Leonard T. Hobhouse

British sociologist and journalist

• Born: September 8, 1864
• Birthplace: St. Ives, Cornwall, England
• Died: June 21, 1929
• Place of death: Alençon, Normandy, France

Hobhouse helped develop the theoretical basis of modern liberalism and was the founder of sociology as an academic discipline in Great Britain.

Early Life

Leonard T. Hobhouse was born in the small fishing village of St. Ives on the east coast of Cornwall, England. His paternal grandfather, Henry Hobhouse, a member of the landed gentry, was permanent undersecretary of state at the Home Office. Leonard’s father, Reginald, was the rector of St. Ives. Leonard’s mother, Caroline Trelawny, was the daughter of the eighth baronet of Trelawny, Cornwall. Her family was prominent in Liberal politics; Caroline’s brother, John, was a Radical Liberal member of Parliament for twenty-two years.

The young Hobhouse’s formal education was typical of British upper-class families. After attending a preparatory school at Exmouth, he went to a prominent public school, Marlborough College, from 1877 to 1883. While at Marlborough, his political opinions changed from Conservative to Liberal. This change may have been precipitated by the emergence of his uncle, Arthur Hobhouse, whose criticisms of the Conservative government’s expansionist policy in Afghanistan brought him to prominence as a Liberal political figure. Leonard’s father, however, was a staunch Conservative and was shocked by the shift in his son’s views. He was even more disturbed when he discovered that Leonard had broken away from his High Church Anglicanism and was claiming that he was an agnostic, an avowal that directly affected Leonard’s college career. Although members of the Hobhouse family had traditionally gone to Balliol College, Oxford, Reginald encouraged Leonard to apply at the more conservative Corpus Christi College at Oxford because he feared that the intellectual atmosphere at Balliol would strengthen Leonard’s unorthodox religious opinions.

During his four years at Corpus Christi College, Hobhouse was an exceptional student. His course of study was based on the classics and involved intensive study of ancient Greek and Roman history and philosophy. Hobhouse’s study of classical Greece had a lasting influence on his ethical and political theories; he became convinced, for example, that the ancient Greek city-state was the ideal of what a true moral community should be like.

After receiving a first-class honors degree for his superior academic performance at Corpus Christi, Hobhouse was awarded a prize fellowship to do graduate study in philosophy at Merton College, Oxford. While at Merton from 1887 to 1890, Hobhouse studied under two of the outstanding nineteenth century British philosophers, both of whom were prominent figures in the British Idealist movement: William Wallace and F. H. Bradley. Hobhouse’s work at Merton was sufficiently impressive that in 1890 he was appointed a fellow of that college, and he taught philosophy there until 1894, when he became a fellow of Corpus Christi College. Although he later became a critic of Idealism, it should not be surprising, given his close contact with the leading spokesmen for British Idealism over a seven-year period, that Hobhouse incorporated important Idealist doctrines into his own philosophical system.

In addition to his academic interests, Hobhouse was deeply involved in several groups that formed the political Left at Oxford in the late nineteenth century. He was a member of the Russell Club, an organization of Radical Liberals, and of two groups established by Thomas Hill Green’s devotees: the Oxford Economic Society and the Inner Ring. Both societies shared Green’s conviction that economic problems could not be divorced from ethical considerations and attempted to apply Green’s theories to specific social problems. Hobhouse soon became involved in Toynbee Hall, the East London settlement house, and in efforts to organize Oxfordshire agricultural laborers into a union. He also became acquainted with the leading left-wing intellectuals of that time. Although he did not become a Fabian, he was favorably impressed with Sidney Webb following a long discussion with him, and the founder of the Oxford University Fabian Society, Sidney Ball, became one of his closest friends.

Life’s Work

Hobhouse’s first book, The Labour Movement , was published in 1893 and established his reputation as Green’s successor at Oxford. It reflected Hobhouse’s conviction that traditional liberalism had become an obstacle to social improvement. In its place Hobhouse proposed a type of Liberal Collectivism; his book was intended to provide the theoretical basis for this new movement. Although parts of his theory were influenced by Fabian economics, Hobhouse’s central philosophical analysis consisted of a refinement of Green’s concept of positive freedom. Like Green, Hobhouse believed that state intervention was necessary to increase individual liberty, even if that meant the coercion of some individuals to enlarge the scope of freedom for others.

Hobhouse taught philosophy at Oxford for seven years, and even after he moved into other areas of employment he continued to think of himself as a philosopher. He published three essays in Mind, a leading philosophy journal, in 1891, and in the following year he was invited to join the prestigious Aristotelian Society. In 1891, he married an Oxford student, Nora Hadwin; they had several children, and it appeared that he would spend the rest of his life teaching philosophy at Oxford. Yet his initial efforts to establish his reputation as a philosopher brought him into conflict with Great Britain’s leading philosopher, Bradley, and this left Hobhouse despondent about continuing to teach at Oxford.

