Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison

Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison, KG, PC, FRCS (19 June 1869 – 11 December 1951[1]), was a British medical doctor and politician. A member of the Liberal and Labour parties, he served as Minister of Munitions during the First World War and was later Minister of Health under David Lloyd George and Leader of the House of Lords under Clement Attlee.

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The Right Honourable The Viscount Addison KG PC FRCS
Leader of the House of Lords
In office 3 August 1945 – 26 October 1951
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Viscount Cranborne
Succeeded by	The Marquess of Salisbury
Lord President of the Council
In office 9 March 1951 – 26 October 1951
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Herbert Morrison
Succeeded by	The Lord Woolton
Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal
In office 7 October 1947 – 9 March 1951
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	The Lord Inman
Succeeded by	Ernest Bevin
Paymaster General
In office 2 July 1948 – 1 April 1949
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Hilary Marquand
Succeeded by	Gordon Macdonald
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
In office 7 July 1947 – 7 October 1947
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Himself as Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
Succeeded by	Philip Noel-Baker
Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs
In office 3 August 1945 – 7 July 1947
Monarch	George VI
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Viscount Cranborne
Succeeded by	Himself as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
Minister of Agriculture
In office 5 June 1930 – 24 August 1931
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	Noel Buxton
Succeeded by	Sir John Gilmour
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries
In office 4 June 1929 – 5 June 1930
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Ramsay MacDonald
Preceded by	George Rous
Succeeded by	Herbrand Sackville
Minister without portfolio
In office 1 April 1921 – 14 July 1921
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Laming Worthington-Evans
Succeeded by	Anthony Eden
Minister of Health
In office 24 June 1919 – 1 April 1921
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	office established Himself (as President of the Local Government Board)
Succeeded by	Alfred Mond
President of the Local Government Board
In office 10 January 1919 – 24 June 1919
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Auckland Geddes
Succeeded by	office abolished Himself (as Minister of Health)
Minister of Reconstruction
In office 17 July 1917 – 10 January 1919
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	New office
Succeeded by	Auckland Geddes
Minister of Munitions
In office 10 December 1916 – 17 July 1917
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	David Lloyd George
Preceded by	Edwin Montagu
Succeeded by	Winston Churchill
Member of the House of Lords Lord Temporal
In office 22 May 1937 – 11 December 1951 as a hereditary peer
Preceded by	Peerage created
Succeeded by	The 2nd Viscount Addison
Member of Parliament for Swindon
In office 25 October 1934 – 14 November 1935
Preceded by	Reginald Mitchell Banks
Succeeded by	Wavell Wakefield
In office 30 May 1929 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Reginald Mitchell Banks
Succeeded by	Reginald Mitchell Banks
Member of Parliament for Shoreditch Hoxton (1910–1918)
In office 10 January 1910 – 15 November 1922
Preceded by	Claude Hay
Succeeded by	Ernest Griffith Price
Personal details
Born	19 June 1869 (1869-06-19) Hogsthorpe, Lincolnshire
Died	11 December 1951 (1951-12-12) (aged 82)
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour (after 1922) Liberal (until 1922)
Spouses	Isobel Gray ​ ​ (m. 1902; died 1934)​ Beatrice Low ​ (m. 1937)​
Alma mater	University of London

He was a prominent anatomist and perhaps the most eminent doctor ever to enter the Commons.[2] He was a leader in issues of health, wartime munitions, housing and agriculture. Although not highly visible, he played a major role in the post war governments after both world wars. Addison worked hard to promote the National Insurance scheme in 1911. Lloyd George made him the first Minister of Health when the department was created in 1919, and Addison oversaw an expansion of council housing after the Great War with an increase in public funding to local authority housing schemes with the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919. He later joined the Labour Party.