snell refused, choosing to remain loyal to the Labour Party. In the Lords, he spoke on and agricultural issues, with particular concern for rural workers, and on foreign affairs, and was a member of the British Institute of Parliamentary Affairs and the Empire Parliamentary Association. He was also appointed to the British Council
British Council
The British Council is a United Kingdom-based organisation specialising in international educational and cultural opportunities. It is registered as a charity both in England and Wales, and in Scotland...
, eventually becoming Vice-Chairman. In 1935, when Arthur Ponsonby
Arthur Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede
Arthur Augustus William Harry Ponsonby, 1st Baron Ponsonby of Shulbrede was a British politician, writer, and social activist. He was the third son of Sir Henry Ponsonby, Private Secretary to Queen Victoria, and the great-grandson of Frederick Ponsonby, 3rd Earl of Bessborough...
chose to resign with George Lansbury
George Lansbury
George Lansbury was a British politician, socialist, Christian pacifist and newspaper editor. He was a Member of Parliament from 1910 to 1912 and from 1922 to 1940, and leader of the Labour Party from 1932 to 1935....
, Snell became Labour's leader in the Lords, serving under Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
. He published an autobiography, Men, Movements and Myself, in 1936, and was made a Privy Counsellor in 1937.
As leader in the Lords, Snell took a strong line against the growing threat of fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, and attacked the Government's appeasement of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...
and its refusal to intervene to help the Republican government during the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
. He also continued to champion Zionism. During a debate in the Lords in 1938 he spoke in support the policy of population transfer
Population transfer
Population transfer is the movement of a large group of people from one region to another by state policy or international authority, most frequently on the basis of ethnicity or religion...
of Arabs in Palestine for purposes of developing the land and creating cohesive settlements, pointing out that similar transfers had occurred in Libya
Libya
Libya is an African country in the Maghreb region of North Africa bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to the east, Sudan to the southeast, Chad and Niger to the south, and Algeria and Tunisia to the west....
and other Arab countries without any protest. Aged seventy-five and with his health failing, he stood down as leader of the Labour peers in 1940. However, he recovered and was appointed by Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
as Captain of the Honourable Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms (Deputy Leader of the House of Lords
Leader of the House of Lords
The Leader of the House of Lords is a member of the Cabinet of the United Kingdom who is responsible for arranging government business in the House of Lords. The role is always held in combination with a formal Cabinet position, usually one of the sinecure offices of Lord President of the Council,...
) a year later (having been considered as Leader, but passed-over in favour of a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
). He chaired several committees and inquiries during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, and was awarded the Companion of Honour in 1943. Whilst still in the role of Deputy Leader, Snell fell ill at the end of March 1944, and died less than a month later, his peerage becoming extinct at that time.