The publication in 1896 of Hobhouse’s first philosophical work, The Theory of Knowledge , was a critical turning point in his chosen career. It attempted to refute the Idealist theory of knowledge as presented by its most eloquent spokesperson, Bradley, at a time when Idealism was the dominant philosophical system at Oxford. In arguing that the intentionality of consciousness proved the existence of an extraconscious reality, Hobhouse’s critical realism anticipated the direction that the reaction against Idealism would take later in the twentieth century. William James was impressed with Hobhouse’s book and believed that he had succeeded in refuting Bradley’s theory of relations, but within Oxford the book received a cold response. Hobhouse was so hurt by this reaction that he resolved to leave Oxford if the opportunity arose. When C. P. Scott, the editor of a prominent Liberal newspaper, the Manchester Guardian, late in 1896 offered Hobhouse a position as an editorial writer for the paper, Hobhouse quickly accepted.

In retrospect, Hobhouse regarded the years from 1897 to 1902 that he spent in Manchester as a writer for the Manchester Guardian as the most satisfying in his life. While at Oxford he had been unhappy about his inability to influence national politics, but as a political writer for the Manchester Guardian he was able to reach a wider audience of Liberal and independent readers with his application of liberal theory to day-to-day political issues. Scott was so impressed with Hobhouse’s judgment and his ability to articulate Liberal principles in a journalistic style that he came to trust Hobhouse in a way that went beyond his feelings toward other members of the staff. In 1911 he had Hobhouse appointed to the paper’s board of directors, the first person outside the Scott family to hold such a position, and in later years when he was away on vacation he would leave Hobhouse in charge of the paper.

While he was in Manchester, Hobhouse’s attitude toward Fabian socialism underwent significant modification. Although never a member of the Fabian Society, he had previously assumed that Fabianism was closely related to the Liberal Collectivism he had been fashioning in the 1890’s. However, in his 1898 essay “The Ethical Basis of Collectivism,” Hobhouse insisted that Fabian socialism was inconsistent with liberalism because it viewed state intervention as an end in itself. Liberals, according to Hobhouse, should support state action only when it facilitated ethical ends, such as increased liberty.

The Boer War of 1899-1902 increased Hobhouse’s concern about the amoral nature of Fabian socialism. Hobhouse believed that the British government had behaved immorally in seeking war with the Boer states to incorporate them into the British Empire. His criticism of the government’s policy in the Manchester Guardian contributed to its reputation as the leading antiwar newspaper. When the Fabian Society published a pamphlet, largely written by George Bernard Shaw, defending the seizure of the Boer states, this seemed to confirm Hobhouse’s suspicions that the Fabians were opportunists whose policies lacked any moral basis.

Hobhouse also became disenchanted with those Liberal Imperialists, such as H. H. Asquith, who endorsed the government’s behavior. This sense of disillusionment was a factor in his decision to resign from the Manchester Guardian in 1902. Although not narrowly partisan, it was a Liberal paper, and Hobhouse found it increasingly difficult to defend a party in which imperialist sentiment was so significant. Also, while working for the Manchester Guardian, Hobhouse had been allowed to spend one-half of each day continuing his work in philosophy. Thus, he was able to complete Mind in Evolution in 1901. The strain of carrying on both lines of work simultaneously left him exhausted and believing that he must choose one or the other. When he finally resigned in 1902, he informed Scott that philosophy had first claim on his services.

Although he intended to devote himself to philosophy, Hobhouse’s need for a regular income brought him back into journalism. He wrote frequently for a Liberal weekly, The Speaker, and for the Free Trade Union, a Liberal Party organization that employed Hobhouse from 1903 to 1905. When The Tribune, a new Liberal newspaper, was established in London in 1905, Hobhouse became its political editor, with responsibility for editorials and the political line of the paper. Under his direction, The Tribune became an exponent of advanced liberalism, urging the new Liberal government to introduce old-age pensions, woman suffrage, and work programs for the unemployed. The Tribune, however, was not a financial success, and when, in January, 1907, the owner placed a Conservative in charge of the paper’s political line, Hobhouse resigned.

Hobhouse’s continued preoccupation with scholarly social research even while employed as a journalist enabled him to publish an important study on social development, Morals in Evolution , in 1906. This may account for his selection in 1907 to the newly created Martin White Chair in Sociology at the London School of Economics, a position he retained until his death in 1929. Hobhouse is often referred to as the founder of sociology in Great Britain, in part because he was the first person to hold a position as professor of sociology in that country. He played a leading role in the development of sociology as an academic discipline in Great Britain, continued to publish in this area, and in 1908 became the editor of Great Britain’s major scholarly journal in that field, the Sociological Review.

