Addison, Christopher Addison, Viscount, 1869-1951

Christopher Addison, 1st Viscount Addison (19 June 1869 – 11 December 1951), was a British medical doctor and politician. A member of the Liberal and Labour parties, he served as Minister of Munitions during the First World War and was later Minister of Health under David Lloyd George and Leader of the House of Lords under Clement Attlee. He was a prominent anatomist and perhaps the most eminent doctor ever to enter the Commons. He was a leader in issues of health, wartime munitions, housing and agriculture. Although not highly visible, he played a major role in the post war governments after both world wars. Addison worked hard to promote the National Insurance Act 1911. Lloyd George made him the first Minister of Health when the ministry was created in 1919, and Addison oversaw an expansion of council housing after the Great War with an increase in public funding to local authority housing schemes with the Housing, Town Planning, &c. Act 1919. He later joined the Labour Party.