Sir Herman Henry Slesser (born Schloesser; 12 July 1883 – 3 December 1979) was an English barrister and British Labour Party politician who served as

Solicitor-General A solicitor general is a government official who serves as the chief representative of the government in courtroom proceedings. In systems based on the English common law that have an attorney general or equivalent position, the solicitor general ...

and

Lord Justice of Appeal A Lord Justice of Appeal or Lady Justice of Appeal is a judge of the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, the court that hears appeals from the High Court of Justice, the Crown Court and other courts and tribunals. A Lord (or Lady) Just ...

. He was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, the son of a leather merchant and a concert pianist. He changed his name from Schloesser to Slesser in 1914, preferring the Anglicised form when Britain went to war with Germany. In terms of his socio-economic and political viewpoints, Slesser gained notoriety for being one of the biggest advocates of

distributist Distributism is an economic theory asserting that the world's productive assets should be widely owned rather than concentrated. Developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, distributism was based upon Catholic social teaching princi ...

thought in government, opposing both unregulated

capitalism Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

and traditional

socialism Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...

while arguing on behalf of a more

mixed economy A mixed economy is an economic system that includes both elements associated with capitalism, such as private businesses, and with socialism, such as nationalized government services. More specifically, a mixed economy may be variously de ...

with

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

spread more among ordinary men. His role helped push the

Distributist League ''G.K.'s Weekly'' was a British publication founded in 1925 (with its pilot edition surfacing in late 1924) by writer G. K. Chesterton, continuing until his death in 1936. Its articles typically discussed topical cultural, political, and socio-e ...

's interests until he left the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

Life

Background and early career

Born 12 July 1883 in

, England, he was the second son of Ernest Theodore Schloesser (Slesser) (1835–1929) a leather merchant from

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

, and Anna Gella Seligmann, a concert pianist . After an apprenticeship in railway engineering, his health collapsed, and when he recovered he trained as a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdiction (area), jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include arguing cases in courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, jurisprud ...

. He taught labour law at the

LSE Law School LSE Law School is the law school of the London School of Economics (LSE). It was founded in 1919 with the appointment of H. C. Gutteridge as Professor of Law. David Kershaw is the current dean of the LSE Law School. The law school is one of LSE's ...

in the 1920s. He also joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

, and his legal and political careers became entwined; much of his casework involved defending workers, and in 1912 he was appointed standing counsel to the Labour Party. He was adopted by the York Labour Representation Committee to run as their candidate at the general election expected to occur in either 1914 or 1915. The Fabian Society had agreed to finance his campaign. York was a two-member seat which had returned one Conservative and one Liberal MP in 1910. The Liberal and Labour parties had agreed to only put forward one candidate each, against two Conservatives, which would have given Schloesser a good chance of victory. However, due to the outbreak of war in Europe, the election did not take place. He unsuccessfully contested the 1922 general election in

Leeds Central Leeds Central was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament. The constituency first existed from 1885 until it was abolished in 1955. It was recreated in 1983. Further to the completion of the 2023 Periodic Revie ...

, and was defeated again at a by-election in 1923 and at the December 1923 general election. He had grown wary of

, and based his campaigns on what he described as "medieval economics", principles drawn from his

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

religious faith; in his 1941 book ''Judgment Reserved'', he attributed his defeat in 1922 to the "secularist and Hebrew" elements in the constituency disliking the presence of monks among his supporters. Baptised Anglican, he was formally received into the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

in 1946.''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History''

Solicitor-General

When

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) 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 (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

First Labour Government The first MacDonald ministry of the United Kingdom lasted from January to November 1924. The Labour Party, under Ramsay MacDonald, had failed to win the general election of December 1923, with 191 seats, although the combined Opposition tall ...

took office in January 1924, Slesser was appointed as

. This was an unusual appointment, because the post had previously been offered only to Members of Parliament, and usually only to

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(Slesser's application had been rejected in 1922). Before his appointment on 24 January, he was made a KC and

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

. The government fell in October 1924, and at the 1924 general election Slesser was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South East. He was re-elected at the 1929 general election, when Macdonald formed a

Second Labour Government The second MacDonald ministry was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his reappointment as prime minister of the United Kingdom by King George V on 5 June 1929. It was the second time the Labour Party had formed a government; the first MacDonald m ...

. The new

Lord Chancellor The Lord Chancellor, formally titled Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom. The lord chancellor is the minister of justice for England and Wales and the highest-ra ...

offered Slesser a post as judge in the

Appeals Court An appellate court, commonly called a court of appeal(s), appeal court, court of second instance or second instance court, is any court of law that is empowered to hear a case upon appeal from a trial court or other lower tribunal. Appellate ...

, which he accepted. He retired as a judge in 1940, on grounds of ill-health, but lived on for nearly forty years. He was a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

lor in

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, and chair of the

Dartmoor National Park Dartmoor is an highland (geography), upland area in southern Devon, South West England. The moorland and surrounding land has been protected by National parks of England and Wales, National Park status since 1951. Dartmoor National Park covers ...

Committee. Slesser died on 3 December 1979, aged 96. His wife Margaret, whom he had married in 1910, had died earlier that year.

Viewpoints

His role helped push the

's interests until he left the

British Parliament The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, and may also legislate for the Crown Dependencies and the British Overseas Territories. It meets at the Palace of ...

, the league having been founded by famous British writer G. K. Chesterton and promoting Chesterton's viewpoints. Slesser's advocacy for

thought in government meant being part of a movement working against both unregulated

and traditional

, as stated before, while arguing on behalf of a more

. He was president of the

Society for the Maintenance of the Faith The Society for the Maintenance of the Faith is an Anglo-Catholic organization in the Church of England founded in 1873. As of 2022, it holds 94 Advowson, advowsons or rights of patronage for church appointments. The group in 1995 supported the ide ...

, a Church of England patronage organisation.

Legacy

References

* * *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Slesser, Henry Herman 1883 births 1979 deaths Knights Bachelor Councillors in Devon Converts to Anglicanism from Judaism English Roman Catholics Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 Solicitors general for England and Wales Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Lord justices of appeal English people of German-Jewish descent Members of the Fabian Society English Anglo-Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Anglicanism Jewish English politicians