Lothian, Philip Henry Kerr, 11th marquess of

Lothian, Philip Henry Kerr, 11th marquess of (kär, lō'&thstrok;ēun) [key], 1882–1940, British statesman. He served (1905–10) on various government commissions in South Africa and was a member of Milner's “kindergarten” (see Milner, Alfred Milner, 1st Viscount). After his return to England he edited (1910–16) the Round Table, a liberal scholarly journal, which he had helped to found. As David Lloyd George's private secretary (1916–21) he was active at the Paris Peace Conference (1919). He inherited his title in 1930, represented the Liberal party in the National government as chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster (1931–32), and served (1932) as chairman of the India franchise committee. Lothian advocated appeasement of Nazi Germany until 1939 when he came round to a vigorous advocacy of resistance to Adolf Hitler. A proponent of closer Anglo-American cooperation, he was secretary of the Rhodes Trust after 1925, and he was appointed ambassador to Washington in 1939.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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