Sir Edward Herbert Keeling, MC (1883 The ''Times'' obituary and other sources seem to have mistakenly assumed a birth year of 1888, which is when the birth of an Edward George Keeling was registered in

Market Drayton Market Drayton is a market town and electoral ward in the north of Shropshire, England, close to the Cheshire and Staffordshire borders. It is on the River Tern, and was formerly known as "Drayton in Hales" (c. 1868) and earlier simply as "D ...

. – 23 November 1954) was a

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 in the United Kingdom who served as a

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) from 1935 to 1954. The younger son of the Reverend William Hulton Keeling, headmaster of

Bradford Grammar School Bradford Grammar School (BGS) is a co-educational independent day school located in Frizinghall, Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. Entrance is by examination, except for the sixth form, where admission is based on GCSE results. The school ...

, he was educated at Bradford and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

, graduating with a master's degree in

jurisprudence Jurisprudence, or legal theory, is the theoretical study of the propriety of law. Scholars of jurisprudence seek to explain the nature of law in its most general form and they also seek to achieve a deeper understanding of legal reasoning a ...

. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn. In 1902 he received employment in the Supply and Accounting Department of the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

. His siblings include the social activist

Dorothy Keeling Dorothy Clarissa Keeling (2 December 1881 – 27 March 1967) was a British social worker who joined The Bradford Guild of Help and went on to Liverpool where she transformed voluntary efforts there and in the UK. Life Keeling was born in Br ...

and the Canadian communist writer Margaret Fairley. Keeling moved to be a member of the Harbour Commission in

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John Wells explai ...

, then a British colony. With the outbreak of the

First World War 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 ...

, Keeling received a commission as an officer in the Indian Army Reserve of Officers. He served in the

Mesopotamian Campaign The Mesopotamian campaign was a campaign in the Middle Eastern theatre of World War I fought between the Allies represented by the British Empire, troops from Britain, Australia and the vast majority from British India, against the Central Po ...

, and was present at the surrender of

Kut Kūt ( ar, ٱلْكُوت, al-Kūt), officially Al-Kut, also spelled Kutulamare or Kut al-Imara, is a city in eastern Iraq, on the left bank of the Tigris River, about south east of Baghdad. the estimated population is about 389,400 people. It ...

by the British at the hands of Ottoman forces. Following the surrender, he served as a prisoner of war in Turkey until his escape, which eventually landed him in Bolshevik Russia. He returned to England, he served as the head of a special branch (responsible for Turkey and Bulgaria) in the British General Staff for enabling officers to escape. He was awarded the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC ...

in October 1918.

Post war activity

He gained credentials as a journalist for the ''

Westminster Gazette ''The Westminster Gazette'' was an influential Liberal newspaper based in London. It was known for publishing sketches and short stories, including early works by Raymond Chandler, Anthony Hope, D. H. Lawrence, Katherine Mansfield, and Saki, ...

'' and in July 1919 entered Russia, accompanied by

William Thomas Goode Professor William Thomas Goode, M.A. (1859-1932) was a British academic, linguist and journalist. As special correspondent for ''The Manchester Guardian'', he interviewed Vladimir Lenin in Moscow in 1919. On his return journey from Moscow, he w ...

. Whilst the Russian Government invited Goode to continue to Moscow Keeling remained stranded at

Velikie Luki Velikiye Luki ( rus, Вели́кие Лу́ки, p=vʲɪˈlʲikʲɪjə ˈlukʲɪ; lit. ''great meanders''. Г. П. Смолицкая. "Топонимический словарь Центральной России". "Армада-П ...

. According to He published his story as ''Adventures in Turkey and Russia'' in 1924. After the war he entered business: he was General Manager of the

Turkish Petroleum Company The Iraq Petroleum Company (IPC), formerly known as the Turkish Petroleum Company (TPC), is an oil company that had a virtual monopoly on all oil exploration and production in Iraq between 1925 and 1961. It is jointly owned by some of the world's ...

, a member of

Lloyd's of London Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

and a director of the Wallsend and Hebburn Coal Company. Keeling unsuccessfully contested the 1929 general election in the Southwark Central constituency, a safe seat for the Labour Party. His next parliamentary candidacy was at the 1935 general election, when he was elected as MP for

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

. His name is best known in legislative and Parliamentary circles as a result of the question he asked of the then

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister i ...

, Neville Chamberlain, on 26 July 1938: "whether he has considered a memorandum on the evils of legislation by reference submitted to him by a number of Members; and whether he has any statement to make".Official Report, 26/7/38; col. 2919 The Prime Minister, as the Minister responsible for the work of the Office of the Parliamentary Counsel, who draft all UK Government legislation, replied that: "I have considered the memorandum with interest ... The suggestion made is, in effect, that a Bill amending or applying an existing enactment by reference should contain a Schedule setting out the enactment as it will read when amended by the Bill ... This method is not, I understand, put forward as a panacea to be used in all cases ... There are, however, undoubtedly some cases where the method suggested by the memorandum would be both practicable and advantageous; and I have instructed the Parliamentary Counsel to proceed experimentally on the lines suggested in suitable cases". These Schedules have subsequently become known as 'Keeling schedules'. From 1945–1946 Keeling served as Mayor of Westminster. In 1952 he was knighted. Keeling held the Twickenham seat until his death in 1954. The resulting by-election in January 1955 was won by the Conservative candidate, Gresham Cooke.

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Keeling, Edward Herbert 1883 births 1954 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 Mayors of places in Greater London Members of Westminster Metropolitan Borough Council People educated at Bradford Grammar School Alumni of University College, Oxford Members of Lincoln's Inn Recipients of the MacGregor Medal