Andrew Bonar Law

Conservative Party

Image credit: Andrew Bonar Law, Walter Stoneman,1923. Bain News Service/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Andrew Bonar Law

The crying need of the nation at this moment—a need which in my judgment far exceeds any other—is that we should have tranquillity and stability both at home and abroad so that free scope should be given to the initiative and enterprise of our citizens, for it is in that way far more than by any action of the Government that we can hope to recover from the economic and social results of the war.

Conservative Party

October 1922 - May 1923

23 Oct 1922 - 20 May 1923

Andrew Bonar Law, Walter Stoneman,1923

Image credit: Andrew Bonar Law, Walter Stoneman,1923. Bain News Service/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

Key Facts

Tenure dates

23 Oct 1922 - 20 May 1923

Length of tenure

211 days

Party

Conservative Party

Spouse

Annie Robley

Born

16 Sep 1858

Birth place

Rexton, New Brunswick, Canada.

Died

30 Oct 1923 (aged 65 years)

Resting place

Westminster Abbey

About Andrew Bonar Law

Bonar Law was the shortest serving Prime Minister of the 20th Century, being in office for just 209 days. He was gravely ill when he took the office and did not have enough time to achieve anything with his premiership. His reputation as the Unknown Prime Minister belies a figure who was a key player in British politics for a decade.

Bonar Law was born in New Brunswick in Canada in 1870 to Ulster Scots parents. He was educated at the High School of Glasgow and began work at the family bank, Kidston’s, when he turned 16. After that, he worked in the iron industry, establishing himself as a successful businessman.

In 1900, Bonar Law was elected to the House of Commons as MP for Glasgow Blackfriars. He was an enthusiastic supporter of Joseph Chamberlain’s proposed tariff reforms, though this did not stop him from participating in Balfour’s government as a Parliamentary Secretary. But tariff reform split the Conservative Party, and in the 1906 election, Bonar Law lost his seat.

He returned to the Commons later that year, now representing Dulwich. It was at this time that he developed a friendship with media publisher Maxwell Aitken, the future Lord Beaverbrook, whose supported Law’s career.

Bonar Law made a mistake during the 1910 election, abandoning his Dulwich seat for North-West Manchester, which he failed to win. He only returned to the House in March 1911 when he won the by-election for the Bootle constituency.

Balfour resigned from the Conservative leadership later that year, and spurred on by Aitken, Bonar Law announced that he would run too. Few thought he would win, but his rivals, Austen Chamberlain and Walter Long, were so committed to preventing each other from becoming leader, they both ended up endorsing Bonar Law. Thus was Bonar Law elected unanimously by Conservatives at the Carlton Club in November 1911.

Bonar Law threw himself into the Home Rule crisis. Dublin rule for Ulster was, in his words, ‘the imposition of tyranny’. He offered his support to the armed leaders of the Orange Order and the Ulster Volunteer Force. He even tried to persuade the King to exercise the royal veto. Ultimately, the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914 prevented (or at least, postponed) conflict in Ireland.

During the First World War, Bonar Law became a keen supporter of the government. He joined the Liberals in a coalition government in March 1915. There, he earned a reputation as being contemplative, but, eventually, decisive. Over 1915-16, he became more frustrated with Prime Minister H. H. Asquith’s running of the war. When the crisis came, he declined the premiership in favour of Lloyd George. Bonar Law became Chancellor in Lloyd George’s cabinet.

Lloyd George and Bonar Law were very different men, but they worked well together. Bonar Law even agreed to continue the wartime coalition when the war ended in 1918, with Bonar Law continuing as Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and Leader of the House of Commons. With his health deteriorating, Bonar Law resigned in 1921.

Then, in October 1922, Conservative MPs chose to end the coalition, against the wishes of their party leadership in October 1922. Requiring new leadership, Bonar Law took over both the Conservative leadership and the premiership. In the 1922 election, he campaigned on a manifesto of ‘tranquillity and stability’, winning a majority of 75. He resigned in May 1923 due to illness and died in October 1923.

His wife Annie, with whom he had six children, died in 1909 following an operation, and two of his sons were killed in the First World War, both in 1917.

Left arrow, click for previous Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
Previous Left arrow, click for nprevious Prime Minister
David Lloyd George Right arrow, click for next Prime Minister
Next Right arrow, click for next Prime Minister
Magnifying glass search icon

Collections & Content

The Earl of Rosebery

Lord Rosebery was Gladstone’s successor and the most recent Prime Minister whose entire parliamentary career...

Arthur James Balfour

Arthur Balfour was Salisbury’s successor. He had a reputation as a good parliamentarian, a capable minister, and an excellent ta...

The Duke of Wellington

Wellington is a Prime Minister who is today largely remembered for achievements unrelated to his premiership. ...

The Duke of Grafton

The Duke of Grafton believed, according to Horace Walpole, that ‘the world should be postponed to a whore and a...

Benjamin Disraeli

Charming, brilliant, witty, visionary, colourful, and unconventional, Benjamin Disraeli (nicknamed ‘Dizzy’) was one of the greate...

Boris Johnson

Boris Johnson is one of the most charismatic and controversial politicians of the modern era. To supporters, he was an authentic voice wh...

The Earl Grey

Earl Grey was the great aristocratic reformer. His government passed the ‘Great Reform Act of 1832’, ending an entire e...

The Marquess of Rockingham

Lord Rockingham was a powerful Whig parliamentary leader and politician, effectively creating a politi...

Stay updated...

Sign up to our newsletter to stay updated on the latest news, research and upcoming events.