Constituency : Rochester 1906-10, 1910-18
Ernest took Rochester from the Tories.
Ernest was from Yorkshire and was part of a family firm of transport contractors. He was educated at Dulwich College and Wycliffe College. He became an electrical engineer. He specialised in telephony, forming the New System Private Telephony Company. He was elected to the common council of the City of London. He was a Methodist lay preacher.
Ernest was defeated in January 1910 but regained the seat in December.
Ernest was knighted in 1914.
Ernest was apparently the first MP to attest under the Derby Scheme in World War One. Nonetheless he voted against conscription in the Commons.
In 1929 Ernest switched to the Labour Party, Two years later he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Rochester. He supported Ramsay McDonald's actions that year and helped him found the National Labour Organisation after their expulsion. He was appointed Paymaster-General in the new government. He also represented the Ministry of Labour in the Lords.
Like Ernest Bennett, Ernest was dropped from the government after the 1935 election. He played little part in politics thereafter, devoting himself to philanthropy and religion. He was elected vice president of the Methodist Conference in 1941 and was on the board of the National Children's Home.
He died in 1955 aged 78.
No comments:
Post a Comment