739 Sir Henry Storks

Constituency : Ripon  1871-4

Sir  Henry  took  over  at  Ripon  after  the  resignation  of   Sir  John  Hay.

Henry  was  a  judge's  son  educated  at  Charterhouse   then  went  into  the  Army  as  an  ensign  of  the  61st  Regiment  of  Foot.  He  was  steadily  promoted  through  the  ranks  eventually  reaching  the  rank  of  lieutenant-general. He  superintended  the  British  bases  during  the  Crimean  War  and  supported  the  efforts  of  Florence  Nightingale. He  succeeded  Gladstone  as  Lord  High  Commissioner  of  the  Ionian  islands. He  became  Governor  of  Malta  in  1864  then  Jamaica  in  1865. From  1867  he  worked  at  the  War  Office  in  a  variety  of  roles  including  Surveyor-General  of  the  Ordnance.

  Henry's  political  ambitions  were  hampered  by  his  strong  support  for  the  Contagious  Diseases  Act  which  actually  stemmed  from  practices  he  had  instituted  in  the  Ionian  islands  and  Malta. He  believed  that  prostitution  was  a  necessity  for  the  army  and  navy  and  actually  revealed  that  he  had  tried  to  bring  soldier's  wives  and  girlfriends  under  the  scope  of  the  legislation. This  goaded   other  Liberals  into  standing  against  him. Thus  he  had  to  pull  out  of   the  by-election  in  Newark in  1870  when  posters  were  put  up  against  him. He  also  failed  at  Colchester. Gladstone  was  very  keen  that  Henry  should  come  into  the  Commons  to  support  Cardwell  and  Colchester  was  a  safe  seat. The  National  Anti-Contagious  Diseases  Acts  Association  decided  to  put  up  a  rival  candidate  Dr  Langley  against  him. Langley  and  the  prominent  suffragist  Josephine  Butler  were  subject  to  abuse  and  intimidation  tacitly  encouraged  by  Henry's  committee  members  although  Henry  himself  disavowed  these  tactics.  The  Liberal  whip  Glyn  tried  to  persuade  Langley  to  withdraw  and  he  did  so  a  few  days  before  the  poll  but  the  damage  had  been  done. Mass  Liberal  abstentions  gave  the  seat  to  the  Tories. The  Standard  commented " Sir  Henry  Kicks  is  much  to  be  pitied. He  has  offended  Harriet  Martineau  and  Ursula  Bright, and  we  fear  he  is  a  doomed  man".

Once  in  Parliament  Henry  supported  the  abolition  of  purchase  in  the  army. As  he  continued  to  hold  the  office  of  Surveyor-General  he  often  answered  parliamentary  questions  on  Cardwell's  behalf.

In  the  1874  election  Henry  was  defeated  by  fellow  Liberal, Earl  de  Grey  who  had  actually  facilitated  his  election  in  1871.

Henry  died  soon  after  the  election  aged  63.