Sir Alfred Cooper Rawson (26 July 1876 – 11 January 1946) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician. After a decade in local government, he sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

from 1922 to 1944.

Business career

Born in Leicester, Rawson established himself in the road stone industry, becoming chairman of several companies, including the Montsorrel Granite Company, the Endaby Stoney Stanton Granite Company, John Ellis and sons, and

Durex Durex is a brand of condoms and personal lubricants owned by the British company Reckitt Benckiser. It was initially developed in London under the purview of the London Rubber Company and British Latex Products Ltd, where it was manufactured be ...

Ltd. He was a delegate to the International Road Congress in 1923 and in 1926, and in 1930 he was president of the Granite Guild; the following year he was president of the Institute of Quarrying.

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve

During

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 ...

, he joined the

Royal Naval Division The 63rd (Royal Naval) Division was a United Kingdom infantry division of the First World War. It was originally formed as the Royal Naval Division at the outbreak of the war, from Royal Navy and Royal Marine reservists and volunteers, who wer ...

as a sub-lieutenant, transferring in 1916 to the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (RNVR). He served the rest of the war with the RNVR at

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibitors from around th ...

, becoming a temporary

lieutenant commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

. Rawson remained involved with the RNVR after the war, and in 1925 was made an honorary commander, attached to the RNVR's Sussex Division; in 1940 he was made an honorary Captain of the RNVR.

Politics

Rawson political career began in 1911, when he was elected to

Wandsworth Council Wandsworth London Borough Council is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in the United Kingdom capital of London. Wandsworth is divided into 20 wards, e ...

. He was a Wandsworth councillor for 11 years, serving as mayor in 1918 to 1919, and was elected to the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

(LCC) in 1913. He was elected

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 o ...

(MP) for Brighton at the 1922 general election, replacing the Conservative MP

Charles Thomas-Stanford Sir Charles Thomas-Stanford, 1st Baronet (3 April 1858 – 7 March 1932), born Charles Thomas, was a British Conservative Party politician from Brighton. He sat in the House of Commons from 1914 to 1922. Early life and family The son of Davi ...

, who had retired. He stood down from local government on his election to

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

and held his seat in the Commons at the next five general elections. Rawson holds the record for the largest number of votes ever polled by a candidate at a British general election, a record he achieved in the 1931 election by polling 75,205 votes. Such a feat also makes Rawson the record holder for the largest majority for an MP, at 62,253. This record was typical of a wider contest which saw an overwhelming Conservative victory. Rawson told his local Conservative Association in October 1943 that he wanted to be relieved of his Parliamentary duties as soon as possible, and retired from

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: representing the electorate, making laws, and overseeing the government via hearings and inquiries. Th ...

on 17 January 1944, by resigning his seat through the procedural device of accepting appointment as

Steward of the Manor of Northstead The office of Crown Steward and Bailiff of the Manor of Northstead functions as a procedural device to allow a member of Parliament (MP) to resign from the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. As members of the House of Commons are forbidden ...

Honours

Rawson was knighted in the

1926 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1926 were appointments by King George V to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by members of the British Empire. They were published on 29 December 1925. The recipients of honours are displayed here ...

List, and in 1927 he was awarded the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour (french: Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur), formerly the Royal Order of the Legion of Honour ('), is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil. Established in 1802 by Napoleon ...

by the government of France, for his work with the British League of Help. In July 1929, he was presented with a silver dinner bell by the National Federation of Granite and Roadstone Quarry Owners, in recognition of his services to the industry, and in particular of his efforts in blocking a Bill in Parliament which would have led to the expansion of council-owned quarries.

Family

Rawson married Elizabeth Robson in 1902. He died on 11 January 1946 at Hove, Sussex, aged 69.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rawson, Alfred Cooper 1876 births 1946 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Members of London County Council Councillors in the London Borough of Wandsworth Members of Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough Council Mayors of places in Greater London British construction businesspeople Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War I Businesspeople in construction Royal Navy officers of World War I