1362 George Kemp

Constituency : Heywood  1895-1906  ( Liberal  Unionist  up  to  1904 );  Manchester  North  West  1910-12

George  unseated  Thomas  Snape  for  the  Liberal  Unionists  at  Heywood.

George  was  born  in  Rochdale. His  father  was  a  wool  merchant. He  was  educated  at  Shrewsbury  and Cambridge. He  went  into  business  as  a  flannel  manufacturer. He  playe  cricket  for  Lancashire.

George  became  parliamentary  private  secretary  to  the  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Admiralty  until  1900  when  he  resigned  to  fight  in  the  Boer  War  as  a  captain   in  the  Imperial  Yeomanry. He  was  mentioned  in  despatches  and  promoted  to  lieutenant-colonel.

In  1904  George  became  another  of  Lancashire's  Unionist  MPs  to  cross  the  floor  over  Tariff  Reform.

In  1906  George  stood  down  for  Edward  Holden  at  Heywood.

George  was  knighted  in  1909.

George  re-entered  Parliament  in  January  1910. Despite  that  election  being  fought  on  the  Peoples'  Budget  George  disliked  the  Chancellor's  financial  policies and  his  support  for  Welsh  disestablishment. In  1911  he  introduced  a  Conciliation  Bill  to  extend  the  vote  to  some  female  householders.

 When  Home  Rule  came  round  again  in  1912  George  made  a  long  speech  against  the  Bill  and  then  decided  to  retire  saying  he  "loathed  politics".

In  1913  George  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Rochdale.

George  served  in  the  First  World  War  and  was  a  Brigadier-General  at  Gallipoli.

He  died  in  1945  aged  78.