Victor Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow
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| The Marquess of Linlithgow | |
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| In office 18 April 1936 – 1 October 1943 |
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| Preceded by | 1st Marquess of Willingdon |
| Succeeded by | Archibald Wavell, 1st Earl Wavell |
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| Born | 24 September 1887 Windsor, Berkshire |
| Died | 5 January 1952 South Queensferry, Linlithgowshire |
Victor Alexander John Hope, 2nd Marquess of Linlithgow KG, KT, GCSI, GCIE, OBE, PC (24 September 1887 - 5 January 1952) was a British statesman who served as Governor-General and Viceroy of India from 1936 to 1943.
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[edit] Early Life and Family
Hope was born at Hopetoun House, South Queensferry, Linlithgowshire (West Lothian), on 24 September 1887. He was the elder son of John Adrian Louis Hope, seventh earl of Hopetoun, afterwards John Hope, 1st Marquess of Linlithgow, first governor-general of Australia and his mother, Hersey Everleigh-de-Moleyns (born 1867, died 1937), daughter of the fourth Baron Ventry.[1]
He was educated at Eton College and in 1908 succeeded his father as second marquess. On 19 April 1911 he married Doreen Maud (born 1886, died 1965), who herself was the younger daughter of Sir Frederick Milner.[2] They had two sons and three daughters. Hope's oldest son, Charles Hope, later succeeded him as Marquess. His other son, John Hope, became a Conservative statesman and was made 1st Baron Glendevon. Hope's granddaughter Lucinda Green became a famous equestrian.
[edit] Early career
Linlithgow served as an officer on the Western Front during the First World War, ending the war with the rank of Colonel. He commanded of a battalion of the Royal Scots. He was mentioned in dispatches and made an Officer of the British Empire, OBE.
He then served in various minor roles in the Conservative governments of the 1920s and 30s. From 1922 till 1924 he served as the civil lord of the Admiralty, becoming chairman of the Unionist Party Organization in 1924 for two years. He also served as President of the Navy League from 1924 until 1931. He served as chairman of the Medical Research Council and of the governing body of the Imperial College of Science and Technology. Linlithgow was also chairman of the committee on the distribution and prices of agricultural produce and president of the Edinburgh and East of Scotland College of Agriculture until 1933. In the late 1920s he was Chairman of the Royal Commission on Agriculture in India and in the 1930s of the select committee on Indian constitutional reform. He declined governorship of Madras before eventually becoming Viceroy of India[3]
[edit] Viceroy
On the 18th April, 1936, he succeeded Lord Willingdon as Viceroy of India. Linlithgow implemented the plans for local self-government embodied in the Government of India Act of 1935, which led to government led by the Congress Party in 5 of the 11 provinces, but the recalcitrance of the princes prevented the full establishment of Indian self government.[citation needed]
With the outbreak of the Second World War, Linlithgow's appeal for unity led to the resignation of the Congress ministries. Disputes between the British administration and Congress ultimately led to massive Indian civil disobedience in the Quit India movement in 1942. Linlithgow suppressed the disturbances and arrested the Congress leaders.[citation needed]
He is partly blamed for the Bengal famine of 1943 [4]
[edit] Character
It was during this period that, while attending Christmas morning service at the Cathedral of the Redemption in Delhi with his large family, whose surname was Hope, he had to sit through a sermon delivered by the verbose Bishop of Calcutta and Metropolitan of India attacking his attitude to Congress and Home Rule; the peroration of the sermon led to uncontrollable laughter in church as the bishop gestured at the viceregal pew and said "...and all we have left is an array of blasted Hopes."[5]
[edit] Retirement
Upon Hope's retirement in 1943, his seven year tenure as viceroy had been the longest in the history of the Raj. He was considered by his obituarists to have been one of the most skillful colonial officers to have held the highest office. A sincere Presbyterian, he served as lord high commissioner to the Church of Scotland in 1944 and 1945. He died in 1952.
| Government offices | ||
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| Preceded by The Earl of Willingdon |
Viceroy of India 1936–1943 |
Succeeded by The Viscount Wavell |
| Academic offices | ||
| Preceded by Baron Tweedsmuir |
Chancellor of the University of Edinburgh 1946 – 1952 |
Succeeded by Duke of Edinburgh |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| Preceded by John Hope |
Marquess of Linlithgow | Succeeded by Charles Hope |
[edit] References
- ^ Viceroy at Bay: Lord Linlithgow in India, 1936-43, by John Glendevon
- ^ Viceroy at Bay: Lord Linlithgow in India, 1936-43, by John Glendevon
- ^ Viceroy at Bay: Lord Linlithgow in India, 1936-43, by John Glendevon
- ^ Bengal Tiger and British Lion: An Account of the Bengal Famine of 1943 (Paperback) by Richard Stevenson
- ^ The Edinburgh Sir Walter Scott Club - The Most Hon. The Marquess of Linlithgow, KT, GCIE, OBE
