Leslie Haden-Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest

The Right Honourable The Lord Haden-Guest MC
Member of Parliament for Islington North
In office 13 October 1937 – 23 February 1950
Preceded by	Albert William Goodman
Succeeded by	Ronw Moelwyn Hughes
Member of Parliament for Southwark North
In office 6 December 1923 – 1927
Preceded by	Edward Anthony Strauss
Succeeded by	Edward Anthony Strauss
Personal details
Born	10 March 1877 Oldham, Lancashire, England
Died	20 August 1960 (aged 83)
Political party	Labour
Alma mater	Owens College, Manchester
Military service
Allegiance	British Empire
Service/branch	British Army
Rank	Major
Unit	Royal Army Medical Corps
Battles/wars	Second Boer War First World War Second World War

Leslie Haden Guest, 1st Baron Haden-Guest, MC (10 March 1877 – 20 August 1960) was a British author, journalist, doctor and Labour Party politician.

Early life

Haden-Guest was born in Oldham, Lancashire, England, the son of Catharine Anna (née Johnson) and Alexander Haden-Guest,^[1] a physician and surgeon of Manchester who was an active worker for the left. He was educated first at William Hulme's Grammar School, then studied medicine at Owens College, Manchester, and the London Hospital.

Career

He served in the Royal Army Medical Corps in the Boer War, World War I, and World War II, winning a Military Cross. He was the founder of the Anglo-French Committee of the Red Cross and the Order of St. John. He was a member of the London County Council for Woolwich East (1919-22). He was a Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Southwark North (1923–27), and for Islington North (1937–50), and founded the Labour Party Commonwealth Group.

Peerage

He was created a peer 2 February 1950 as Baron Haden-Guest, of Saling in the County of Essex^[2] and was a Lord-in-Waiting to the King (February–October 1951), and thereafter an Assistant Opposition Whip in the House of Lords.

Personal life

In 1898, he married Edith, daughter of Max Low of London, by whom he had two sons, Stephen and Richard. He was divorced in 1909 and in 1910 he married Muriel Carmel, the daughter of Albert Goldsmid. They had two sons, David who was killed in the Spanish Civil War, Peter, and a daughter, Angela. His third marriage was in 1944 to Dr. Edith Edgar Macqueen, daughter of George Macqueen. He was the grandfather of actor Christopher Guest.

Haden-Guest converted to Judaism before his marriage to Muriel Goldsmid, his second wife.^[3] He "renounced Judaism" in 1924, describing himself subsequently as a "Konfessionslos".^[4][5] He was the first Jew to stand for Parliament as a Labour candidate.^[6]

References

1. Roberts, Ernest Stewar; Edward John Gross (1898). Biographical history of Gonville and Caius college, 1349-1897: containing a list of all known members of the college from the foundation to the present time, with biographical notes. University press. p. 554.
2. The London Gazette: no. 38830. p. 594. 3 February 1950.
3. Murray, William Henry (1952). Adam and Cain: symposium of old Bible history, Sumerian Empire, importance of blood of race, juggling juggernaut of the leaders of the Jews, the Gothic civilization of Adam and the ten commandments of his church. Murray.
4. Menorah Association (New York, N.Y.) (1957). The Menorah journal. Intercollegiate Menorah Association. 45: 93. Missing or empty |title= (help);
5. American Hebrew and Jewish messenger. American Hebrew. 141 (25). 1937. ISSN. Missing or empty |title= (help);
6. "the first Jewish Labour candidate, Captain Haden-Guest": The Jewish Chronicle 11 March 1966, page 8

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Leslie Haden-Guest