| The Right Honourable Reginald McKenna |
|
|---|---|
| Chancellor of the Exchequer | |
| In office 25 May 1915 – 10 December 1916 |
|
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
| Preceded by | David Lloyd George |
| Succeeded by | Andrew Bonar Law |
| Home Secretary | |
| In office 24 October 1911 – 27 May 1915 |
|
| Monarch | George V |
| Prime Minister | H. H. Asquith |
| Preceded by | Winston Churchill |
| Succeeded by | Sir John Simon |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 6 July 1863 |
| Died | 6 September 1943 (aged 80) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Spouse(s) | Pamela Jekyll (d. 1943) |
| Alma mater | Trinity Hall, Cambridge |
Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863 – 6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal politician. He notably served as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer during the premiership of H. H. Asquith.
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McKenna was the son of William Columban McKenna and his wife Emma, daughter of Charles Hanby.[1] Sir Joseph Neale McKenna was his uncle. McKenna was educated at King's College School and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge.[2] At Cambridge he was a notable rower. In 1886 he was a member of the Trinity Hall Boat Club eight that won the Grand Challenge Cup at Henley Royal Regatta.[3] He rowed bow in the winning Cambridge boat in the 1887 Boat Race. Also in 1887 he was a member of the Trinity Hall coxless four that won the Stewards' Challenge Cup at Henley.
McKenna was elected at the 1895 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Monmouthshire. He served in the Liberal governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Henry Asquith as President of the Board of Education, First Lord of the Admiralty and Home Secretary.
As Chancellor of the Exchequer in Asquith's coalition government, he opposed the introduction of conscription, and retired into opposition upon the fall of Asquith at the end of 1916.
In September 1915, he introduced a 331⁄3% levy on luxury imports in order to fund the war effort. This excluded commercial vehicles, which were needed for the war. The tax, which became known as the "McKenna Duties", was intended to be temporary but lasted for 41 years until it was finally axed in 1956. It was briefly waived between August 1924 and June 1925, then extended on 1 May 1926 to cover commercial vehicles.[4]
He lost his seat in the 1918 general election and became Chairman of the Midland Bank. In 1922, the new Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law hoped to persuade him to come out of retirement and serve once again at the Exchequer, but he refused, and remained in private life. The following year Law's successor Stanley Baldwin repeated the request and McKenna was more agreeable. However he wished to enter Parliament as MP for the City of London and neither of the incumbent MPs would agree to vacate in order to make room. As a result McKenna declined.
It is said that he refused offers of a peerage throughout the rest of his life in order to be always in a position to be offered the Exchequer so that he could refuse.
McKenna was married in 1908 to Pamela Jekyll (who died November 1943), younger daughter of Sir Herbert Jekyll, KCMG (brother of landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll) and his wife Lady Agnes Jekyll, née Graham.[1][5] They had two sons – Michael (died 1931) and David, who married Lady Cecilia Elizabeth Keppel (born 12 April 1910), a daughter of Walter Keppel, 9th Earl of Albemarle in 1934, and had issue.[6]
Reginald McKenna died in London on 6 September 1943, and was buried at Mells, Somerset (the home of his old friend Sir John Horner). His wife died two months later, and is buried beside him. McKenna was a regular client of Sir Edwin Lutyens who designed the Midland Bank headquarters in Poultry, London, several branches and several homes for McKenna, as well as his grave.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Thomas Phillips Price |
Member of Parliament for North Monmouthshire 1895–1918 |
Constituency abolished |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Victor Cavendish |
Financial Secretary to the Treasury 1905–1907 |
Succeeded by Walter Runciman |
| Preceded by Augustine Birrell |
President of the Board of Education 1907–1908 |
Succeeded by Walter Runciman |
| Preceded by The Lord Tweedmouth |
First Lord of the Admiralty 1908–1911 |
Succeeded by Winston Churchill |
| Preceded by Winston Churchill |
Home Secretary 1911–1915 |
Succeeded by Sir John Simon |
| Preceded by David Lloyd George |
Chancellor of the Exchequer 1915–1916 |
Succeeded by Andrew Bonar Law |
| Awards and achievements | ||
| Preceded by Bernard M. Baruch |
Cover of Time Magazine 3 March 1924 |
Succeeded by Warren S. Stone |
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