Arthur Leslie Symonds,

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(2 October 1910 – 25 February 1960) was a Labour 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 ...

. He grew up in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

and was educated at the

Perse School (He who does things for others does them for himself) , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent day school , religion = Nondenominational Christian , president = , head_label = Head , he ...

and

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, before moving to

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a historic county and ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people. Cornwall is bordered to the north and west by the Atlantic ...

, where he was an Assistant Master at

St. Austell St Austell (; kw, Sans Austel) is a town in Cornwall, England, south of Bodmin and west of the border with Devon. St Austell is one of the largest towns in Cornwall; at the 2011 census it had a population of 19,958. History St Austell wa ...

County School for Boys between 1933 and 1940. He then served in the armed forces between 1940 and 1945, being mentioned twice in despatches, and earning an

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

. 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 ...

for

in the Labour landslide at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

, winning by a majority of only 682 votes over the incumbent Conservative MP

Richard Tufnell Richard Lionel Tufnell (10 December 1896 – 1 October 1956) was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom. Richard Tufnell was son of Edward Tufnell, Member of Parliament for South East Essex, and grandson of the civil servant and ...

. At the 1950 general election, he lost by 5,355 votes to the Conservative

Hamilton Kerr Sir Hamilton William Kerr, 1st Baronet (1 August 1903 – 26 December 1974) was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist. Early life Kerr was born on 1 August 1903. He was second son born to Americans Olive (née Grace) Kerr and ba ...

. He made two more attempts at regaining the seat, in the general elections of

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

and

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, but did not contest it in

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

. He was made 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 ...

in Cambridge in 1957, and was awarded the OBE in 1959. He died in 1960, at the age of 49.''Who Was Who, Volume V: 1951–1960'' (Charles Black, London, 1961)

References

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External links

* 1910 births 1960 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge British Army personnel of World War II Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at The Perse School UK MPs 1945–1950 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub