Henry de Foide

The Right Noble and Right Honourable The Lord de Foide-Huston GCSE KCMT PC
Lord High Treasurer
In office October 1st, 1935 – September 30th, 1958
Monarch	Edmund IX and George II
Preceded by	Quentin, 4th Earl of Bexeness
Burgess for Gibbingham in the Erbonian Parliament
In office October 1st, 1928 – October 1st, 1935
Preceded by	Hughe de West
Majority	10·2%
Personal details
Born	(1899-10-25)25 October 1899 Huston, Southannering
Died	Huston, Southannering
Political party	National Conservative Party
Spouse	Lady Magdalene de Foide
Alma mater	University of Aldesey

Sir Henry Frederic Crispin de Foide, Lord of Huston, Banneret de Foide, G.C.S.E. K.C.M.T. P.C., (October 25th, 1899 — June 28th, 1993) was an Erbonian politician who served as the Lord High Treasurer of Great Nortend between 1935 and 1958. He was the longest serving Lord High Treasurer since the 16th century.

He joined the Conservative Party at the young age of 22, and quickly stood out as a “rising star” for his passionate speeches. He was appointed the Conservative party warden for the Gibbingham hundred in 1925, doubling party membership within two years. Foide served in the ministry of Frederic de Clercy, Earl of Bexeness, between 1932 and 1934, having been elected to the House of Burgesses for the borough of Gibbingham, Southannering in 1928, at the age of 29.

Foide has been considered to be one of the most influential and successful Lord Treasurer of the 20th century, having enacted numerous groundbreaking policies during his 23-year-long tenure which have shaped and continue to shape Erbonian society and economy. He formalised the Coalition between the Company of Scodeliers and his own party, the Conservative Party. His policies, known as Foidism, have evolved into the nationalist conservative Foid-Clercyism ideology of the Coalition parties.

Early life

Foide was born in Huston, Southannering, a village around two miles from the county town of Gibbingham. He was the eldest son of his father, Henry Thomas de Foide, son of the 10th Banneret de Foide, and his mother Rosamund Jocker, the youngest daughter of the quasi-hereditary Mayor of Gibbingham, Sir Oswald Jocker, Kt. The Foide family had held the knight yeomanry of the manor of Huston since the 14th century.

Foide was familiarly known as “Frits” to family and friends, by his middle name, to distinguish him from his father. He was educated privately by the long-time prebendary of the parish, the Dr. R. Q. Williams, the great uncle of the Cardinal Dr. S. J. Williams, until the age of 10, when he was sent the short distance to Gibbingham School to board. His paternal grandfather, Sir Henry Michael de Foide, died in 1915, passing on the banneretcy to Foide's father and granting Foide the title of “Esquire de Foide”.

In 1917, Foide won an exhibition to the University of Aldesey. There, he matriculated as an undergraduate of Polchard College where he participated in traditional university sports such as fencing and rowing. He determined as Bachelor of Arts in 1921 as Senior Optimas in Classics, and incepted as Master of Arts in 1925.

Early career

In 1920, Great Nortend was still neutral in the Great Astyrian War. Foide, however, feared what entering the war would do to the social fabric of the country, which had been already under strain during the drought and economic depression of the previous decade. Returning to Huston upon graduating, he joined his local branch of the Conservative Party in 1921 at the age of 22. At the time, the Conservative Party was a minor party with strength only in some towns and cities, but never surpassing the 50 per cent mark at any time. However, its platform of conservatism in the face of the ever growing threat of change and modernity appealed to Foide.

Being a member of the gentry, Foide had much time to spare from his light duties at Huston to pursue his political career. He met and married Magdalene de Sall in 1922. Despite being a relatively young outsider, Foide was endorsed as the junior National Conservative candidate for the borough of Gibbingham, which returned two burgesses to the House of Burgesses.

Election

At the elections in 1924, Foide secured 22 per cent of the vote and failed to win a seat. The senior candidate for the Conservative Party, John Whittaker, secured himself only 26 per cent of the vote, also missing out on a seat. Whittaker, a local banker, was seen by Foide as lacking potential and unable to appeal to the general public who distrusted banking. The next year, in 1925, Foide led a successful petition to the party's county warden to appoint him as the local warden of the party.

Over the next few years, Foide aggressively promoted the Party's platform and signed up over 1,340 new members, nearly doubling the number of Party members in the region. Residents of the town remembered the “fiery crowds” which thronged the streets after the conclusion of a Party meeting. The 1928 elections, held in Gibbingham on the day after St. George's Day, saw Foide's efforts pay off, being voted in by a majority of 52 per cent, being returned as the senior Burgess for Gibbingham.

