John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon

The Viscount Simon
Simon in 1931
Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain
In office
10 May 1940 – 27 July 1945
MonarchGeorge VI
Prime MinisterWinston Churchill
Preceded byThe Viscount Caldecote
Succeeded byThe Lord Jowitt
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office
28 May 1937 – 10 May 1940
Prime MinisterNeville Chamberlain
Preceded byNeville Chamberlain
Succeeded bySir Kingsley Wood
Foreign Secretary
In office
5 November 1931 – 7 June 1935
Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald
Preceded byThe Marquess of Reading
Succeeded bySir Samuel Hoare
Home Secretary
In office
7 June 1935 – 28 May 1937
Prime MinisterStanley Baldwin
Preceded bySir John Gilmour
Succeeded bySir Samuel Hoare
In office
27 May 1915 – 12 January 1916
Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith
Preceded byReginald McKenna
Succeeded byHerbert Samuel
Attorney-General for England
In office
19 October 1913 – 25 May 1915
Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith
Preceded bySir Rufus Isaacs
Succeeded bySir Edward Carson
Solicitor-General for England
In office
7 October 1910 – 19 October 1913
Prime MinisterH. H. Asquith
Preceded bySir Rufus Isaacs
Succeeded bySir Stanley Buckmaster
Member of the House of Lords
Lord Temporal
In office
20 May 1940 – 11 January 1954
Hereditary peerage
Preceded byPeerage created
Succeeded byThe 2nd Viscount Simon
Member of Parliament
for Spen Valley
In office
15 November 1922 – 1 June 1940
Preceded byTom Myers
Succeeded byWilliam Woolley
Member of Parliament
for Walthamstow
In office
8 February 1906 – 14 December 1918
Preceded byDavid John Morgan
Succeeded bySeat abolished
Personal details
Born
John Allsebrook Simon

(1873-02-28)28 February 1873
Moss Side, Manchester, Lancashire, England
Died11 January 1954(1954-01-11) (aged 80)
Westminster, London, England
Political partyLiberal Party
Other political
affiliations
National Liberal Party
Spouses
  • Ethel Venables
    (m. 1899; died 1902)
  • (m. 1917)
Alma materWadham College, Oxford

John Allsebrook Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, GCSI, GCVO, OBE, PC (28 February 1873 – 11 January 1954) was a British politician who held senior Cabinet posts from the beginning of the First World War to the end of the Second World War. He is one of three people to have served as Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer, the others being Rab Butler and James Callaghan.

He also served as Lord Chancellor, the most senior position in the British legal system. Beginning his career as a Liberal (identified initially with the left wing[1] but later with the right wing of the party),[2] he joined the National Government in 1931, creating the Liberal National Party in the process. At the end of his career, he was essentially a Conservative.

  1. ^ Keith Laybourn (2002). Fifty Key Figures in Twentieth-century British Politics. Psychology Press. p. 209. ISBN 9780415226769. Retrieved 1 April 2016.
  2. ^ Jennings, Ivor (1961). Party Politics: Volume 2: The Growth of Parties. Cambridge University Press. p. 268. ISBN 9780521137942. Retrieved 3 August 2015.