Charles Hobhouse

Sir Charles Edward Henry Hobhouse, 4th Baronet, TD, PC, JP (30 June 1862 – 26 June 1941) was a British Liberal politician. He was a member of the Liberal cabinet of H. H. Asquith between 1911 and 1915.

Background and education
The eldest son of Sir Charles Parry Hobhouse, 3rd Baronet, he was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and served as a lieutenant in the 60th Rifles from 1884 to 1890.

Political career
Hobhouse's first attempt to get elected was at North Buckinghamshire. He was Liberal Member of Parliament for Devizes between 1892 and 1895 and for Bristol East between 1900 and 1918. He was a Parliamentary Private Secretary at the Colonial Office from 1892 to 1895 and a Church Estates Commissioner from 1906 to 1907.

He was appointed to his first ministerial post in 1907 when Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman made him Under-Secretary of State for India, and then served under H. H. Asquith as Financial Secretary to the Treasury from 1908 to 1911. He was a member of Asquith's cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster between 1911 and 1914 and as Postmaster-General between 1914 and 1915. In 1909 he was sworn of the Privy Council. Apart from his career in national politics Hobhouse was a County Alderman for Wiltshire from 1893 to 1924 and an Honorary Colonel of the Royal Tank Regiment. He succeeded his father as fourth Baronet in 1916.

At the Coupon election in 1918 he lost his seat, as did Asquith, McKenna, Runciman, Simon, Samuel and McKinnon Wood. In 1922 Hobhouse chose to stand again in North Buckinghamshire but was swept aside by both Conservative and Labour party candidates. As most Liberals found, their party and principles were in retreat.

Hobhouse, long associated with Bristol, was appointed President of the Western Counties Liberal Federation from 1924 to 1935 and President of the National Liberal Federation from 1926 to 1930.

Personal life
Sir Charles Hobhouse's wife, Lady Nina died in 1927. He married again to Aimee Gladys Brendon. They lived at Monkton Farleigh until he died on 26 June 1941, aged 78.