Arthur Vernon Davies OBE (1872 – 4 August 1942) was a British surgeon and politician, who served as the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

member of parliament for

Royton Royton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, with a population of 21,284 in 2011. Close to the source of the River Irk, near undulating land at the foothills of the South Pennines, it is northwest of Old ...

between 1924 and 1931. Born at

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

, Davies was educated in Cardiff and studied at

Owens College, Manchester The Victoria University of Manchester, usually referred to as simply the University of Manchester, was a university in Manchester, England. It was founded in 1851 as Owens College. In 1880, the college joined the federal Victoria University. Afte ...

. He joined a medical practice in Shaw in 1898, aged 22, and took over the practice the following year. He later became the certifying factory surgeon for the district, as well as the police surgeon, and in 1919 was appointed as the

medical officer of health A medical officer of health, also known as a medical health officer, chief health officer, chief public health officer or district medical officer, is the title commonly used for the senior government official of a health department, usually at a m ...

for

Crompton Urban District Crompton Urban District was, from 1894 to 1974, a local government district in the administrative county of Lancashire, England. The area was coterminate with Shaw and Crompton. It covered a significant area to the north of the County Borough o ...

. He retired from practice in 1922, aged 50, and moved to Woking. He had been closely involved with the

St. John's Ambulance St John Ambulance is the name of a number of affiliated organisations in different countries which teach and provide first aid and emergency medical services, and are primarily staffed by volunteers. The associations are overseen by the interna ...

, and for his work he was made a Knight of the

Order of Saint John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, as well as awarded an OBE. In May 1924, he was selected as the Conservative candidate for

, and at the 1924 general election he defeated the incumbent Liberal MP, William Gorman. He held the seat, with a reduced majority, in 1929. However, in October 1931, the local Conservative Association selected another candidate for the upcoming general election; Davies had been taken seriously ill in late 1930, and it was believed that as he had not fully recovered, he would not be able to stand up to the election campaign. He accordingly retired from Parliament in 1931.

References

External links

* UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies 20th-century British politicians 19th-century British medical doctors 20th-century British medical doctors 1872 births 1942 deaths {{UK-politician-stub