Person

Law, Andrew Bonar, 1858-1923

1858-1923

Andrew Bonar Law was born on September 16, 1858, in Rexton, New Brunswick.

He was a British Conservative politician. In 1870, after the death of his mother, he moved to Scotland to live with an aunt. He attended the High School of Glasgow. In 1874, at the age of 16, he left school to become a clerk at Kidston & Sons and, in 1885, a managing partner with William Jacks, an iron merchant. He attended night lectures at Glasgow University, which sparked an interest in politics and debating. He joined the Glasgow Parliamentary Debating Association. With an inheritance that gave him financial independence, Law entered politics. In 1900, he was elected Conservative Member of Parliament for Glasgow Blackfriars. He had a reputation for honesty and fearlessness and was well regarded as an effective speaker. These qualities promoted him to Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in 1902. In 1911, he became head of the Conservative Party and, after the outbreak of the First World War, he formed a coalition government with Herbert Asquith. From 1915 to 1916, he served as Secretary of State for the Colonies and from 1916 to 1919, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Law became the only Canadian to be Prime Minister of Great Britain from October 1922 to May 1923 when he resigned due to ill health.

In 1891, he married Annie Pitcairn Robley (1866–1909). He died on October 30, 1923, in London, England.