The Papers of Lord Hailsham

Douglas McGarel Hogg was born in London, 28 February 1872, the son of Quintin Hogg and Alice Anna Graham. He was educated at Cheam School and Eton College. He married Elizabeth Marjoribanks, née Brown, in 1905 (died 1925), with whom he had two sons, and Mildred Margaret Lawrence, née Dew, in 1929 (died 1964).

He worked for eight years in the family firm of sugar merchants, Hogg, Curtis, Campbell and Co, in the West Indies and British Guiana. He served with the Lothian and Berwick Yeomanry in the South African War and was wounded in action. He joined Ashurst, Morris, Crisp and Co, a firm of City solicitors, and began a successful career in the law. He was called to the Bar by Lincoln's Inn, 1902; took silk as a King's Counsel, 1917; and became a bencher of Lincoln's Inn, 1920.

He also held political ambitions and was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Marylebone, 1922-8, and appointed Attorney General, 1922-January 1924 and October 1924-8. He moved to the House of Lords when he accepted the post of Lord Chancellor, 1928-9, and the hereditary peerage that went with it. He was Secretary of State for War, 1931-5; Leader of the House of Lords, 1931-5; Lord Chancellor again, 1935-8; and Lord President of the Council, 1938.

He retired due to failing health in 1938 and spent much of his time at the family home, Carters Corner Place, near Herstmonceux, in Sussex. He died there on 16 August 1950.

He was awarded a knighthood, 1922, and created a hereditary peer as Baron Hailsham, 1928, and Viscount Hailsham, 1929.

Papers mainly comprising correspondence

The papers were deposited in Churchill Archives Centre by his son, Lord Hailsham, 1977, and bequeathed to the Centre under the terms of Lord Hailsham's will, 2003.

The collection is open for consultation by researchers using Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge. Churchill Archives Centre is open from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm. A prior appointment and two forms of indentification are required.

Researchers wishing to publish excerpts from the papers must obtain prior permission from the copyright holders and should seek advice from Archives Centre staff.

Please cite as Churchill Archives Centre, The Papers of Lord Hailsham, HAIL

Churchill Archives Centre also holds the papers of Lord Hailsham's son, Quintin McGarel Hogg, 2nd Viscount Hailsham (reference: GBR/0014/HLSM).

Copies of the catalogue are available at Churchill Archives Centre, Cambridge, the National Register of Archives, London, and on the Janus website http://janus.lib.cam.ac.uk.

This collection level description was prepared by Sophie Bridges, December 2004. The papers were catalogued by Elizabeth Bennett, in 1988, and the catalogue was retroconverted by Sophie Bridges, February 2009. Biographical information was obtained from Lord Hailsham's obituary in The Times, 17 August 1950; the website of the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography and Who's Who 1897-1996.