Sunday, 14 January 2018
1794 Sir Alfred Gelder
Constituency : Brigg 1910-18
Alfred reversed the 1907 by-election defeat at Brigg.
Alfred was the son of a joiner who later became a timber merchant. He started out as an apprentice to his father but later decided to become an architect. He established the practice of Gelder and Kitchen in Hull. He was largely responsible for the transformation of Hull into a modern city, clearing slums and erected public buildings. He was an expert in building flour mills and Methodist chapels. He was elected to Hull City Council in 1895. He was mayor of Hull from 1899 to 1903.He was a Methodist.
In 1918, Alfred came third behind a couponed Conservative and Labour.
Alfred later became an independent alderman respected by all parties.
He died in 1941 aged 86.
Saturday, 13 January 2018
1793 George Lloyd
Constituency : Staffordshire West 1910-12 ( Liberal Unionist ), 1912-18, Eastbourne 1924-5 ( Conservative )
George unseated Henry McLaren at West Staffordshire.
George's grandfather had been a Conservative MP. He was educated at Eton and Cambridge where he was cox in two Boat Races. He joined the family firm of steel tube manufacturers. He signed up to Joseph Chamberlain's tariff reform campaign. In 1905 he began working in the Near East for the foreign office on an unofficial basis at first. His reports led to a more conventional commission. He held business directorships.
George's maiden speech in 1910 was in favour of tariff reform.
Once a Conservative, George became a "diehard". He pressed for an early declaration of war against Germany and served from the start. He took part in the Gallipoli campaign , visited Petrograd on a special mission and then was active in the Middle East. He became a captain and won the DSO.
George didn't like the coalition with Lloyd George and with Edward Wood ( later Lord Halifax ) wrote The Great Opportunity in 1918 setting out an alternative manifesto calling for devolution and industrial renewal.
George stood down in 1918 to become Governor of Bombay. He arrested Gandhi and had him jailed for sedition. He completed his term in 1923.
George returned to Parliament for Eastbourne in 1924. The following year he was created Baron Lloyd and appointed High Commissioner for Egypt. He was a shrewd operator but alienated many with his love of ostentation and autocratic behaviour .He served until 1929 when Arthur Henderson forced his resignation.
In the thirties George worked with Churchill against Indian home rule and supported rearmament before Hitler even came to power. In 1937, he became chairman of the British Council. He trained as a military pilot but never saw action.
In 1940 Churchill appointed George as Under Secretary of State for the Colonies and shortly afterwards, Leader of the House of Lords. He was a proponent of the London Central Mosque.
George married and had children but was thought to be homosexual.
He died of leukaemia in 1941 aged 61.
Friday, 12 January 2018
1792 Eliot Crawshay-Williams
Constituency :Leicester 1910-13
Eliot took over from Franklin Thomasson as Ramsay MacDonald's colleague at Leicester. He topped the poll ( and did so in December ).
Eliot was the son of the former South Glamorgan MP Arthur Williams. He was educated at Eton and Oxford. He was a lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery and served in India. He worked for Churchill at the Colonial Office from 1906 to 1908. He stood for Chorley in 1906.
Eliot was appointed PPS to Lloyd George. He resigned in 1913 after being named in a divorce case by fellow MP Hubert Carr-Gomm. Two years later he was divorced and married Carr-Gomm's ex-wife.
Eliot supported proportional representation, female suffrage and nationalisation of the railways.
Eliot served in Egypt and Palestine during World War One. From 1918 to 1920 he worked at the offices of the Northern Command in Egypt. He considered joining the Labour party in 1918 in order to make a comeback but further legal proceedings put paid to the idea.
Eliot later turned to writing and wrote the screen play for Service for Ladies ( 1932 ) as well as plays and novels.
