Stephen Hobhouse

{{Short description|English peace activist, prison reformer and religious writer}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Stephen Henry Hobhouse

| image =

| imagesize =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|8|5|df=yes}}

| birth_place = Pitcombe, Somerset, England

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1961|04|02|1881|08|05|df=yes}}

| death_place =

| alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford

| known for = Prison reform
Peace activism

| notable_works = English prisons to-day: Being the report of the Prison system enquiry committee

| occupation = Religious writer

| years_active =

| spouse = Rosa Waugh Hobhouse

| parents = Henry Hobhouse
Margaret Heyworth Potter

| children =

| relations = Arthur Lawrence Hobhouse
(brother)

}}

Stephen Henry Hobhouse (5 August 1881 – 2 April 1961) was an English peace activist, prison reformer, and religious writer.

Family

Stephen Henry Hobhouse was born in Pitcombe, Somerset, England. He was the eldest son of Henry Hobhouse, a wealthy landowner and Liberal Party MP from 1885 to 1906, and Margaret Heyworth Potter. Both sides of his family included a number of reformers and progressive politicians:

As an MP, his father was behind the Education Act 1902.
His paternal cousin Emily Hobhouse (1860–1926) was known for bringing attention to British concentration camps in South Africa during the Second Boer War. Her views greatly influenced Stephen.Zedner, p. 248
His paternal cousin Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse (1864–1929) was a sociologist and one of the founders of social liberalism.
His brother Arthur Hobhouse (1886–1965) was the architect of the system of National parks of England and Wales.
His maternal aunt Catherine Courtney, Baroness Courtney of Penwith (1847-1929), was a social worker and internationalist.
His maternal aunt Beatrice Webb (1858–1943), was a sociologist, economist, and social reformer who played key roles in founding both the London School of Economics and Political Science and the Fabian Society.
His maternal grandfather Richard Potter (1817–1892) was a chairman of the Great Western Railway.
His maternal great-grandfather Richard Potter (1778–1842) was a radical Liberal Party MP.

{{tree chart| | | | | | | | | | | | |Richard|v|Laurencina| | |Richard=Richard Potter|Laurencina=Lawrencina Potter}}

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Education and formative years

Stephen Hobhouse was brought up as a member of the Church of England.Brock, p. 14 He was educated at Eton, where he won prizes in both academics and sports, and at Balliol College, Oxford.Hochschild, pp. 220–222 Hobhouse attended Quaker meetings in Hampstead after graduation and officially became a member of the Society of Friends in 1909.{{cite book|author=Hope Hay Hewison|title=Hedge of Wild Almonds: South Africa, the Pro-Boers & the Quaker Conscience, 1890-1910|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cuRwt6UF3WAC|year=1989|publisher=James Currey Publishers|isbn=978-0-85255-031-1}}

The Second Boer War broke out when he was 18. He originally supported the war but his views were soon challenged by his cousin Emily. "Thus, no doubt, it was that my mind was prepared for the awakening". What he regarded as an awakening came from a 1902 reading of a pamphlet by Leo Tolstoy. This tract had a profound influence on him and he became an ardent pacifist.Hochschild, p. 277

He worked as a civil servant for seven years in the Board of Education.I appeal unto Cæsar During the Balkan Wars of 1912–1913, he resigned his post to go to Constantinople as a volunteer with a Quaker relief mission that helped refugees and saw firsthand the damage that war can do.

Marriage

In April 1915, Hobhouse married Rosa Waugh. He met her at a dinner party for Christian activists. She was also an activist, and spent three months in jail for distributing pacifist pamphlets. Rosa was a prolific author.[http://sueyounghistories.com/archives/2009/04/10/rosa-and-stephen-hobhouse-and-homeopathy/ Sue Young Histories: Rosa and Stephen Hobhouse and Homeopathy] Together they wrote a biography of Samuel Hahnemann, the founder of homeopathy.Hobhouse, Rosa Both Hobhouses were believers in homeopathy, and Steven translated articles for the Homeopathic Journal.[http://www.homeorizon.com/homeopathy-printouts/online-homeopathy-study/wonderful-hands Homeopathic Journal: Volume 3, Issue 5, Mar 2010 (Historical Papers)]

As eldest son of a wealthy family, Stephen stood to inherit a large fortune, but, influenced by Tolstoy again, he renounced his inheritance. He and his wife adopted a lifestyle of poverty, living in Hoxton, then a slum district in East London.[http://www.theosophical.ca/adyar_pamphlets/AdyarPamphlet_No92.pdf "The Soul As It Is and How to Deal With It", by Professor Gilbert Murray], Reprinted from the Hibbert Journal, Published in January 1918 by the Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Chennai India. At the same time they joined the Quakers and became active in Quaker service.

