Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also served as Secretary of State for War twice, in the cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery. He was the first first lord of the treasury to be officially called the "prime minister", the term only coming into official usage five days after he took office. He remains the only person to date to hold the positions of Prime Minister and Father of the House at the same time, and the last Liberal leader to gain a UK parliamentary majority.
Known colloquially as "CB", Campbell-Bannerman firmly believed in free trade, Irish Home Rule and the improvement of social conditions, including reduced working hours. A. J. A. Morris, in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, called him "Britain's first and only Radical prime minister". Following a general-election defeat in 1900, Campbell-Bannerman went on to lead the Liberal Party to a landslide victory over the Conservative Party at the 1906 general election – the last election in which the Liberals gained an overall majority in the House of Commons. The government he subsequently led passed legislation to ensure trade unions could not be liable for damages incurred during strike action, introduced free school meals for all children, and empowered local authorities to purchase agricultural land from private landlords. Campbell-Bannerman resigned as prime minister in April 1908 due to ill-health and was replaced by his chancellor, H. H. Asquith. He died 19 days later – the only prime minister to die in the official residence, 10 Downing Street.
Early life
Henry Campbell-Bannerman was born on 7 September 1836 at Kelvinside House in Glasgow as Henry Campbell, the second son and youngest of the six children born to James Campbell of Stracathro (1790–1876) and his wife Janet Bannerman (1799–1873). James Campbell had started work at a young age in the clothing trade in Glasgow, before in 1817 going into partnership with his brother, William Campbell, to found J.& W. Campbell & Co., a warehousing, general wholesale and retail drapery business. In 1831 James Campbell was elected as a member of Glasgow Town Council and in the 1837 and 1841 general elections he stood as a Conservative candidate for the Glasgow constituency. He served as the Lord Provost of Glasgow from 1840 to 1843.
Campbell-Bannerman was educated at the High School of Glasgow (1845–1847), the University of Glasgow (1851–1853), and Trinity College, Cambridge (1854–1858), where he achieved a Third-Class Degree in the Classical Tripos. After graduating, he joined the family firm of J. & W. Campbell & Co., based in Glasgow's Ingram Street, and was made a partner in the firm in 1860. He was also commissioned as a lieutenant into the 53rd Lanarkshire Rifle Volunteer Corps, which was recruited from employees of the firm, and in 1867 was promoted to captain.
In 1871, Henry Campbell became Henry Campbell-Bannerman, the addition of the surname Bannerman being a requirement of the will of his uncle, Henry Bannerman, from whom in that year he had inherited the estate of Hunton Lodge (now Hunton Court) in Hunton, Kent. He did not like the "horrid long name" that resulted and invited friends to call him "C.B." instead.
Henry Campbell-Bannerman had an older brother, James Alexander Campbell, who in 1876 inherited their father's 4000-acre Stracathro estate. He served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Glasgow and Aberdeen Universities from 1880 to 1906.
Marriage
In 1860, Campbell-Bannerman married Sarah Charlotte Bruce, and he and his new bride set up house at 6 Clairmont Gardens in the Park district of the West End of Glasgow. The couple never had any children.
C.B. and Charlotte were an exceptionally close couple throughout their marriage; in the words of one historian, they "shared every thought and possible moment". Charlotte may have been the person who mostly encouraged CB to stand for election, given his local profile.
For several years an aunt occupied the big house at Hunton which Campbell-Bannerman had inherited in 1871. For their country residence, Campbell-Bannerman and his wife lived elsewhere, including Gennings Park, which they did not leave until 1887. They first occupied Hunton Lodge in 1894.