View source for Frederic Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham

{{Short description|British barrister and judge}}
{{Use British English|date=October 2011}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2020}}
{{Infobox Officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name = The Viscount Maugham 
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|PC}}
| image = Lord Maugham LC.jpg
| imagesize = 
| caption = 
| office1 = [[Lord Chancellor]]
| term_start1 = 9 March 1938
| term_end1 = 3 September 1939
| primeminister1 = [[Neville Chamberlain]]
| monarch1 = [[George VI]]
| predecessor1 = [[Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham|The Viscount Hailsham]]
| successor1 = [[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|The Viscount Caldecote]]
|office14         = Member of the [[House of Lords]]<br />[[Lords Temporal|Lord Temporal]]
|term_start14     = 7 October 1935
|term_end14       = 23 March 1958<br />[[Hereditary Peerage]]
|predecessor14    = ''[[Viscount Hailsham|Peerage created]]''
|successor14      = [[Robin Maugham|The 2nd Viscount Maugham]]
| birth_date = {{birth date|1866|10|20|df=yes}}
| birth_place = Paris, France
| death_date = {{death date and age|1958|3|23|1866|10|20|df=yes}}
| death_place = 
| nationality = [[British people|British]]
| party = [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]  
| alma_mater = [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]  
| spouse = {{Marriage |Helen Romer |1896|1950|end=d}}
}}
[[File:Maugham Achievement.png|thumb|Lord Maugham's achievement of arms, depicted at [[Lincoln's Inn]] and the [[Palace of Westminster]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/21664387603/in/album-72157659963928316/ |publisher=Baz Manning |access-date=18 December 2020 |title= Lincoln's Inn Great Hall, Ec41 Maugham, F }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/baz_manning/12453060835/in/album-72157640816935903/ |title= Lord Chancellors, printed paper office corridor (3) |publisher=Baz Manning |access-date=22 November 2020}}</ref>]]
'''Frederic Herbert Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|PC}} (20 October 1866 &ndash; 23 March 1958) was a British barrister and judge who was [[Lord Chancellor]] from March 1938 until September 1939.

==Background and education==
Born in [[Paris]], Maugham was the second son of Robert Ormond Maugham, a solicitor, by his wife, Edith, daughter of Major Charles Snell. The author [[W. Somerset Maugham]] was his younger brother. His grandfather, Robert Maugham, was one of the founders of the [[Law Society of England and Wales|Law Society]]. He was educated at [[Dover College]] and at [[Trinity Hall, Cambridge]].<ref name=Venn>{{acad|id=MHN885FH|name=Maugham, Frederic}}</ref> He rowed for the winning [[Cambridge University Boat Club|Cambridge]] crew in the [[The Boat Race 1888|1888 Boat Race]] and was also in the winning [[Trinity Hall Boat Club]] [[coxless four]] which won the [[Stewards' Challenge Cup]] at [[Henley Royal Regatta]] that year.<ref>{{cite web |author=Denis Larionov & Alexander Zhulin |url=http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/r-c-rudolf-chambers-lehmann/the-complete-oarsman-hci/page-26-the-complete-oarsman-hci.shtml |title=R C Lehmann ''The Complete Oarsman'' |publisher=Ebooksread.com |date=24 January 2007 |access-date=3 May 2010 |archive-date=30 September 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930233842/http://www.ebooksread.com/authors-eng/r-c-rudolf-chambers-lehmann/the-complete-oarsman-hci/page-26-the-complete-oarsman-hci.shtml |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was in the winning Cambridge crew in the Boat Race again in 1889. He also became President of the [[Cambridge Union Society]] in Lent Term 1889.<ref name=Venn/>

==Political and legal career==
[[File:The Viscount Maugham.jpg|thumb|left|170px|Lord Maugham painted in 1939 by [[Reginald Grenville Eves]]]]
Maugham was [[Call to the Bar|called to the bar]] by [[Lincoln's Inn]] in 1890, and embarked upon a legal career, becoming a [[King's Counsel]] in 1913. In 1922, he briefly considered entering politics as a [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament]] but could not find a seat. He was a Judge of the [[High Court of Justice]] (Chancery Division) from 1928 to 1934 and a [[Lord Justice of Appeal]] from 1934 to 1935. He was knighted in 1928 and sworn of the [[Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council|Privy Council]] in 1934. The following year he became a [[Lord of Appeal in Ordinary]], was created a [[life peer]] on 7 October 1935 and entered the [[House of Lords]] as '''Baron Maugham''', ''of [[Hartfield]] in the [[County of Sussex]]''.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34208 |date=15 October 1935 |page=6470}}</ref> Three years later he was offered the position of [[Lord Chancellor]] by Prime Minister [[Neville Chamberlain]]. Such was Maugham's lack of political experience that Chamberlain and he had never met before. He was offered the role because there were very few obvious available choices amongst the ranks of parliamentary supporters of the [[National Government (1937–1939)|National Government]] to replace the ailing [[Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham|Lord Hailsham]]—for the obvious successor, [[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|Sir Thomas Inskip]], could not be moved from the position of [[Minister for Coordination of Defence]].