Backbencher

In Parliament, Foide was again noted for his excellent oratory and sharp wit. He would frequently attack the Droughers for their ambivalence towards the established Church of Nortend, suggesting that they were atheists or worse. He also became known for his criticism of modernisation, attacking it as a “capitalist venture contrary to the common weal”. Indeed, the phrase “common weal” featured prominently in his speeches representing the Party's idealised Erbonia.

The Scodelier government lacked a majority in the Houses of Commons, which included the Opposition Droughers, several Conservatives, and a smattering of smaller parties and Plines. As such, it relied on the Conservatives to provide the confidence it needed to keep the Government. Foide's strident attacks on the Droughers and his vocal support for the Conservative cause resonated with many in the Company of Scodeliers, which had lacked a clear ideology apart from its traditional associations with Olnite Cardican Catholicism. However, many in the party were concerned over the Conservative Party's position on capitalism and the financial sectors, seeing its general opposition as being revolutionary.

Foide was strongly moved by Frederic de Clercy, Earl of Bexeness's book, The Nation and the Subject. During one particularly energetic debate on a question posed by the Droughers proposing the reduction of religious education in state schools, articulated his now famous expression of, “The Crown and Church and Commons in Unity in this Realm form our Nation, and none may be put aside lest all shall be destroyed.” This met with great approval from the Government benches. After this event, Foide was introduced to Bexeness and joined his cross-party Nationalist Society in 1930.

Ministry

In the 1932 election saw Foide returned to the Commons with an increased majority on the cross-bench aligned with the Scodeliers, which had lost several seats to the Conservative Party. Bexeness, who was newly appointed Lord Treasurer, invited Foide to become the new Under-Surveyour in his new ministry. Foide accepted, becoming the first Conservative to serve as a Minister of the Crown. At this time, he was also elected Warden of the Conservative Party as the most senior member of the party.

As Under-Surveyour, then a junior member of the Utter Ministry, Foide pursued the strengthening of existing building approval regulations after the controversial partial demolition of 14th century stained glass windows in a Lendert church. This episode also heralded the recognition of the burgeoning historical preservation movement, and the enactment of the Civic Buildings Act, which required all new public buildings to be first submitted to the Works Office for approval, a responsibility which Foide reportedly undertook with great diligence.

In a Cabinet reshuffle in early of 1934, just before the elections, Foide was promoted to Inner Ministry as Senior Clerk of the Treasury. There, he began to implement measures against the printing of bank-notes by private banks, which for decades had been widely criticised for undermining trust in the currency.

Treasurership

Election

When the Earl of Bexeness announced his upcoming retirement after the next election, he failed to nominate a successor. This is generally believed to have been done owing to the unpopularity of the “heir apparent” of the Scodeliers, the Lord de Legcastle, with both the public and the King, Edmund IX.

Foide led the Conservative party in the 1934 general elections to a significant victory, gaining 59 seats out of 218, nearly 30 per cent of the House of Burgesses. Though the Scodeliers obtained a 55 per cent majority in the House of Commons, it lacked a majority in the House of Burgesses, and was forced to accede to a coalition with the Conservatives.

Surprisingly, Bexeness took the decision to name Foide as his preferred successor as Lord High Treasurer to lead this Coalition of the Scodeliers and Conservative Party. The decision to name Foide as successor was met with great controversy within the Company of Scodeliers, given that the Conservatives was only a minor party relatively in the Commons by share of seats. The Conservatives also began to raise doubts over their influence in the proposed Coalition.

After several tense days of negotiation, the need to form government prevailed over party politics. After these negotiations had concluded in favour of a Coalition with Foide as Treasurer, Legcastle threatened to go to the King and have himself appointed as Lord Treasurer. However, he was appeased by Foide, who guaranteed that Legcastle would offered the office of King's Clerk and also the title of Vice Prime Minister. It was also speculated that Bexeness had threatened Legcastle with demotion or expulsion should he attempt to elevate himself, having already advised the King to not accept Legcastle as Treasurer.

First Term, 1935–1939

On October 1st, 1935, Foide was created a knight batchelor and then banneret, and then swore the oath of office and took the white staff of office, and by the King's commission was created Lord High Treasurer.

Did lots of stuff. One of his first legislative tasks was to control the smoke emitted by the factories, engines and domestic hearths across the cities, which had over the years increased to levels which affected the health of the people. The Town Coal Act required households in urban areas to only burn approved low-smoking and low-sulphur coal, such as anthracite or house coal, or to instal approved smoke filters for removing “offensive” particles from the chimney exhaust.