In World War Two, Eliot was Chief Civil Defence Officer in a Welsh village. Nevertheless he wrote to Churchill in 1940 advocating a negotiated peace with Hitler "using our nuisance value while we have one to get the best peace terms available". Churchill's reply was "I am ashamed of you for writing such a letter".
He died in 1962 aged 82.
Thursday, 11 January 2018
1791 John Lyttleton
Constituency : Droitwich 1910-12 ( Liberal Unionist ), 1912-16 ( Conservative )
John unseated Cecil Harmsworth at Droitwich by 105 votes.
John was the son and heir of Viscount Cobham. He was educated at Eton. He was a fine cricketer who played for Worcestershire. John joined the army and served in the Boer War. From 1905 to 1908 he was aide-de-camp to the High Commissioner in South Africa.
John held on by 72 votes in December 1910.
In World War One John served at Gallipoli and during the Middle East campaign, reaching the rank of lieutenant colonel.
John resigned his seat in 1916
John succeeded his father in 1922. He became under-secretary of state for war in Chamberlain's government between 1939 and 1940.
He died in 1949 aged 67.
Wednesday, 10 January 2018
1790 Arnold Rowntree
Constituency : York 1910-18
Arnold took over from Hamar Greenwood at York. He topped the poll with Greenwood pushed into third place by one of the Tory candidates.
Arnold was a scion of the famous chocolate manufacturing dynasty. He was educated at a Quaker school in York. He entered the family firm in 1891. He was Honorary Secretary of the National Adult School Council and chairman of the Educational Settlements Association . Besides being a director in the family firm and was also involved in several newspapers. In 1907 he founded the Nation weekly.
Arnold was a radical who pressurised the government to pursue a New Liberal agenda.
In December both Arnold and the Tory were returned unopposed.
Arnold was a Quaker pacifist who opposed Britain entering World War One. He initially joined the Union of Democratic Control but left under pressure from the Liberal hierarchy.
He was instrumental in setting u the Friends Ambulance Unit. He worked with Edmund Harvey on the conscience clause in the Military Service Act of 1916 and took up the cause of the Richmond Sixteen who were conscientious objectors. He succeeded in having their death sentences commuted.
In 1918 the seat was reduced to one member and the Tory held it with a massive majority after receiving the coupon.
Arnold was one of the original directors of the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust and chaired it from 1925 to 1938.
Arnold was a reserved humourless man who acted out of public duty.
He died in 1951 aged 78 having been in poor health since 1944.
Tuesday, 9 January 2018
1789 Gerald Ogden
Constituency : Pudsey 1910-18
Frederick reversed the Tories' by-election gain of 1908 ( due to the intervention of an Independent Labour candidate ).
Frederick was from Leeds and owned a boot factory. He was chairman of the city council's waterworks committee. He was a Methodist lay preacher.
Frederick's maiden speech argued against the huge increase in the naval estimates for 1910.
Frederick stood down in 1918. In 1929 he stood in Bradford South and came second.
He died in 1933 aged 61.
Monday, 8 January 2018
1788 Gerald France
Constituency : Morley 1910-18, Morley and Batley 1918-22
Gerald took over from Alfred Hutton at Morley.
Gerald was the son of a businessman from Tyneside. He was educated at a Methodist boarding school. He himself went into business as an importer and was also involved in tin printing. He was a member of Northumberland County Council.
Gerald was unopposed in December 1910.
In 1912 Gerald moved an amendment to the Welsh Disestablishment Bill.
Gerald was a lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve during World War One. In 1916 he became PPS to Runciman at the Board of Trade.
Gerald received the coupon and beat Labour in the new seat of Batley and Morley though not by all that much to say there was no Unionist candidate in the field. He protested at the Coalition decision to oppose Simon at Spen Valley in 1919 He opposed anti-dumping legislation. He stood down in 1922.
Gerald was sometime President of the National Commercial Temperance League and he was also on the national executive committee of the boys' brigade.
He died in 1935 shortly after returning from Tenerife, aged 64.
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