Pacifism and prison

Hobhouse was conscripted into the army in 1916.

At a tribunal in August 1916, he was granted an exemption from military service so long as he joined the Friends Ambulance Unit. As an absolutist or unconditionalist conscientious objector, however, Hobhouse refused either to accept the decision or to appeal against it. He ignored a notice to report to barracks, was arrested by the civil police, brought before a magistrates' court, and handed over to the military. He refused to put on military uniform, was court-martialled and sentenced to imprisonment with hard labour.

Hobhouse was then placed in solitary confinement because he refused to obey the "Rule of Silence" forbidding prisoners to speak to one another. He wrote to his wife: "The spirit of love requires that I should speak to my fellow-prisoners, the spirit of truth that I should speak to them openly"Hochschild, p. 270 By mid-1917, after 112 days in jail, followed by a second jail sentence, his health was declining rapidly.Moorehead, pp. 271–2 His health had always been frail: he had previously suffered nervous breakdowns and scarlet fever.Hochschild, p. 276 His wife was angry about his treatment in prison and some said that he never recovered his health entirely. In 1917 Hobhouse wrote:Brock, p. 18

Nearly every feature of prison life seems deliberately arranged to destroy a man's sense of his own personality, his power of choice and initiative, his possessive instincts, his concept of himself as a being designed to love and serve his fellow-man. His very name is blotted out and he becomes a number; A.3.21 and D.2.65 were two of my designations. He and his fellows are elaborately counted, when-ever moved from one location to another, in the characteristic machine-like way. He is continually, of course, under lock and key, ignored except as an object for spying.

His mother, Margaret, was a supporter of the First World War, in which three of her four sons served: the youngest Paul Edward was killed in March 1918.{{CWGC|id=1582690|name=Hobhouse, Paul Edward|access-date=18 November 2024}}Hochschild, p. 322 She was determined, however, to save her eldest son Stephen's life and to draw attention to the predicament of 1,350 war resisters then being held in prison.Hochschild, pp. 269–272

She maintained that "absolutists" like Stephen should either receive a King's Pardon or be released into civilian life. Margaret produced a pamphlet, I Appeal unto Caesar: the case of the conscientious objectors, with an introduction by the classicist and public figure Gilbert Murray, publicising the plight of the conscientious objectors. The pamphlet sold over 18,000 copies.Hochschild, pp. 270–272 (Recent research by Jo Vellacott has revealed that the appeal's author was actually Bertrand Russell.)Hochschild, p. 329[http://www.edrants.com/the-bat-segundo-show-adam-hochschild/ The Bat Segundo Show: Adam Hochschild] This active public campaign was aided discreetly by the influential Alfred Milner, who was a family friend.[http://digitalcommons.mcmaster.ca/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1802&context=russelljournal&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%2522stephen%2520hobhouse%2522%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D18%26ved%3D0CFsQFjAHOAo%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fdigitalcommons.mcmaster.ca%252Fcgi%252Fviewcontent.cgi%253Farticle%253D1802%2526context%253Drusselljournal%26ei%3DrRioT5vCJ4Wk8gT1yY2lAw%26usg%3DAFQjCNH-IubUoiyxvz1SeG_RxPsiAvjArw#search=%22stephen%20hobhouse%22 digitalcommons: Russell as ghost-writer, a new discovery]Hochschild, p. 303 The case of Stephen Hobhouse was first raised in Parliament on 9 July 1917.[https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1917/jul/09/home-office#S5CV0095P0_19170709_HOC_323 Hansard] The campaign prevailed and in December 1917 Stephen, and some 300 other COs, was released from prison on grounds of ill health.[http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/fulltext/sh1920/ch01.htm St. Stephen's House, Friends' Emergency Work in England, 1914 to 1920, Compiled by Anna Braithwaite Thomas]

In prison Hobhouse met Fenner Brockway, a "fiery socialist" and fellow anti-war activist. After the war, they wrote English Prisons Today, sponsored by the Prison System Enquiry Committee.[http://www23.us.archive.org/details/englishprisonsto00prisuoft English prisons to-day; being the report of the Prison System Enquiry Committee (1922)] This book, which appeared in 1922, was a critique of the English prison system, initiating a wave of prison reform which has continued to this day.[http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/online_publications/Do_Better_Do_Less_low_res.pdf The report of the Commission on English Prisons Today: Final Report, 2009, p. 18, 62] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628200039/http://www.howardleague.org/fileadmin/howard_league/user/online_publications/Do_Better_Do_Less_low_res.pdf |date=2013-06-28 }}

