Leslie Hore-Belisha

Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, PC (; Isaac Leslie Belisha; 7 September 1893 – 16 February 1957) was a British Liberal, then National Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister. He later joined the Conservative Party. He proved highly successful in modernizing the British road system in 1934–1937 as Minister of Transport. As War Secretary, 1937–1940, he feuded with the commanding generals and was removed in 1940. Some writers believe antisemitism played a role in both his dismissal and in blocking his appointment as Minister of Information. One historian compares his strong and weak points: His name is still widely associated in the UK with the introduction of flashing amber "Belisha beacons" at pedestrian crossings while he was Minister for Transport. Background and education Hore-Belisha was born Isaac Leslie Belisha in Hampstead, London on 7 September 1893. He was the only son of the Jewish family of Jacob Isaac Belisha and his wife, Elizabeth Miriam Miens. His father died when he was less than one year old. In 1912 his widowed mother married Adair Hore, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Pensions. Leslie Belisha then adopted the double-barrelled surname. Hore-Belisha was educated at Clifton College where he was in Polack's house. He continued his studies in Paris and Heidelberg, before attending St John's College, Oxford, where he was President of the Oxford Union Society. While in Heidelberg, he became a member of Burschenschaft in 1912. During the First World War he joined the British Army and served in France, Flanders and Salonika and finished the war with the rank of major in the Army Service Corps. After the war, after leaving the army, he returned to Oxford and, in 1923, qualified as a barrister.