Samuel Hoare was a senior British Conservative politician who served in various Cabinet posts in the Conservative and National governments of the 1920s and 1930s.
Background
Hoare was born in London on 24 February 1880, the eldest son of Sir Samuel Hoare, 1st Baronet, who was a Conservative MP from a by-election in 1886 until 1906, and to whose baronetcy he succeeded in 1915. His family were the Anglo-Irish branch of an old Quaker family, with a long history of involvement in banking. He was a descendant of Samuel Hoare, but the family had abandoned Quakerism in the mid eighteenth century and Hoare was brought up an Anglo-Catholic.
Education
Hoare was educated at Harrow School, where he was a classical scholar, and New College, Oxford. As an undergraduate he was awarded a blue in rackets and was a member of the Gridiron and Bullingdon Clubs. Initially he studied classics, taking a first in Mods in 1901, before switching to Modern History, graduating with a first class B.A. in 1903. He was awarded his M.A. in 1910. He later became Honorary Fellow of New College.
Career
After the war, in 1922, he became air minister in Conservative governments, holding the post until 1929 (except for the brief Labour rule in 1924) and helping to build Britain’s air force. From 1931 to 1935, as secretary of state for India, he had the immense task of developing and defending in debate the new Indian constitution. To this end, he is estimated to have answered 15,000 parliamentary questions, made 600 speeches, and read 25,000 pages of reports.
On June 7, 1935, he became foreign secretary and, after the outbreak of the Italo–Ethiopian War, developed with Pierre Laval of France the so-called Hoare–Laval Plan for the partition of Ethiopian land between Italy and Ethiopia (then called Abyssinia). The proposal drew immediate and widespread denunciation, forcing Hoare’s resignation on Dec. 18, 1935.
Hoare came back into the government in June 1936 as first lord of the admiralty and then, in May 1937, under Neville Chamberlain, as home secretary. As one of the inner council that developed the Munich Pact, he became one of its staunchest defenders, further marking him as an appeaser, to the ultimate damage of his reputation. After war broke out and Churchill acceded to the prime ministry in 1940, Hoare’s parliamentary service was at an end. During the war (1940–44) he served as ambassador to Spain. In 1944 he was created Viscount Templewood and shortly thereafter retired from public life.
Personality
Hoare was short, slightly built and a dapper dresser. As a youth he took up games to bolster his physique, including figure skating. He became a tournament-level shot and tennis player. He was a poor speaker but a good writer. He was hard-working but cold.
Connections
On 17 October 1909, he married Lady Maud Lygon (1882-1962), youngest daughter of The 6th Earl Beauchamp. Their marriage was childless. It was, in the words of R.J.Q. Adams, “not at first a love match” but in time became “a devoted partnership”. Hoare inherited Sidestrand Hall in 1915. His London home was 18 Cadogan Gardens.