Captain Charles Talbot Foxcroft (25 November 1868 – 11 February 1929) Obituary in ''Bath Chronicle and Herald'', 16 February 1929, p. 9 was a British

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician. He was

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) for

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

from 1918 to 1923, and from 1924 until his death.

Political career

Foxcroft first stood for election to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting ele ...

, when he was an unsuccessful candidate in the Frome division of

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. Frome was a consistently

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 ...

seat, although the Liberal majorities were slim, and Foxcroft lost again in Frome at the elections in January 1910 and

December 1910 The following events occurred in December 1910: December 1, 1910 (Thursday) * Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated for his eighth term as President of Mexico."Record of Current Events", ''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (January 1911), pp ...

. In September 1918,

Lord Alexander Thynne Lord Alexander George Boteville Thynne (17 February 1873 – 14 September 1918) was a British Army officer and Conservative politician. Thynne was the third and youngest son of John Thynne, 4th Marquess of Bath, and his wife Frances Isabella Cat ...

, the Conservative MP for Bath, was killed in action in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. Foxcroft was selected as the Conservative candidate in the resulting

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

, and was elected unopposed on 15 October. Parliament was dissolved only five weeks later, on 21 November. Under the terms of the

Representation of the People Act 1918 The Representation of the People Act 1918 was an Act of Parliament passed to reform the electoral system in Great Britain and Ireland. It is sometimes known as the Fourth Reform Act. The Act extended the franchise in parliamentary elections, also ...

Bath was reduced from two seats in the House of Commons to one. However the parties in the Liberal-Conservative

Coalition Government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

agreed an electoral pact, and no Liberal candidate stood in Bath in 1918. At the general election in December Foxcroft therefore only faced a Labour Party candidate, and won the election with 75% of votes cast. He was re-elected in a three-way contest in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

, but at the 1923 general election he faced only one opponent, the Liberal barrister Frank Raffety. Raffety took the seat, but parliament was dissolved less than a year later. At the general election in October 1924, Foxcroft retook the seat with 56% of the votes in a 3-way contest. Following his election in 1924 Foxcroft served as

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the

Assistant Postmaster General The Assistant Postmaster General is a defunct junior ministerial position in the United Kingdom Government. The title of Postmaster General was abolished under the Post Office Act 1969. A new public authority governed by a chairman was established ...

, a position he held until his death. He died in office in February 1929, aged 60.

Family

Foxcroft was the son of Edward Talbot Day Foxcroft (''c.''1837–1911), born Edward Talbot Day Jones, the owner of Hinton House at

Hinton Charterhouse __NOTOC__ Hinton may refer to: Places Australia *Hinton, New South Wales Canada *Hinton, Alberta ** Hinton/Entrance Airport ** Hinton/Jasper-Hinton Airport ** Hinton CN railway station England * Hinton, Dorset, a civil parish **Hinton Martell, D ...

and his wife Wilhelmina Colquhoun née Robertson-Glasgow. He inherited the estate on the death of his father.

References

Works

External links

* *
Portrait at Art UK
1868 births 1929 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 Politics of Bath, Somerset People from Bath and North East Somerset {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1860s-stub