Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood

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Hamar Greenwood, 1st Viscount Greenwood PC, KC (1870 – 1948) was a British politician. Greenwood was born in Whitby, Ontario in Canada and educated at the University of Toronto before migrating to England as a young man.

Greenwood was originally a Liberal and sat as a Member of Parliament for York from 1906 to 1910 and for Sunderland from 1910 to 1922. He served under David Lloyd George as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in 1919, as Additional Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Additional Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade and Secretary for Overseas Trade from 1919 to 1920 and as the last Chief Secretary for Ireland, with a seat in the Cabinet, from 1920 to 1922. As Chief Secretary he was closely identified with the aggressive use of two specially formed paramilitary forces — the Black and Tans and the Auxiliaries — during the Irish War of Independence.

He lost his seat in the 1922 general election.

At the 1924 general election, Greenwood was one of a small number of Liberals, including Winston Churchill, to stand as Constitutionalist candidates. These Liberals advocated closer ties between Liberals and Conservatives. Greenwood's candidature in Walthamstow East was supported by the local Conservative association but not by the local Liberals who had their own candidate.

After the elections when it appeared that there was no prospect of formal closer ties between the two parties, Greenwood took the Conservative whip. However, he never held office again.

[edit] Post-politics

Greenwood had been created a Baronet, of Holbourne in the County of London, in 1915, and in 1929 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Greenwood, of Llanbister in the County of Radnor. In 1937 he was further honoured when he was created Viscount Greenwood, of Holbourne in the County of London.

[edit] Family

His wife, Margery, Viscountess Greenwood (née Spencer), was knighted as Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1922. Their son, David Henry Hamar Greenwood, succeeded his father as the 2nd Viscount Greenwood.

[edit] External links

• British Diplomacy and Canadian Responsibilities ([1], [2]).