In 1936, the Foide government also passed the Agricultural Practices Act, 33 Edm. IX. p. 92, which severely limited the use of motorised machinery for agricultural ploughing, harrowing, sowing and harvesting crops. It also banned most forms of artificial fertiliser as well as “overuse” of land.

Also formally set in legislation in 1938 the target of nil inflation and nil population growth by 1945 under the so-called “Six Year Programme”. The plan also entailed a public works programme in order to “brighten” the country. The Surveyour-General, which Foide had held briefly under the Lord de Anthord-Bexeness, was elevated to the Cabinet and the Works Office expanded significantly to spearhead the new programme.

Second Term, 1940–1944

Immediately after the 1939 election saw him and his informal coalition returned to power, Foide set about formalising the relationship between his Conservative Party and the Company of Scodeliers to stabilise the government's majority bloc in Parliament. This proved easier than expected when the increasingly loyal Legcastle published a tract entitled “Conservatism for the Times”. This was met with approval from Foide, and declared by him to be the “guiding principles” of his government and the Conservative Party. In a vote by members of both the Company of Scodeliers and the Conservative Party, 73 per cent of the former and 82 per cent of the latter approved the formation of a formal Coalition.

Having successfully consolidated his power as the de facto head of the Coalition, despite Legcastle being the party warden of the nominally senior Company of Scodeliers, and with a tide of positive public support, Foide began turning his mind to foreign affairs... ?

Third Term, 1945–1949

Foide led the Coalition to another election success, albeit losing one seat in the Commons. The Six Year Programme failed to meet its goal of nil population growth; however, inflation had been reduced to nigh nought since 1941. To tackle the issue of the increasing population, Foide saw the establishment of the Coverdale Royal Commission in 1945 to investigate ways whereby population growth could be eliminated. This led to the Public Health Act of 1947, which introduced mild social eugenics, as well as the Immigration Act of 1948 which limited immigration strictly to replacement of foreign emigrants.

After the 1944 general strikes, Foide took steps to control the increasingly ineffectual guild regulatory bodies. The Board of Trade was granted more powers to fix terms of employment and conditions, making the guilds more accountable to the government. These reforms also took introduced higher safety standards, better working conditions for workers.

Foide also responded to concerns over the social and travel burden placed on young workers by the system of conscription and Home Service. He tasked the War Clerk, Clerenbold Thatcher, with reform of the Defence of the Realm Act. The new system assigned each parish to a particular corps, to enable servicemen to fulfil their Home Service duties within their own communities, as well as to improve camaraderie and esprit de corps.

Reformed education, building hundreds of new parish schools and high schools under the Dual System.

Fourth Term, 1950–1953

In the first budget after his relection with an slightly improved majority, Foide announced the reduction of income tax brackets in order to increase Treasury revenue through taxation. He also reintroduced the messuage tax after its abolition in the 19th century. This was in part to fund the increased expenditure of the Public Alms scheme which had been greatly expanded in Foide's third term. A treasury surplus was predicted for the 1950–1951 financial year.

Preparations soon began underway for the 1953 golden jubilee celebrations of the accession of Edmund IX in 1903. Foide courted opposition from the Droughers over the expence of the celebrations, which were predicted to exceed £3,000,000, mostly funded by the Treasury. In May, 1952, it was revealed that the Clerk's Office had been forcing prisoners in gaol lockups awaiting trial to labour on jubilee works as a way of saving costs. Legcastle, the King's Clerk, issued a rare public apology for the incident, and tendered his resignation as King's Clerk and Warden of the Company of Scodeliers. Whilst both were accepted, in the resulting reshuffle, Foide offered Legcastle a junior ministerial position as Clerk of the Exchequery.

Despite this, the ongoing dispute over the cost of the jubilee fesivities especially when contrasted with the apparent need for increased taxation to ensure a surplus threatened to embroil the Royal Household itself before Foide felt forced to reduce the formal festivities planned in Lendert-with-Cadell. Instead, he encouraged local communities to band together to contribute to local celebrations of the jubilee as a “Commons' Jubilee” to reduce the Treasury's burden.

By Royal decree, on Midsummer's Day, June 29th, 1952, the War Office formally merged the Youth Training Corps with the Sea Cadet Corps into the Boy Cadet Corps. Foide in Parliament announced the merger and called for other similarly minded youth groups to also join into the Corps for the King's jubilee as a sign of national unity. The Corps would later become the King's Cadet Corps upon receiving its Royal charter during the jubilee celebrations.

