John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Lord of Appeal in Ordinary
In office
1912–1921
Personal details
Born
John Fletcher Moulton

18 November 1844
Madeley, Shropshire, England
Died9 March 1921(1921-03-09) (aged 76)
Spouse
Clara Thomson (née Hertz)
​
​
(m. 1875; died 1888)​
Alma materSt John's College, Cambridge
John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton, c.  1913

John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton,

Cambridge Apostle
.

Early life

Moulton was born in

Cambridge Local Examinations and achieved a scholarship to St John's College, Cambridge, graduating Senior Wrangler in 1868 and winning the Smith's Prize.[1] He was at one point judged to be one of the twelve most intelligent men in the United Kingdom.[citation needed
]

Career

After a brilliant mathematical career at Cambridge and election to a Fellowship, Moulton became a London barrister, specialising in patent law. He also experimented on electricity and was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. A great advocate for medical research, he was the first chair of the Medical Research Council. He was awarded the French Legion of Honour for his work in establishing international units for measuring electricity.[2]

Moulton also corresponded with Charles Darwin.[3]

Moulton became a

County of Southampton.[4]

The

First World War gave Lord Moulton his greatest challenge. In 1914 he became chairman of a committee to advise on the supply of explosives, a difficult problem because the British had only a feeble organic chemistry industry. Before long Moulton became Director-General of the Explosives Department, first in the War Office and later in the Ministry of Munitions. He mobilised a brilliant group of administrators and scientists who expanded production more than 20-fold— throughout the war there was more explosives than shells to hold them. They also made fertilizers, and in 1917 became responsible for producing poisonous gases.[5]
Though loyal to orders, Moulton believed that poison gas was a departure from civilised warfare.

During the entire four war years Lord Moulton worked a ten-hour day and took less than ten days holiday. At weekends he drove about the country to inspect munitions plants and to locate sites for new ones. He was awarded the

Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1917,[1] the Etoile Noir of France, the Order of Leopold (Belgium) and was the last person to receive the Order of the White Eagle
before the collapse of the Russian monarchy.

After the war, despite pressure to lead the expansion of the British chemical industry, he returned to his love: the law. He died in London on 9 March 1921.[6]

In July 1924, The Atlantic## published an impromptu speech Lord Moulton had given at the Authors' Club in London a few years prior to his death: "Law and Manners."[7] In it, he addresses "the domain of Obedience to the Unenforceable."

Family

He married Clara Thomson née Hertz (widow of Robert William Thomson) on 24 April 1875. She died in 1888.

Arms

Coat of arms of John Fletcher Moulton, Baron Moulton
Crest
Upon a Mount a Lamb statant proper holding in the mouth a Trefoil slipped Vert the whole between four Ears of Wheat stalked and leaved two on either side also proper [8]
Escutcheon
Gules four Bars per pale Argent and Or two Flaunches of the third each charged with a Sun of the field

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d "Moulton, John Fletcher (MLTN864JF)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  2. ^ Moulton, H. Fletcher (1922). The Life of Lord Moulton. Londin: Nisbet.
  3. ^ Darwin Correspondence Project
  4. ^ "No. 28650". The London Gazette. 4 October 1912. p. 7291.
  5. PMID 24921109
    .
  6. ^ "Death of Lord Moulton" . The Times. London. 10 March 1921.
  7. ^ Law And Manners
  8. ^ Debrett's Peerage. 1921.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Fletcher Moulton.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Clapham
1885 – 1886 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hackney South
1894–1895 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Launceston
1898–1906 		Succeeded by
Sir George Marks
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=John_Fletcher_Moulton,_Baron_Moulton&oldid=1161129159"