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The Right Honourable
Reginald McKenna
	The Right Honourable; Reginald McKenna
Chancellor of the Exchequer
	In office; 25 May 1915 – 10 December 1916
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	David Lloyd George
Succeeded by	Andrew Bonar Law
Home Secretary
	In office; 24 October 1911 – 27 May 1915
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Winston Churchill
Succeeded by	Sir John Simon
Born	6 July 1863;
Died	6 September 1943; London
Nationality	British
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Pamela Jekyll (d. 1943)
Alma mater	Trinity Hall, Cambridge

Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863–6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal. He notably served as Home Secretary and Chancellor of the Exchequer during the premiership of H. H. Asquith.

[edit] Background and education

McKenna was the son of William Columban McKenna and his wife Emma, daughter of Charles Hanby. Sir Joseph Neale McKenna was his uncle. He was educated at King's College School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge.^[1]

[edit] Political career

Elected at the 1895 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for North Monmouthshire, he served in the Liberal governments of Henry Campbell-Bannerman and Herbert Henry Asquith as President of the Board of Education, First Lord of the Admiralty and Home Secretary. As Chancellor of the Exchequer in Asquith's coalition government, he opposed the introduction of conscription, and retired into opposition upon the fall of Asquith at the end of 1916. He lost his seat in the 1918 general election and became Chairman of the Midland Bank. In 1922, the new Prime Minister Andrew Bonar Law hoped to persuade him to come out of retirement and serve once again at the Exchequer, but he refused, and remained in private life. The following year Law's successor Stanley Baldwin made the repeated request and McKenna was more agreeable. However he wished to enter Parliament as MP for the City of London and neither of the incumbent MPs would agree to vacate in order to make room. As a result McKenna declined.

It is said that he refused offers of a peerage throughout the rest of his life so as to always be in a position to be offered the Exchequer so he could refuse.

[edit] Family

McKenna was married in 1908 to Pamela Jekyll (who d. November 1943), younger daughter of Sir Herbert Jekyll, KCMG (brother of landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll) and his wife Lady Agnes Jekyll, née Graham.^[2] They had two sons - Michael (died 1931) and David, who married Lady Cecilia Elizabeth Keppel (born 12 April 1910), a daughter of the the 9th Earl of Albemarle in 1934, and had issue.^[3]

Reginald McKenna died in London on 6 September 1943 and was buried at Mells, Somerset (the home of his old friend Sir John Horner). His wife died two months later, and is buried beside him. McKenna was a regular client of Sir Edwin Lutyens who designed the Midland Bank headquarters in Poultry, London, several branches and several homes for McKenna, as well as his grave.

[edit] Notes

^ McKenna, Reginald in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.
^ Details of the Jekyll family and BBC: Making History: Sir Herbert Jekyll. Retrieved 4 December 2007. Sir Herbert's elder daughter Barbara married as her 2nd husband, Field Marshal Lord Freyberg; her grandson holds the peerage today.
^ Darryl Landy, The Peerage database, retrieved 4 December 2007.

[edit] References

Martin Farr, Reginald McKenna 1863-1916: Financier Among Statesmen, New York: Routledge, 2007.
Janus: The Papers of Reginald McKenna includes a short biography. Retrieved 4 December 2007.
Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs
www.thepeerage.com

[edit] Exteral links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Reginald McKenna

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Phillips Price	Member of Parliament for North Monmouthshire 1895–1918	constituency abolished
Political offices
Preceded by Augustine Birrell	President of the Board of Education 1907–1908	Succeeded by Walter Runciman
Preceded by The Lord Tweedmouth	First Lord of the Admiralty 1908–1911	Succeeded by Winston Churchill
Preceded by Winston Churchill	Home Secretary 1911–1915	Succeeded by Sir John Simon
Preceded by David Lloyd George	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1915–1916	Succeeded by Andrew Bonar Law
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Bernard M. Baruch	Cover of Time Magazine 3 March 1924	Succeeded by Warren S. Stone

[0] McKenna, Reginald in Venn, J. & J. A., Alumni Cantabrigienses, Cambridge University Press, 10 vols, 1922–1958.

[1] Details of the Jekyll family and BBC: Making History: Sir Herbert Jekyll. Retrieved 4 December 2007. Sir Herbert's elder daughter Barbara married as her 2nd husband, Field Marshal Lord Freyberg; her grandson holds the peerage today.

[2] Darryl Landy, The Peerage database, retrieved 4 December 2007.

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