Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was Leader of the Labour Party from 1908 to 1910, from 1914 to 1917, and from 1931 to 1932, leading the Opposition from 1931 to 1932. Henderson served as British Foreign Secretary from 7 June 1929 to 24 August 1931, succeeding Austen Chamberlain and preceding Rufus Isaacs.
Biography[]
Arthur Henderson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and he grew up in Newcastle upon Tyne, where he worked in an iron foundry and became an active trade unionist. In 1903, he was elected to Parliament for the Labour Party, of which he became an important member, staying on the right of the party while remaining conscious of its trade union constituency. From 1908 to 1910, he was chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party, and in 1912 became secretary of the Labour Party, holding the post until 1934. On the outbreak of World War I in 1914, he took over from Ramsay MacDonald as chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party once again, and entered H.H. Asquith's coalition cabinet in 1915. During hte ewar, he was closely involved with the government's industrial relations, and when David Lloyd George became Prime Minister in 1916, he was made a member of the select War Cabinet. He was forced to resign in 1917, when he advocated Labour participation in an international socialist coference which would be attended by representatives from all countries, including Britain's wartime enemies. He was briefly out of Parliament from 1918 until 1919, but was Home Secretary in the Labour government of 1924, and Foreign Secretary from 1929 to 1931. When MacDonald formed the National Government in 1931, Henderson briefly became Labour leader. He lost his seat in 1931, but was returned to the House of Commons in 1933.