Alfred James Bonwick (1 November 1883 – 4 September 1949) was a Liberal Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Background

He was born in London, the only son of James Bonwick and Elizabeth Fowler. In 1909 he married Florence Elizabeth Robinson. They had one daughter.‘BONWICK, Alfred James’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 201
accessed 9 Aug 2014
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Professional career

He was a director of a bottle making company. He was Secretary of

The Nation ''The Nation'' is an American liberal biweekly magazine that covers political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's '' The Liberator'', an abolitionist newspaper tha ...

magazine. He was a business manager for a variety of newspapers owned by the

Joseph Rowntree Social Service Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home c ...

Political career

He was Liberal candidate for the Unionist seat of the

Chippenham Chippenham is a market town A market town is a settlement most common in Europe that obtained by custom or royal charter, in the Middle Ages, a market right, which allowed it to host a regular market; this distinguished it from a village ...

division of

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

at the 1922 General Election. He was a supporter of

H. H. Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

and an opponent of the Coalition Government of

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

. He was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) at the first attempt, defeating the Conservative MP

George Terrell George John Edmond de Beauvoir Terrell (June 1862 – 7 November 1952) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Chippenham at the January 1910 general election, defeating the ...

. This was the first time a Liberal had won Chippenham since the landslide election of 1906; In 1923 he was appointed a Member of the Committee of Enquiry into Government Printing Establishments, on which he sat for 4 years. Against a national background that was witnessing a Liberal revival, Bonwick was re-elected in

1923 Events January–February * January 9 – Lithuania begins the Klaipėda Revolt to annex the Klaipėda Region (Memel Territory). * January 11 – Despite strong British protests, troops from France and Belgium occupy the Ruhr area, t ...

with an increased majority; In May 1924 he was appointed as a Liberal Party Whip. At the 1924 general election he lost the seat to the Conservative Victor Cazalet, a loss that was in line with results elsewhere in the country; After his election defeat he continued as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for Chippenham until December 1926 when he resigned, citing business pressures. He did not stand for parliament again. After the election, Lloyd George's influence in the party grew, particularly with regard to policy development. Lloyd George's new land policy was winning support within the party but Bonwick was opposed to it. In 1927, after Lloyd George became Liberal Party leader, former supporters of Asquith formed the Liberal Council, to rally opposition to Lloyd George. Bonwick joined this group and was elected to its General Committee."Liberal Council." Times ondon, England12 Feb. 1927: 9. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 9 Aug. 2014. He served as a

Justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

External links

* * National Portrait Gallery http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp63369/alfred-james-bonwick

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bonwick, Alfred James 1883 births 1949 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924