As Maugham was already 71 years old it was widely expected that he would prove to be a mere stop-gap appointment, to be succeeded by Inskip as soon as it was possible for the latter to leave Defence. However, by the time this occurred in early 1939, Chamberlain was sufficiently impressed with Maugham's work to offer to retain him, whilst allowing Inskip the opportunity to defer choosing between becoming Lord Chancellor or remaining in the [[British House of Commons|House of Commons]] with the possibility of becoming [[prime minister]], a choice that Hailsham had always regretted. Chamberlain intended to make a change at the next general election, which was expected to take place that year.

However, war intervened and Chamberlain carried out a full-scale reconstruction of his government. As part of this Maugham was allowed to retire, to be finally succeeded by Inskip, who was ennobled as Viscount Caldecote. Maugham took the retirement honour, of being created '''Viscount Maugham''', ''of Hartfield in the County of Sussex'' on 22 September 1939, which, unlike his barony, was hereditary.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=34694 |date=26 September 1939 |page=6501}}</ref> He again served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary until 1941.

==Family==
Maugham married Helen Mary, daughter of Sir [[Robert Romer]], in 1896.<ref>G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant</ref>

They had four children:

*The Hon. Kate Mary Maugham (1897–1961, married Robert Charles Bruce)
*The Hon. [[Honor Earl|Edith Honor Maugham]] (1901–1996, married [[Sebastian Earl]])
*The Hon. [[Diana Marr-Johnson|Diana Julia Maugham]] (1908–2007, married Kenneth Marr-Johnson)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/obituaries/article1945602.ece |title=Diana Marr-Johnson: Obituary |date=18 June 2007 |work=[[The Times]] |access-date=10 October 2011}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref>
*[[Robin Maugham|Robert Cecil Romer Maugham]] (1916–1981), 2nd Viscount. Known as Robin Maugham. He wrote about his father in two volumes of autobiography, ''Escape from the Shadows'' (1970) and ''Search for Nirvana'' (1977).

Lady Maugham died in October 1950, aged 78. Lord Maugham survived her by seven years, dying in March 1958, aged 91. He is buried in the grounds of the parish church in [[Hartfield]], East Sussex, alongside his wife and son.

== Publications ==
*''The Case of Jean Calas'' published by W. Heinemann (1928)
*''The Tichbourne Case'' (1936)
*''Lies As Allies or Hitler at War'' published by [[Oxford University Press]] (1941)
*''The Truth About The Munich Crisis'' (1944)
*''U.N.O. and War Crimes'' (1951)
*''At The End of The Day'' (autobiography) (1951)

==See also==
*[[List of Cambridge University Boat Race crews]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*{{NPG name|name=Frederic Herbert Maugham, 1st Viscount Maugham}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[Lord Chancellor|Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain]] | before=[[Douglas Hogg, 1st Viscount Hailsham|The Viscount Hailsham]] | after=[[Thomas Inskip, 1st Viscount Caldecote|The Viscount Caldecote]] | years=1938&ndash;1939}}
{{s-reg|uk}}
{{s-new|creation}}
{{s-ttl| title=[[Viscount Maugham]] | years=1939&ndash;1958}}
{{s-aft | after=[[Robin Maugham, 2nd Viscount Maugham|Robert Cecil Romer Maugham]] }}
{{s-end}}

{{Lord chancellors}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Maugham, Frederic Herbert}}
[[Category:1866 births]]
[[Category:1958 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British sportsperson-politicians]]
[[Category:Cambridge University Boat Club rowers]]
[[Category:Chancery Division judges]]
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) hereditary peers]]
[[Category:English male rowers]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Law lords]]
[[Category:Lord chancellors of Great Britain]]
[[Category:Maugham family|Frederic Herbert]]
[[Category:Members of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Chamberlain peacetime government, 1937–1939]]
[[Category:Life peers created by George V]]
[[Category:Viscounts created by George VI]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Cambridge Union]]
[[Category:Viscounts Maugham|1]]