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Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party: a minority Labour government for nine months in 1924, making him the first Labour Prime Minister in British history, and the second between 1929 and 1931. In 1931, MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party, after he form…
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culture · Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1924; 1929–1935) · politician · journalist · diplomat · also Ramsay MacDonald, James Ramsay MacDonald, J. R. M., J. Ramsay McDonald, J. Ramsay MacDonald, MacDonald
Born 12 October 1866 · Died 9 November 1937 · Q166646
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Ramsey MacDonald Speech from Lansbury's Labour Weekly
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2026· 1 entry
2020· 1 entry
New research revealed how she purchased three letters, supposedly written by Ramsay MacDonald to Soviet officials but actually the work of an American forger
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1977· 1 entry
Received a long scholarly biography that some historians have judged to be "definitive"
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1939· 1 entry
Led to a search for the politicians who had appeased Hitler and failed to prepare Britain; MacDonald was grouped among the "Guilty Men"
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1937· 2 entries
Died 1937-11-09.
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“[T]he Labour Party stands for a contributory scheme so far as this Bill is concerned. Moreover, we are in favour of a contributory scheme with reference to sickness, whilst we were in favour of a non-contributory scheme in reference to old age pensions.”
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1936· 2 entries
Career landmark: member of the 37th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1936–1937).
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MacDonald declared that he was "pleased" that the Treaty of Versailles was "vanishing", expressing his hope that the French had been taught a "severe lesson"
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1935· 4 entries
Remaining as Lord President of the Council until retiring in 1937
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Career landmark: Lord President of the Council (1935–1937).
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Agreed to a timetable with Baldwin to stand down as Prime Minister after King George V's Silver Jubilee celebrations in May 1935
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Lady Houston stated that she intended to publish them but eventually handed them over to Special Branch, and MacDonald's solicitors entered a legal battle with her
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1932· 1 entry
Following the introduction of tariffs after the Ottawa agreement
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1931· 8 entries
Election lost: 1931 general election.
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Campaign: 1931 general election.
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Seeking a "doctor's mandate" to fix the economy
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"the greatest betrayal in the political history of the country"
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MacDonald was expelled from the Labour Party, after he formed a National Government dominated by the Conservative Party and supported by only a few Labour members, his premiership of which lasted until 1935
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Career landmark: member of the 36th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1931–1935).
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His National coalition with the Conservatives and the electoral defeat were blamed on him, and few spoke on his behalf
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In the context of the crisis of the times and the limited choices open to him
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1930· 3 entries
Awarded Fellow of the Royal Society (1930).
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For instance, it was able to raise unemployment pay, pass an act to improve wages and conditions in the coal industry (i
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MacDonald was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) under Statute 12
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1929· 3 entries
Career landmark: member of the 35th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1929–1931).
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1929–1935).
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Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1929–1935).
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1925· 1 entry
And MacDonald's desperate efforts to defend it in 1931, has changed
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1924· 8 entries
Making him the first Labour Prime Minister in British history, and the second between 1929 and 1931
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Career landmark: Leader of the House of Commons (1924–1924).
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Career landmark: member of the 34th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1924–1929).
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Career landmark: Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1924–1924).
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Career landmark: Member of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom (1924).
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“There can be no security until the Great Powers have agreed to settle their disputes, which have hitherto led to war, by conciliation and arbitration. This was the policy which the Labour Party was working up to in 1924, and which it will pursue again when it is in office.”
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Career landmark: Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs (1924–1924).
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1924–1929).
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1923· 2 entries
And its total vote increased, suggesting that the Zinoviev letter had little effect
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Career landmark: member of the 33rd Parliament of the United Kingdom (1923–1924).
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1922· 5 entries
Career landmark: Leader of the Labour Party (1922–1931).
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MacDonald was returned to the House as MP for Aberavon in Wales, with a vote of 14,318 against 11,111 and 5,328 for his main opponents
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MacDonald visited Palestine
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Career landmark: Leader of the Opposition (1922–1924).
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Career landmark: member of the 32nd Parliament of the United Kingdom (1922–1923).
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1921· 1 entry
Wrote: "The Anglification of Scotland has been proceeding apace to the damage of its education, its music, its literature, its genius, and the generation that is growing up under this influence is uprooted from its pa
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1916· 1 entry
Was expelled from Moray Golf Club in Lossiemouth for being deemed to bring the club into disrepute because of his pacifist views
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1911· 3 entries
Career landmark: Leader of the Labour Party (1911–1914).
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MacDonald became "Chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party", the leader of the party
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And had few significant personal relationships after that time, apart from with Ishbel, who acted as his consort while he was Prime Minister and cared for him for the rest of his life
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1910· 2 entries
Career landmark: member of the 29th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1910–1910).
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Career landmark: member of the 30th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1910–1918).
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1906· 2 entries
The LRC changed its name to the "Labour Party", amalgamating with the ILP
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Career landmark: member of the 28th Parliament of the United Kingdom (1906–1910).
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1901· 2 entries
Was elected to the London County Council for Finsbury Central as a joint Labour–Progressive Party candidate, but he was disqualified from the register in 1904 due to his absences abroad
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The marriage was a very happy one, and they had six children, including Malcolm MacDonald (1901–1981), who had a distinguished career as a politician, colonial governor and diplomat, and Ishbel (1903–1982) and Sheila MacDonald, who were both very close to their father.
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1900· 1 entry
For one of the two Leicester seats; he lost and was accused of splitting the Liberal vote, allowing the Conservative candidate to win
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1897· 1 entry
South Africa in 1902, Australia and New Zealand in 1906 and India several times
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1896· 1 entry
Ramsay MacDonald married Margaret Ethel Gladstone (no relation to Prime Minister William Gladstone) in 1896.
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1895· 1 entry
And continued to have a great fondness for the mission of Birkbeck into his later years
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1893· 1 entry
Keir Hardie had formed the Independent Labour Party (ILP), which had established itself as a mass movement
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1892· 1 entry
MacDonald was in Dover to give support to the candidate for the LEA in the general election, who was well beaten
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1888· 1 entry
MacDonald took employment as private secretary to Thomas Lough who was a tea merchant and a Radical politician
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1885· 1 entry
Moved to Bristol to take up a position as an assistant to Mordaunt Crofton, a clergyman who was attempting to establish a Boys' and Young Men's Guild at St Stephen's Church
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1881· 1 entry
At the age of 15, and began work on a nearby farm
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1868· 1 entry
A report of the Royal Commission on the Employment of Children, Young Persons and Women in Agriculture noted that the illegitimacy rate was around 15%—nearly every sixth person was born out of wedlock
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1866· 1 entry
Born 1866-10-12.
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