Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 23 October 1922 to 20 May 1923, succeeding David Lloyd George and preceding Stanley Baldwin. From 1911 to 1921 and from 1922 to 1923, he was leader of the Conservative Party.
Biography[]
Andrew Bonar Law was born in Kingston, New Brunswick, Canada in 1858, and he was educated at Glasgow from 1870 and entered business in 1874, first in iron manufacturing, and then banking. He was elected to Parliament for the Conservative Party for Glasgow Blackfriars in 1900. He soon developed a reputation as a speaker, and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1902 to 1905. A diligent, ambitious, but solitary figure without great personal enemies, he became the surprise Conservative leader as a compromise candidate in 1911. Uniting the party in bellicose opposition, he was prominent in his support for Edward Carson and the mounting militancy in Northern Ireland over Liberal proposals for Irish autonomy. In H.H. Asquith's wartime coalition, he was Colonial Secretary. He was influential in David Lloyd George's replacement of Asquith, and became his Chancellor of the Exchequer, and a member of the War Cabinet. He was Lord Privy Seal from 1919 to 1921, but then resigned, owing to ill health and a general weariness of office. However, he once again became Conservative leader in 1922, when he effectively toppled Lloyd George. He led the party through a successful general election, but weakened by cancer he resigned in May 1923, dying later that year.