The New International Encyclopædia/Labouchere, Henry DuPré

LABOUCHERE, Henry DuPré (1831—). An English journalist and politician, the eldest son of John Labouchere of Broome Park, Dorking, Surrey. He was educated at Eton and entered the diplomatic service under the auspices of his uncle, Lord Taunton. He was in the diplomatic service from 1854 to 1864, part of the time as a member of the British Legation at Washington. From July, 1865, to April, 1866, he was in Parliament for Windsor, till he was ousted on petition. In 1867 and 1868 he sat for Middlesex. He represented Northampton from 1880 to 1902. Under the signature "The Besieged Resident," his letters from Paris during the siege (1870-71) to the London Daily News attracted considerable attention. They were published in book form (3d ed. London, 1872). In 1876 he established Truth, a society and political journal, and afterwards became, also, one of the proprietors of the Daily News. Truth, celebrated for its acute censorship of public matters, involved him in numerous libel suits and in penalties, which did not, however, imply dishonesty of motives. He was an earnest advocate of the Irish Home Rule cause, but in 1890 refused to follow Parnell in his attacks upon the English wing of the party. As a member of the Royal Commission to inquire into the Jameson Raid of 1896, his pertinent queries and incisive criticism were particularly disconcerting to the party of Cecil Rhodes, and his attitude as a pro-Boer sympathizer was marked during the period of the war in the Transvaal.