Lord Richard Cavendish, as caricatured by Spy (Leslie Ward) in Vanity Fair, April 1900
Lord Richard Cavendish CB, CMG, owner of Holker Hall, Cark-in-Cartmel (now in Cumbria) presided over the inaugural meeting of the Lancaster branch of the League of Nations Union (LNU) in October 1919. He was appointed President and re-elected each year in that post until 1928. At the first meeting he gave a moving speech, describing how, in 1914, as Colonel of the 5th King’s Own Royal Lancaster Regiment, ‘he had appealed to the manhood of Lancaster to come to their country’s aid.’ Now he was calling on them to support the League of Nations ‘in the cause of peace which was the highest they could conceive.’ The newspaper does not report whether he actually attended any of the subsequent meetings.
Nationally, Lord Richard had had a life of public service. He was elected Liberal MP for North Lonsdale from 1895 to 1906, served on a Royal Commission on electoral reform and became a Privy Councillor in 1912. Locally, he was President of the Royal Lancashire Agricultural Society. The office of President of the Lancaster LNU may only have been a formal one for him but it served to emphasise to Lancaster people that the League of Nations had the backing of the upper classes, and showed from the beginning the connection between the Lancaster LNU branch and the Liberal party.
References/Further Reading:
Lancaster Guardian, 9 Oct 1920 and all AGM reports 1921-1928.
Wikipedia. Lord Richard Cavendish 1871-1946.