[Labour]
After attending Oxford University, Hobson became a classics teacher, but soon turned his attention to economics, challenging conventional theories. He wrote many books and articles, the most famous being Imperialism (1902). A progressive reformer, he was a founder of the 'Rainbow Circle' with Ramsay MacDonald and others in 1894. He was a leading member of the Union of Democratic Control from 1914. In 1918 he contested, but narrowly lost, the Combined Universities seat as an Independent. He then joined the Independent Labour Party. He refused the offer of a peerage by Ramsay MacDonald in 1931. The Hobson collection in the Brynmor Jones Library includes: copies of 21 of his published works, an indexed volume of relevant press cuttings (1894-1914), a letter from Herbert Spencer, twelve typescripts of articles, and some obituaries. [DHN]
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