1504 Ernest Hatch

Constituency :  Gorton  1895 - 1905  ( Conservative )  1905-06

Ernest   followed  in  the  footsteps  of  Churchill  et  al  and  crossed  the  floor  to  the  Liberals  in  1905  over  the  tariff  reform  issue.

Ernest  was  privately  educated  and  went  into  business  as  a  wine  merchant. He  was  the  unsuccessful  candidate  at  Gorton  in  a  by-election  of  1889  and  in  1892. He  was  successful  in  1895  and  held  the  seat  with  a  reduced  majority  in  1900. He  was  a  keen  traveller  and  an  amateur  film-maker  whose  travelogue  films  of  China  and  Canada  became  unexpectedly  popular. He  also  wrote  a  book  about  his  impressions  of  the  Far  East.

There  was  already  a  dispute  between  the  local  Liberals  and  the  L.R.C.  who  wanted  John  Hodge  as  their  candidate.  Herbert  Gladstone  let  Ernest  know  he  was  reluctant  to  support  his  candidature  in  Gorton   and  when  Churchill  followed  suit  he  withdrew from  the  1906  contest.

In  1908  Ernest  was  created  a  baronet. He  became  chairman  and  treasurer  of  University  College  Hospital.

During  World  War  One  Ernest  was  chair  of  the  Government  Commission  on  Belgian  Refugees  and  received  a  Belgian  honour  for  his  work.

He  died  in  1927  aged  68.