869 Cyril Flower

Constituency : Brecon  1880-85, Luton  1885-92

Cyril  took  Brecon  back  from  the  Tories.

Cyril  cane  from  Surrey.  His  father  was  a  successful  merchant  trading  in  wool, tallow  and  gold  between  Britain  and  Australia.  He  was  also  interested  in  property  development. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister. Cyril  was  also  involved  in  property  development  and  built  Battersea's  Park  Town. He  married  a  de  Rothschild.

Cyril  was  a  whip  in  Gladstone's  third  ministry  in  1886. Apart  from  a  handful  of  insignificant  questions  he  was  silent  in  Parliament. His  wife  later  estimated  that  he  had  found  100  jobs  for  Brecon  constituents  during  his  five  year  stint  there

Cyril  was  created  Baron  Battersea  in  1892.

Cyril  was  an  art  collector. He  was  a  patron  of   Whistler   and  Sandys  and  friendly  with  the  Pre-Raphaelites. He  also  commissioned  Edward  Luytens  to  rebuild  his  holiday  home  on  the  Norfolk  coast. He  was  also  a  keen  huntsman.

He  died  of  pneumonia  in  1907  aged  64.