He was the son of Ernest Schuster, a
King's Counsel, and was educated at
Charterhouse School and
New College, Oxford. In 1908 he married Gwendolen Parker, daughter of Mr Justice Parker, later
Baron Parker of Waddington. At the outbreak of the
First World War, Schuster was working in finance in the
City of London, and was prospective Liberal parliamentary candidate for
Eskdale, North Cumberland. He held a commission in the
Oxfordshire Yeomanry, and was mobilised to serve on the Western Front until 1918, when he joined the allied force in the
Murmansk area. He ended the war with the rank of lieutenant-colonel, having been awarded the
Military Cross and appointed
Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He was also decorated with the Russian
Order of St. Vladimir. In 1925 he was appointed a
Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. In 1927 he ended his appointment to the government of Sudan, having been appointed as Economic and Financial Advisor to the
Secretary of State for the Colonies. In 1928 he succeeded Sir
Basil Phillott Blackett as finance minister of the
Council of India. In 1931 he was made a
Knight Commander of the Star of India. He served as finance minister until 1929, during which time he was injured during a bomb attack in the
Central Legislative Assembly by
Bhagat Singh and
Batukeshwar Dutt. Schuster was opposed by
George Jeger of the
Labour Party, and foreign policy was the main issue at the
by-election. Polling took place on 16 November, and Schuster comfortably held the seat for the government with a majority of 7,158 over Jeger. His Liberal National colleague
Robert Bernays, who opened the by-election campaign with a speech in Walsall on 31 October, remarked that "[in] three weeks of campaigning the Schusters captured the hearts of the town". He remained a member of the
House of Commons until 1945, working with
Stafford Cripps on war production. In 1951 he became chairman of the Oxford Regional Hospital Board. ==References==