Arthur Henderson

Arthur Henderson was born in Glasgow, Scotland, into working-class poverty. Following his father's death, Henderson was forced to leave school at age twelve to work as an apprentice iron moulder in an engineering foundry in Newcastle upon Tyne. A devout Wesleyan Methodist lay preacher and committed trade unionist, Henderson was elected general secretary of the Friendly Society of Iron Founders in 1892. In 1903, he was elected to Parliament as one of the very first Labour Party MPs.

Known affectionately across the British labor movement as 'Uncle Arthur' for his calm integrity, organizational mastery, and fairness, Henderson served in David Lloyd George's wartime coalition cabinet during World War I before becoming Home Secretary in the first Labour government in 1924. Appointed Foreign Secretary in Ramsay MacDonald's second administration in 1929, Henderson restored British diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union and placed British support firmly behind the League of Nations.

In May 1931, the League of Nations unanimously elected Henderson President of the World Disarmament Conference in Geneva. Opening in February 1932 with sixty nations in attendance, Henderson dedicated his final years to the conference, presiding over hundreds of sessions in Geneva even as Adolf Hitler withdrew Nazi Germany from the conference in October 1933. Refusing to abandon hope, Henderson worked until his physical collapse, awarded the 1934 Nobel Peace Prize for his tireless devotion to international disarmament.