Researching William Hague

Hague was educated at Wath Comprehensive School, the University of Oxford and INSEAD, subsequently being returned to the House of Commons at a by-election in 1989. Hague quickly rose through the ranks of the government of John Major and was appointed to Cabinet in 1995 as Secretary of State for Wales. Following the Conservatives' defeat at the 1997 general election by the Labour Party, he was elected Leader of the Conservative Party at the age of 36.

Hague resigned as Conservative leader after the 2001 general election following his party's second defeat, at which the Conservatives made a net gain of just one seat. He returned to the backbenches, pursuing a career as an author, writing biographies of William Pitt the Younger and William Wilberforce. He also held several directorships, and worked as a consultant and public speaker.

After David Cameron was elected Leader of the Conservative Party in 2005, Hague was reappointed to the Shadow Cabinet as Shadow Foreign Secretary. He also assumed the role of Senior Member of the Shadow Cabinet, serving as Cameron's deputy. After the formation of the coalition government in 2010, Hague was appointed First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary. Cameron described him as his "de facto political deputy". On 14 July 2014, Hague stood down as Foreign Secretary and became Leader of the House of Commons. He did not stand for re-election at the 2015 general election. He was awarded a life peerage in the 2015 Dissolution Honours List on 9 October 2015.

Shortly after winning the title, "Iron" Hague agreed to fight Sam Langford, the coloured boxer from Canada. Langford is rated as being in the top 10 fighters of all time. Hague, controversially at the time, did not believe in a 'Colour Bar' for boxing. He was quoted as saying that "unless all men are allowed to freely compete, how can you ever find the true champion?". Langford knocked Hague out in the fourth round. Langford said in later years that in all his time in boxing no one hit him as hard as the punch he took from "Iron" Hague. This huge left from Hague knocked Langford down and he only just managed to rally. Hague had broken his hand with the punch, which marred his performance thereafter.After retiring from boxing, Hague took the King's shilling in the First World War and joined the Grenadier Guards. On discovering his former boxing glory they had him box once more on behalf of the regiment. He saw military action in several battles such as the Somme and Passchendaele. "Iron" Hague died in his daughter's arms in Mexborough aged 65 on 18 August 1951. He is buried in Mexborough Cemetery.

He was born in County Cavan, the son of William Hague, a builder, and there designed several Roman Catholic churches, many in the French Gothic style. Hague died the year Omagh’s Sacred Heart was dedicated and consequently it was "a culmination of his amazing catalogue of completed ecclesiastical designs and his continuous championship of the Gothic Revival style," according to Richard Oram in Expressions of Faith-Ulster’s Church Heritage. Following his death, his partner T. F. McNamara took over most of his commissions under the firm name of Hague & McNamara.