Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee

The Right Honourable The Lord Ritchie of Dundee PC
President of the Board of Trade
In office 29 June 1895 – 7 November 1900
Monarch	Victoria
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	James Bryce
Succeeded by	Gerald Balfour
Home Secretary
In office 12 November 1900 – 12 July 1902
Monarchs	Victoria Edward VII
Prime Minister	The Marquess of Salisbury
Preceded by	Sir Matthew White Ridley, Bt
Succeeded by	Aretas Akers-Douglas
Chancellor of the Exchequer
In office 11 August 1902 – 9 October 1903
Monarch	Edward VII
Prime Minister	Arthur Balfour
Preceded by	Sir Michael Hicks Beach, Bt
Succeeded by	Austen Chamberlain
Personal details
Born	(1838-11-19)19 November 1838 Dundee, Scotland
Died	9 January 1906(1906-01-09) (aged 67) Biarritz, France
Resting place	Kensal Green Cemetery, London, England
Nationality	British
Political party	Conservative

Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee, PC (19 November 1838 – 9 January 1906) was a British businessman and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 until 1905 when he was raised to the peerage. He served as Home Secretary from 1900 to 1902 and as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1902 to 1903.

Background and education

Ritchie was born at Dundee, Scotland, the third son of William Ritchie, of Rockhill near Broughty Ferry in Forfarshire, head of the firm of William Ritchie & Sons, of London and Dundee, East India merchants, jute spinners and manufacturers. The Ritchie family had long been connected with the town of Dundee. His elder brother James Thomson Ritchie was Lord Mayor of London from 1903 to 1904 and was created a Baronet in 1903 (a title which became extinct on his death). Ritchie was educated at the City of London School, after which he went into the family business.

He married Margaret Ower, daughter of Thomas Ower of Perth, on 7 December 1858.

Political career

Caricature of Charles Thomson Ritchie by Carlo Pellegrini.

In 1874 was returned to parliament as Conservative member for the Tower Hamlets. In 1885 he was made secretary to the Admiralty, and from 1886 to 1892 was President of the Local Government Board in Lord Salisbury's second administration, sitting as member for St George in the East. He was responsible for the Local Government Act 1888, instituting county councils; and a large section of the Conservative party always owed him a grudge for having originated the London County Council.

In Lord Salisbury's later ministries, as member for Croydon (1895–1906), he was President of the Board of Trade (1895–1900) and Home Secretary (1900–1902); and when Sir Michael Hicks-Beach retired in August 1902, he became Chancellor of the Exchequer in Balfour's cabinet. In his earlier years he had been a fair-trader and he was strongly opposed to Colonial Secretary Joseph Chamberlain's movement for a preferential tariff, leading to his sacking by Balfour in September 1903. Ritchie's son in law, the Scottish architect Mervyn Macartney, built a country house for Ritchie, Welders House, in the Buckinghamshire village of Jordans.

On 22 December 1905, he was created a peer as Baron Ritchie of Dundee, of Welders in the Parish of Chalfont St Giles in the County of Buckingham. However, he was in ill-health, and died at Biarritz in January 1906. He is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London. He was succeeded in the title by his second but only surviving son, Charles.

Ritchie was elected as Rector of the University of Aberdeen in late October 1902, taking up the position the following month, serving for three years until November 1905.

Arms

Coat of arms of Charles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee

Crest Out of an Eastern Crown Or a Unicorn's Head Argent armed of the first and charged on the neck with an Anchor Sable Escutcheon Argent an Anchor Sable on a Chief of the last three Lions' Heads erased of the first Supporters On either side an Unicorn Gules gorged with an Eastern Crown Or the dexter charged on the shoulder with a Purse Or and the sinister with a Balance also Or Motto Virtute Acquiritur Honos (Honour is acquired by virtue)

References

• Ridley, Jane (May 2006) [2004]. "Ritchie, Charles Thomson, first Baron Ritchie of Dundee (1838–1906)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/35762. (subscription or UK public library membership required)

Attribution:

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ritchie, Charles Thomson Ritchie, 1st Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 23 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 367.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Ritchie
• Portraits of Charles Ritchie at the National Portrait Gallery, London