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Andrew Bonar Law (16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923), commonly called Bonar Law (),〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Bonar Law - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage notes Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary at OxfordLearnersDictionaries.com )〕 was a British Conservative Party statesman and Prime Minister. Born in the colony of New Brunswick (now in Canada), he is the only British Prime Minister to have been born outside the British Isles. Law was of Scottish and Ulster Scots descent, and having moved back to Scotland in 1870, he left school aged sixteen to work in the iron industry, becoming a wealthy man by the age of thirty. He entered Parliament at the 1900 general election, relatively late in life for a front-rank politician, and was made a junior minister, Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, in 1902. Law joined the Shadow Cabinet in opposition after the 1906 election. In 1911 he was appointed a Privy Councillor, and stood for the vacant party leadership. Despite never having served in the Cabinet, and despite trailing third after Walter Long and Austen Chamberlain, Law became leader when the two frontrunners withdrew rather than risk a draw splitting the party. As Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition, Law focused his attentions in favour of tariff reform and against Irish Home Rule. His campaigning helped turn Liberal attempts to pass the Third Home Rule Bill into a three-year struggle eventually halted by the start of the First World War, with much argument over the status of the six predominantly Protestant counties which would later become Northern Ireland. Law first held Cabinet office as Secretary of State for the Colonies in Asquith's Coalition Government (May 1915-December 1916). On Asquith's fall from power he declined to form a government, instead serving as Chancellor of the Exchequer in Lloyd George's Coalition Government. He resigned on grounds of ill-health early in 1921. In October 1922, with Lloyd George's Coalition having become unpopular with Conservatives, he wrote an anonymous letter to the press giving only lukewarm support to the Government's actions over Chanak. After Conservative MPs voted to end the Coalition, he again became Party Leader and, this time, Prime Minister. In November he won a clear majority at the 1922 general election. His brief premiership saw negotiation with the USA over Britain's war loans. Seriously ill with throat cancer, Law resigned in May 1923 and died later that year. He was the shortest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century (211 days in office) and is sometimes called "The Unknown Prime Minister". ==Early life and education== Law was born on 16 September 1858 in Kingston (now Rexton), New Brunswick, to the Reverend James Law, a minister of the Free Church of Scotland with Scottish and Irish (mainly Ulster Scots) ancestry, and his wife Eliza Kidston Law.〔R.J.Q. Adams (1999) p.3〕 From the perspective of the time, Law was not born in Canada, as at the time New Brunswick was a separate colony, and Canadian confederation did not occur until 1867.〔 His mother originally wanted to name him after Robert Murray M'Cheyne, a preacher she greatly admired, but as his older brother was already called Robert he was instead named after the Reverend Andrew Bonar, a biographer of M'Cheyne. Throughout his life he was always called Bonar (rhyming with honour) by his family and close friends, never Andrew. He originally signed his name as A.B. Law, changing to A. Bonar Law in his thirties, and he was referred to as Bonar Law by the public as well.〔Adams (1999) p.4〕 James Law was the minister for several isolated townships, and had to travel between them by horse, boat and on foot. To supplement the family income he bought a small farm on the Richibucto River, which Bonar helped tend along with his brothers Robert, William and John, and his sister Mary.〔 Studying at the local village school,〔Laybourn (2001) p.37〕 Law excelled at his studies, and it is here that he was first noted for his excellent memory.〔Adams (1999) p.5〕 After Eliza Law died in 1861, her sister Janet travelled to New Brunswick from her home in Scotland to look after the Law children. When James Law remarried in 1870 his new wife took over Janet's duties, and Janet decided to return to Scotland. She suggested that Bonar Law should come with her, as the Kidston family were wealthier and better connected than the Laws, and Bonar would have a more privileged upbringing.〔Adams (1999) p.6〕 Both James and Bonar accepted this, and Bonar left with Janet, never to return to Kingston.〔Sforza (1969) p.193〕 Law went to live at Janet's house in Helensburgh, near Glasgow. Her brothers Charles, Richard and William were partners in the family merchant bank Kidston & Sons, and as only one of them had married (and produced no heir) it was generally accepted that Law would inherit the firm, or at least play a role in its management when he was older.〔Adams (1999) p.7〕 Immediately upon arriving from Kingston, Law began attending Gilbertfield School,〔Birkenhead (1977) p.1〕 a preparatory school in Hamilton.〔Taylor (2007) p.6〕 In 1873 when he was fourteen he transferred to the High School of Glasgow, where with his excellent memory he showed a talent for languages, excelling in Greek, German and French.〔 During this period he first began to play chess – he would carry a board on the train between Helensburgh and Glasgow, challenging other commuters to matches. He eventually became an excellent amateur player, and competed with internationally renowned chess masters.〔Adams (1999) p.9〕 Despite his excellent academic record it became obvious at Glasgow that he was better suited to business than to university, and when he was sixteen Law left school to become a clerk at Kidston & Sons.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bonar Law」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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