However, even while deeply involved in sociology, Hobhouse continued his political journalism. After its establishment in 1907, The Nation, a Liberal weekly, became the main organ for the dissemination of New Liberal political opinion. Hobhouse had been considered for the editorship of the journal and became an important member of its staff. He was a frequent participant at the weekly Nation luncheon meetings at which the editorial line of the paper was debated; when the editor, Henry Massingham, was not present, Hobhouse chaired these meetings.

Hobhouse’s reputation among Liberals by 1909 is suggested by an invitation from the Northampton Liberal Party to become its candidate for Parliament at the next election. Since it was a safe seat, Hobhouse would have been almost certain of election, but he declined on the grounds that he did not wish to become subservient to party discipline. His invitation to write the volume Liberalism (1911) in a series on modern political ideologies is more consistent with his reputation as one of the leading theorists of the New Liberalism. The book is considered a classic statement of modern Liberal theory and established Hobhouse’s reputation as the successor to Green and John Stuart Mill among Liberal theoreticians. It was published in 1911, during a period in which the Liberal government was initiating important new social policies that some consider the origin of the British welfare state. Within the context of contemporary political debate it was important for its explanation of how state intervention would further liberal ends. Hobhouse indicated that the provision of old-age pensions, minimum wages, and unemployment insurance by the state were desirable because they would enhance individual liberty, as well as for other reasons.

When World War I broke out in 1914, Hobhouse’s first reaction was to join the British Neutrality Committee, which attempted to keep Great Britain out of the war. After the German invasion of Belgium, he reversed his position and accepted that British security required the defeat of Germany. He attributed Germany’s aggression to the influence of Idealist political theory, and in 1918 he published a scathing critique of it in The Metaphysical Theory of the State . During the last two years of the war, Hobhouse became convinced that the pursuit of total victory over Germany was transforming Great Britain into a “Prussian” state, and he became a prominent advocate of a negotiated peace.

World War I was a tremendous blow to Hobhouse, for most of his philosophical writings were rooted in a belief in social progress and the increasing rationality of humankind. The intense class conflict of the postwar years also threatened his belief in social harmony. He became convinced that the setting of wages by an independent body such as the Trade Boards could reduce conflict arising out of wage issues. Prime MinisterDavid Lloyd George appointed him chair of several Trade Boards, and Hobhouse became one of their leading defenders. However, the disappointing record of the Liberal and Labour parties in the 1920’s left him discouraged about the possibility of social improvement through political action. His sense of depression during his later years was deepened by ill health following a severe attack of phlebitis in 1924 and by the death of his wife, Nora, in 1925. He traveled to France each summer for medical treatment, and while receiving care he unexpectedly became ill and died suddenly on June 21, 1929.

Significance

During the decade prior to World War I, British liberalism was changed from a movement that viewed the state as a threat to individual liberty to one that recognized that the state could be a weapon for increasing the amount of freedom in society. Hobhouse was a prominent member of the group of Liberal intellectuals who helped bring about this transformation. He was especially important in elaborating the social and political theory on which this New Liberalism was based, and for this reason he is considered to be the successor to John Stuart Mill and Thomas Hill Green among Liberal theorists.

Hobhouse also made important contributions to philosophy and sociology. He always considered himself primarily a philosopher; his critical studies of Idealist philosophy helped stimulate the reaction against that system in Great Britain. His most significant role as an academician was to establish sociology as an academic discipline in Britain.

Bibliography

Abrams, Philip. The Origins of British Sociology: 1834-1914. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1968. A standard work on the intellectual history of sociology in Great Britain. Demonstrates Hobhouse’s crucial contributions to the field.

Ayerst, David. The “Manchester Guardian”: Biography of a Newspaper. London: Collins, 1971. An important study of the newspaper with which Hobhouse was associated from 1897 to 1929.

Clarke, Peter. Liberals and Social Democrats. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1978. The most thoroughgoing study of the group of New Liberal intellectuals to which Hobhouse belonged.

Collini, Stefan. Liberalism and Sociology: L. T. Hobhouse and Political Argument in England, 1880-1914. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1979. A major study of the relationship between Hobhouse’s political theory and his work in sociology. Contains the best critical evaluation of his theories.

Freeden, Michael. The New Liberalism. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1978. A valuable discussion of New Liberal ideas, treating them as an important development in political theory.

Halsey, A. H. A History of Sociology in Britain: Science, Literature, and Society. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004. This history begins with Hobhouse’s election to the first chair in sociology in London in 1907 and provides information about his contributions to the development of sociology in the United Kingdom.

Hobson, John, and Morris Ginsberg. L. T. Hobhouse: His Life and Work. London: Allen and Unwin, 1931. An important source of biographical information written by two of Hobhouse’s closest friends. Contains information no longer available from other sources.

Smith, Harold L. “World War I and British Left-Wing Intellectuals: The Case of Leonard T. Hobhouse.” Albion 5 (Winter, 1973): 261-273. Makes extensive use of Hobhouse’s unpublished correspondence in presenting the fullest account of the shifts in his views during World War I.