Harold Smith (British politician)

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Sir Harold Smith (18 April 1876 – 10 September 1924)[citation needed] was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, perhaps better known for having been the brother of F. E. Smith than for his own comparatively modest parliamentary career.

Parliamentary career[edit]

Smith unsuccessfully contested the West Riding of Yorkshire constituency of Huddersfield at the January 1910 general election,[1] but at the December 1910 general election, Smith was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington in Lancashire.[1] His victory over the sitting Liberal Party MP Arthur Crosfield was a narrow one, but at the post-war general election in December 1918, Smith received the coalition coupon and was re-elected with a large majority.[2] He was knighted in the 1921 New Year Honours.[3]

At the 1922 general election, he did not stand again in Warrington, where he was succeeded as MP by another Conservative, Alec Cunningham-Reid who had been a flying ace in World War I. Smith stood instead in Liverpool Wavertree, a safe Conservative seat which returned him to the House of Commons with a large majority.[2] However, at the December 1923 general election, he lost the seat with a massive swing to the Liberal Party candidate Hugh Rathbone.[2]

Personal life[edit]

Smith married Beatrice Furneaux, the sister of Margaret Furneaux,[4][5] his brother FE's wife, in London in September 1914.[6] The couple had one child, Harold Anthony Warrington Smith, (known as Anthony), who later died at the age of 26 on 4 August 1944 when his jeep ran over a mine during the Battle of Florence.[6] Harold Smith died of cancer on 10 April 1924, aged 48.[6]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 122, 202. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  2. ^ a b c Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 181, 267. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  3. ^ "No. 32178". The London Gazette (Supplement). 1 January 1921. p. 3.
  4. ^ "Smith, Frederick Edwin, first earl of Birkenhead (1872–1930), lawyer and politician by John Campbell" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2014. Retrieved 30 April 2014.
  5. ^ Campbell, J. Smith (23 September 2004). "Smith, Frederick Edwin, first earl of Birkenhead (1872–1930), lawyer and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/36137. ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 14 April 2022. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  6. ^ a b c "Family of Harold SMITH and Beatrice Joan FURNEAUX". Ancestors, Descendants and Relatives of Roger Paul Thompson. Retrieved 14 April 2022.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Warrington
December 19101922
Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Liverpool Wavertree
19221923
Succeeded by