Charles Albert McCurdy (13 March 1870 – 10 November 1941) was a British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

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 ...

and minister in the

Lloyd George Coalition Government Liberal David Lloyd George formed a coalition government in the United Kingdom in December 1916, and was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by King George V. It replaced the earlier wartime coalition under H. H. Asquith, which had ...

. He was made a member of the

Privy Council A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1920.

Background

McCurdy was educated at

Loughborough Grammar School , religion = Christian , head_label = Headmaster , head = Dr Daniel Koch , r_head_label = Chaplain , r_head = Revd E J York , chair_label = Chairman ...

and

Pembroke College, Cambridge Pembroke College (officially "The Master, Fellows and Scholars of the College or Hall of Valence-Mary") is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England. The college is the third-oldest college of the university and has over 700 ...

Career

He then became a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

. He was elected Member of Parliament for

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

, then a two-member constituency, in 1910. He was returned in 1918 when it was reduced to a single-member seat, his former Liberal co-member

Hastings Lees-Smith Hastings Bertrand Lees-Smith PC (26 January 1878 – 18 December 1941) was a British Liberal turned Labour politician who was briefly in the cabinet as President of the Board of Education in 1931. He was the acting Leader of the Opposition and ...

having sought election elsewhere and joined the Labour Party.

Coalition government

He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food Control from 1919 to 1920 and then

Minister of Food Control The Minister of Food Control (1916–1921) and the Minister of Food (1939–1958) were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Minister of Agriculture. In the Great War the Minist ...

in 1920. After the Ministry of Food Control was abolished in April 1921, he was appointed Coalition Liberal

Chief Whip The Chief Whip is a political leader whose task is to enforce the whipping system, which aims to ensure that legislators who are members of a political party attend and vote on legislation as the party leadership prescribes. United Kingdom ...

(officially '

Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury The Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury is the official title of the most senior whip of the governing party in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Today, any official links between the Treasury and this office are nominal and the title ...

') in succession to

Frederick Guest Frederick Edward "Freddie" Guest, (14 June 1875 – 28 April 1937) was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party, 1917–1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air be ...

. Guest had held the position during the 1918 seat negotiations with the Unionists. Unlike Guest, McCurdy was more concerned with strengthening the Liberals part in the Coalition and took a much tougher line with the Unionists. A junior Unionist whip Robert Sanders, wrote in his diary that McCurdy was "a particularly bad-mannered fellow...the reverse...of Guest". McCurdy favoured a general election in January 1922 and the formation of a Centre Party made up of Liberals, moderate Conservatives and moderate

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MPs. In March 1922, McCurdy wrote to Lloyd George claiming that one hundred Unionist MPs would defect if a Centre Party was formed. Lloyd George, however, decided to stay with the Coalition. He left office with Lloyd George when the Unionists ended the coalition in October 1922.

Liberal reunion

After the coalition ended, McCurdy favoured Liberal reunion. He was influential in drawing up the Liberals'

manifesto A manifesto is a published declaration of the intentions, motives, or views of the issuer, be it an individual, group, political party or government. A manifesto usually accepts a previously published opinion or public consensus or promotes a ...

for the 1923 general election, moving it further in a

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

direction. However, he was not returned at that election. He died in November 1941, aged 71, a month before his former co-member for Northampton,

. McCurdy's niece,

Margaret Wingfield Margaret Elizabeth Wingfield (19 January 1912 – 6 April 2002) was a British Liberal Party politician and President of the Liberal Party from 1975 to 1976. Background Wingfield was educated at Freiburg University and the London School of Econo ...

, was an influential member of the Liberal Party, and eventually its President.

Electoral record

References

*''The Impact of Labour, 1920 - 1924'' (Cambridge University Press, 1971) by

Maurice Cowling Maurice John Cowling (6 September 1926 – 24 August 2005) was a British historian and a Fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge. Early life Cowling was born in West Norwood, South London, son of Reginald Frederick Cowling (1901–1962), a patent agen ...

. *

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:McCurdy, Charles 1870 births 1941 deaths Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Loughborough Grammar School Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923