thumb|17 Charlotte Square, Edinburgh, birthplace of Richard Haldane

right|thumb|Haldane caricatured by [[Leslie Ward|Spy in Vanity Fair, 1896]]

Richard Burdon Haldane, 1st Viscount Haldane, (; 30 July 1856 – 19 August 1928) was a Scottish lawyer, philosopher, influential Liberal and later Labour politician and statesman. He was Secretary of State for War between 1905 and 1912 during which time the "Haldane Reforms" of the British Army were implemented. As Secretary of State of War, he was instrumental in founding MI5, MI6, the Territorial Army, the British Expeditionary Force, and the Royal Flying Corps. Beyond his military contributions, Haldane was a significant figure in education, contributing to the founding of institutions such as Imperial College London and the London School of Economics.

First World War

In March 1914 Haldane's successor at the War Office, Jack Seely, resigned following the Curragh incident. Rather than appoint a successor, Asquith decided to take over responsibility for the War Office directly himself. Asquith relied heavily on Haldane as the previous War Secretary and empowered him to carry out tasks at the War Office on his behalf. As the situation in Europe worsened, Asquith kept Haldane abreast of developments with Sir Edward Grey at the Foreign Office. Haldane was one of the first members of the Cabinet to recognise that war with Germany was inevitable and persuaded Asquith to mobilise by assembly of the Army Council on 3 August. he gave the decision striking down federal legislation which attempted to regulate the economy, challenging the legality of the Canadian legislature. In doing so, he gave very restrictive readings to both the "peace, order and good government" power of the federal government, as well as the federal criminal law power. Similarly, in Toronto Electric Commissioners v. Snider, Lord Haldane struck down a federal statute attempting to regulate industrial disputes, holding that it was not within federal authority under either the peace, order and good government power, nor the federal trade and commerce power. He went so far as to suggest that the trade and commerce power was simply an ancillary federal power, which could not authorise legislation in its own right. The effects of some of these decisions have subsequently been modified by later decisions of the Judicial Committee and the Supreme Court of Canada, but they have had the long-term effect of recognising substantial provincial powers.

Haldane's approach to the division of powers was heavily criticised by some academics and lawyers in Canada, such as F. R. Scott and Chief Justice Bora Laskin, as unduly favouring the provinces over the federal government and depriving it of the powers needed to deal with modern economic issues. More recently, one major study has characterised him as "the wicked stepfather" of the Canadian Constitution. From a pan-European perspective he analysed the German character and economic advances towards militarism. He was largely responsible for the cross-party support for Balfour's Education Act 1902. He told Rosebery "a sense of nation is working towards ...a great centre party." He was also involved in the founding of Imperial College in 1907 and in his honour the University contained the Haldane Recreational Library, which now forms part of the main library collection.

Haldane was a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. He wrote a biography of Adam Smith, extolling the virtues of free trade. Unlike Joseph Chamberlain he thought there was no strong connection between fiscal and imperial unity. He opposed any attempt to protection of British trade. The viscountcy became extinct on his death.

Later years

In December 1918, Lloyd George appointed Haldane chairman of 'The Machinery of Government' committee.

Sources

  • Higgens, Simon Giles. "How was Richard Haldane able to reform the British Army? An historical assessment using a contemporary change management model" (Diss. University of Birmingham, 2011). online
  • Johnson, Matthew. "Alternatives to Conscription: Richard Burdon Haldane and a 'Liberal' Nation-in-Arms," in Militarism and the British Left, 1902–1914 (Palgrave Macmillan, London, 2013) pp. 133–155.
  • Spiers, Edward M. Haldane: An Army Reformer (1980), 240pp.

Further reading

  • Campbell, John. Haldane: The Forgotten Statesman Who Shaped Britain and Canada (2020) online review
  • Gollin, Alfred. "The Mystery of Lord Haldane and Early British Military Aviation." Albion 11.1 (1979): 46–65.
  • Morris, A.J. Anthony. "Haldane's army reforms 1906–8: The deception of the radicals." History 56.186 (1971): 17–34. online
  • Schneiderman, David. "Harold Laski, Viscount Haldane, and the law of the Canadian constitution in the early twentieth century." University of Toronto Law Journal 48 (1998): 521+.
  • Schneiderman, David. "Haldane Unrevealed." McGill Law Journal/Revue de droit de McGill 57.3 (2012): 597–626. online
  • Wexler, Stephen. "The Urge to Idealize: Viscount Haldane and the Constitution of Canada." McGill Law Journal 29 (1983): 608+. online
  • Archival Material at