Writings

Hobhouse wrote many books on prison reform, Quakerism, and religion. Selected works include:[https://openlibrary.org/authors/OL1814582A/Stephen_Hobhouse Stephen_Hobhouse at Open Library][http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=Stephen+Hobhouse&qt=results_page Stephen_Hobhouse at WorldCat]

1918 {{cite book|title= The silence system in British prisons |publisher= Hoxton |location= London |oclc= 83702276}}
1919 {{cite book|title= Joseph Sturge, his life and work|location= London |oclc= 187101825}}
1919 {{cite book|title= An English prison from within|publisher= G. Allen & Unwin|location= London |oclc= 60734929}}
1922 {{cite book|title= English prisons to-day: being the report of the Prison system enquiry committee|publisher= Longmans, Green and co. |location= London|oclc= 4619955 }}
1927 {{cite book|title= William Law and eighteenth century Quakerism |location= London |oclc= 466191746 }}
1934 {{cite book|title= Margaret Hobhouse and her family |publisher= Stanhope Press |location= Rochester [Eng.] |oclc= 7161818 }}
1937 {{cite book|title= Isaac Newton and Jacob Boehme |location= Belgrade |oclc= 36931558}}
1948 {{cite book|title= Selected Mystical Writing of William Law|publisher= Harper |location= New York |oclc= 8408065}}
1944? {{cite book|title= Christ and our enemies|publisher= Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |location= London|oclc= 8970134}}
1946 {{cite book|title= A Christian's outline of belief|publisher= Fellowship of Reconciliation |location= London|oclc= 43490560 }}
1951 {{cite book|title= Forty years and an epilogue an autobiography (1881–1951) |publisher= J. Clarke |location= London|oclc= 612886400}}
1952 {{cite book|title= The autobiography of Stephen Hobhouse, reformer, pacifist, Christian |publisher= Beacon Press|location= Boston|oclc= 3463052}}
1954 {{cite book|title= A discourse on the life to come|publisher= Independent Press |location= London|oclc= 4392028 }}

References

;Notes

;Sources

Brock, Peter, These strange criminals : an anthology of prison memoirs by conscientious objectors to military service from the Great War to the Cold War, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004, {{ISBN|0802087078}}
Hobhouse, Rosa Waugh, Life of Christian Samuel Hahnemann, founder of homeopathy, New Delhi: B. Jain, 2001, {{ISBN|8170216850}}
Hochschild, Adam, To end all wars : a story of loyalty and rebellion, 1914-1918, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011, {{ISBN|0618758283}}
Moorehead, Caroline, Bertrand Russell: a life, New York: Viking, 1993, {{ISBN|067085008X}}
Rae, John, Conscience and Politics - The British Government and the Conscientious Objector to Military Service 1916-1919, Oxford University Press, 1970, {{ISBN|0192151762}}
Vellacott, Jo, Bertrand Russell and the pacifists in the First World War, New York: St. Martin's Press, 1981, {{ISBN|031207705X}}
Wills, David W, Stephen Henry Hobhouse: a twentieth-century Quaker saint, London, Friends Home Service Committee, 1972
Zedner, Lucia, The criminological foundations of penal policy: essays in honour of Roger Hood, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, {{ISBN|0199265097}}

External links

{{Internet Archive author |sname=Stephen Hobhouse}}
[http://www23.us.archive.org/stream/englishprisonsto00prisuoft/englishprisonsto00prisuoft_djvu.txt Full text of English prisons to-day; being the report of the Prison System Enquiry Committee], digitized by the Internet Archive
[https://archive.org/stream/iappealuntocsa00hobhrich/iappealuntocsa00hobhrich_djvu.txt Full text of I appeal unto Cæsar: the case of the conscientious objector], (fourth edition) digitized by the Internet Archive
Hobhouse, Mrs. Henry, [https://archive.org/details/iappealuntocsa00hobhrich/page/n5/mode/2up?q=Milner I Appeal Unto Caesar], London: Allen & Unwin, 1917

Category:1881 births

Category:1961 deaths

Category:Military personnel from Somerset

Category:British Army personnel of World War I

Category:British Army soldiers

Category:British Army personnel who were court-martialled

Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford

Category:Anglican pacifists

Category:Classical liberalism

Category:Converts to Quakerism

Category:English Christian pacifists

Category:English conscientious objectors