Fifth Term, 1954–1958

After his majority reduced by twelve seats, Foide took on a more populist tack to appease voters concerned over increased taxation and burdens. However, his government became increasingly ideologically isolationist as modernism grew abroad. Imposed even higher tariffs on foreign goods, and spent vast sums on promoting the domestic industries and production. Effectively banned many new technologies as being “foreign”. Many of these “reforms” were repealed by the Chesvoir government in part, or reduced in severity.

After the accession of George II, Foide found himself at odds with the new Sovereign in his traditionalist isolationist policy. George, who had been educated abroad in the more socially liberal XX, had already indicated that he preferred to take a more liberal approach to legislation during the last years of Edmund IX's reign. When sitting in the Privy Council on behalf of his father, he on several occasions reportedly refused to give assent to draught Royal decrees proposed by Foide and his government.

This conflict led to his falling out of favour with the newly crowned King, and Foide decided to step down from the Treasurership which he had held for 23 years out of respect to the Sovereign's wishes.

Later life

Despite retiring from the Treasurership, Foide remained active in the House of Lords well into his 80s as a hereditary peer, being created Baron of Huston in 1959. He was an active member of the Opposition during the five and a half years of Drougher rule under the Lord de Wolverham-Chesvoir. Though he never took up another ministerial office, he was invited to continue to sit in the Privy Council upon the accession of Catherine II on the advice of the Duke of Bokewell.

Foide became a highly prominent patron of church music, funding a vicar choral for his parish prebendary at Sulthey Cathedral. He commissioned numerous sacred works for liturgical use, including the great “Morning Round” by Sir Hartmold Monkhouse which provided every Mattins anthem, responsory and canticle through the year with a full figured chaunt, a daunting project which took over 15 years to complete in 1982. A complementary “Evening Round” for Vespers was also commissioned to be composed by Lady Mildred de Hollfields by Foide wife, Lady Magdalene, after Foide's death.

The full Morning and Evening Rounds are nowadays permanently sung at St. Anne's, Huston alternating daily with plainchaunt.

Death

Foide died on June 28th, 1993, of natural causes, at his family home in Huston. He was aged 93 years old. He was given a ceremonial funeral at St. Peter's Cathedral on July 4th with full state services of Requiems and the offices of the dead as befitting a person of his office and influence, his coffin thence transported by rail to Gibbingham where another set of offices and Requiem were chaunted. Finally, there was a procession by carriage to the church of St. Anne's, Huston, where after another set of offices and Requiem were chaunted, Foide was buried under the chancel. His grave is marked by a brazen plaque.

Legacy

Foide's legacy lasted long after he retired as Lord High Treasurer and continues to be a notable influence on modern-day Erbonian politics. As the father of the modern Coalition of the Scodeliers and National Conservatives, he refomed the ideology of the former party with a new nationalist conservative focus. Indirectly, he also forced the Droughers to conform to the new status quo, leading them to abandon or at least considerably soften their opposition to “Catholic” doctrines in the Church of Nortend.

His influence is also felt in society, with the social framework of society greatly influenced by laws passed during his tenure and by his influence in general. As a great proponent of the “countryside” as the cure for the city's ills, he halted the flow of people from the countryside to towns and cities. He also resisted “internationalist” trends in architecture, art, design, music and dress, evidence whereof is clearly visible in modern Erbonian society.

Since leaving office, Foide has consistently ranked highly in opinion polls, frequently coming first across all sectors of society as the greatest Lord High Treasurer of the modern era.

Titles, awards and honours

Foide became a member of the Great Council upon being elected to the Parliament in 1929 with the style of “The Honourable”. He was sworn into the Privy Council upon being appointed Senior Clerk of the Treasury in 1934, being accorded the style of “The Right Honourable”. He was created a Cavalier of the Order of the Mantle and Tippet.

Immediately before becoming Lord High Treasurer, Foide was created a hereditary knight banneret, entitled to the style „Sir”. As Lord High Treasurer, Foide was invested with the style of „The Right Noble”, a style which he retained for life as a courtesy. He was also elevated to Knight Companion of the Order of the Mantle and Tippet.

After his retirement as Lord High Treasurer, Foide was created a Lord in the Peerage of Great Nortend, of the manor of Huston which his family had held for generations. His immediate mesne lords above him in the feudal system of land tenure were compensated by the Crown.

On his 70th birthday, in 1969, Foide was created Knight Commander of the Order of the Mantle and Tippet. On his 90th birthday, in 1989, he was created Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Edmund. His full formal title at death was :—

His Lordship The High Mighty Right Honourable and Right Noble HENRY Frederic Crispin de Foide Lord of Huston Banneret de Foide Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Edmund Knight Commander of the Order of the Mantle and Tippet.

See also

• Lord High Treasurer of Great Nortend
• Nationalist conservatism
• Frederic de Clercy