Famous 19th Century British Leaders

The former Prime Minister of the United Kingdoms, Winston Churchill, is known for successfully leading his country during the Second World War against the Nazi Germany. An officer in the British army, he also served as a war correspondent before venturing into politics. One of the most influential peoples in British history, Churchill was also an accomplished painter.

Clement Attlee was a British politician. As the Prime Minister of the UK, Attlee organized the granting of independence to Pakistan and India. in 1947. He also oversaw the independence of Ceylon and Burma. Regarded as one of the greatest prime ministers of the UK, Clement Attlee has been the subject of several plays and TV series. 

Widely considered one of the greatest British poets of all time, Lord Byron remains influential as his works are widely read even today. He was also one of the most important personalities of the Romantic Movement. He is also known for his role in the Greek War of Independence, for which the Greeks consider him a national hero.

Benjamin Disraeli was a British politician who served two terms as prime minister of the UK. Disraeli is credited with playing a key role in the formation of the modern Conservative Party. Apart from being an influential politician, Benjamin Disraeli was also a prolific novelist; he wrote and published works of fiction even while serving as the prime minister.

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn was the father of Queen Victoria. His army career took him to Canada and the West Indies, making him the first royal family member to stay in North America. He was also the governor of Gibraltar and played a major role in Canada’s development.

Statesman Robert Peel had been the prime minister of the U.K twice. He was also a two-time home secretary. He established the Metropolitan Police Service and also introduced the Tamworth Manifesto, thus co-founding the modern Conservative Party. He died of injuries after a horse he was riding fell on him.

British statesman, William Pitt the Younger, became the youngest prime minister of Great Britain in 1783 when he was just 24. During his stint as the prime minister, he was also Chancellor of the Exchequer. Several major political events,  including the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, happened during his tenure.  He is ranked highly among all British Prime Ministers.

Stanley Baldwin was a British Conservative statesman. He served as prime minister of the United Kingdom on three occasions during the interwar period. Baldwin's second government, which was formed by him after winning the 1924 general election, saw tenures of office by important personalities like Winston Churchill, Neville Chamberlain, and Sir Austen Chamberlain.

William Ewart Gladstone was a British politician and statesman. During a career that spanned six decades, Gladstone served as prime minister of the UK for 12 years, which included four different terms. Often counted among Britain's greatest leaders, Gladstone has been portrayed in several films and television series, such as Parnell, The Prime Minister, Edward the Seventh, and Number 10.

Neville Chamberlain was a British politician. A member of the Conservative Party, Chamberlain served as UK's prime minister from 1937 to 1940. Known for his signing of the Munich Agreement, which is also called the Munich Betrayal, Neville Chamberlain is regarded by many as one of the most controversial prime ministers of the UK.

Charles George Gordon was a British administrator and Army officer. He is best remembered for his work as the commander of the Ever Victorious Army in China, which played a key role in suppressing the Taiping Rebellion. The force, under Gordon's command, was also able to defeat much larger forces, earning him the nickname Chinese Gordon.

John Graves Simcoe was a British Army general best remembered for founding York (present-day Toronto, Canada). Simcoe, who served as the first lieutenant governor of Upper Canada, was responsible for introducing institutions like trial by jury, courts of law, freehold land tenure, and English common law. John Graves Simcoe also played a key role in abolishing slavery in Canada.

H. H. Asquith was an English politician and statesman best remembered for serving as the prime minister of the UK from 1908 to 1916. He was the last PM to command a majority government from the Liberal Party. Great Britain entered the First World War under his prime ministership, a move which is often criticized by modern-day critics and scholars.

Banastre Tarleton was a British politician and general. He served in the American Revolutionary War where he was a lieutenant colonel. An iconic figure, Tarleton has been portrayed in several films, such as Sweet Liberty, The Patriot, and Amazing Grace. He has also been depicted in many TV series and novels.   

Irish revolutionary political leader and suffragist Constance Markievicz scripted history by becoming the first woman to be elected as a cabinet minister in Europe and also the first female to be elected to the British Parliament. Sentenced to death for her role in the Easter Rising, she was later granted amnesty.

Stamford Raffles was a British statesman who served as the Lieutenant-Governor of the Dutch East Indies from 1811 to 1816. From 1818 to 1824, he served as the Lieutenant-Governor of Bencoolen. Raffles is best remembered for founding the Straits Settlements and modern Singapore. He also played a major role in the invasion of Java in 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars.

British army general Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis is best remembered for his stints as the governor-general of India and the viceroy of Ireland. Educated at Eton and Cambridge, he later started his army career with the Seven Years’ War. He was also part of the American War of Independence.

John French, 1st Earl of Ypres was a British Army officer best remembered for his heroics during the Second Boer War, for which he is considered a national hero. John French also served as Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, which was perhaps his most important role. He also gained notoriety as a womanizer throughout his life.

Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn was the third son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria. He was the only British prince to serve as the Governor General of Canada. Prince Arthur is also remembered for performing various royal duties in the United Kingdom and India.

William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, or Lord Melbourne, was a Whig and a close advisor of Queen Victoria. Apart from being the leader of the opposition, he had also been the British prime minister. However, he was known more for his love for theology and literature than his political exploits.

Known for his distinguish services during WWI, Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby, is especially hailed for his decisive victory over the Turks at Gaza, leading to the capture of Jerusalem. Later, he also captured Damascus and Aleppo, thus ending Ottoman power in Syria. Later appointed Special High Commissioner of Egypt, he governed the country firmly, until its independence in 1922.

A prominent Whig and essayist Thomas Babington Macaulay is best remembered for his 5-volume History of England. Though a qualified lawyer, he never took it up as a career. As part of his administrative work in India later, he introduced English as the chief medium of instruction in schools.

Horatio Herbert Kitchener is remembered for his military acumen and for his large-scale organization of troops during World War I. He had served the Egyptian army and the British army in South Africa, and was the commander-in-chief in India. He died aboard the HMS Hampshire when the cruiser drowned.

Born in Russia, biochemist Chaim Weizmann was a World Zionist Organization leader and later also became the first president of Israel. He had a major role in the Balfour Declaration. Remembered for his research on industrial fermentation, gasoline, and rubber, he also helped establish the Weizmann Institute.

Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig was a British Army officer best remembered for his service as the commander of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front during the First World War. He also commanded forces during the Battle of Arras, the Battle of the Somme, the Third Battle of Ypres, the Hundred Days Offensive, and the German Spring Offensive.

One of the best-known seamen from Britain, Thomas Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald had also been an MP. He is also remembered for his conflict with Admiral James Gambier. Though expelled from the Parliament for spreading a death hoax about Napoleon I along with his uncle, he was later proved to be innocent.

A pioneering leader of the women’s suffrage movement in Britain, Millicent Fawcett also co-established the Newnham College, Cambridge, which was one of the first English women’s universities. She also served as the president of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and investigated British concentration camps during the South African War.

Reginald Dyer was a British military leader who served as an officer of the Bengal Army. He then went on to serve in the newly founded British Indian Army. Nicknamed the Butcher of Amritsar, Dyer was responsible for the infamous Jallianwala Bagh massacre on 13 April 1919 in Amritsar. The episode was fictionalized in Salman Rushdie's 1981 novel Midnight's Children.