Lieutenant-Colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colo ...

Edward Thomas Ruscombe Wickham (4 May 1890 – 25 August 1957) 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 who served as the

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

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

from 1935 until 1945. He had previously served in India from 1910 until 1935, first as an officer in the British Indian Army, and later a member of the

Indian Political Department The Indian Political Department (IPD), formerly known as the Foreign and Political Department of the Government of India, was a government department in British India. It originated in a resolution passed on 13 September 1783 by the board of direc ...

. From 1919 to 1921, he acted as officer in attendance for the European tour of the Shah of Persia, who awarded him the

Order of the Lion and the Sun The Imperial Order of the Lion and the Sun ( Persian: نشان سلطنتی شیر و خورشید) was instituted by Fat’h Ali Shah of the Qajar dynasty in 1808 to honour foreign officials (later extended to Iranians) who had rendered disting ...

, 3rd Class. He fulfilled the same duties in 1928 for the

King of Afghanistan This article lists the heads of state of Afghanistan since the foundation of the first modern Afghan state, the Hotak Empire, in 1709. History The Hotak Empire was formed after a successful uprising led by Mirwais Hotak and other Afghan trib ...

. During his time as an MP, he served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to two Secretaries of State for War, led a delegation to Australia and New Zealand in 1944, and visited a

concentration camp Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

soon after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

Life and career

Military career

Edward Thomas Ruscombe Wickham was born on 4 May 1890, to William James Richard Wickham, an officer in the British Indian Army, and his wife Mary Rose. He received his early education at

The Oratory School The Oratory School () is an HMC Co-educational Independent school (United Kingdom), independent Roman Catholic day and boarding school for pupils aged 11–18 located in Woodcote, north-west of Reading, Berkshire, Reading. Founded in 1859 by S ...

in Birmingham. In 1910, he graduated from the

Royal Military College, Sandhurst The Royal Military College (RMC), founded in 1801 and established in 1802 at Great Marlow and High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire, England, but moved in October 1812 to Sandhurst, Berkshire, was a British Army military academy for training infant ...

and was assigned to the Indian Army as a second lieutenant. Two years later, serving in the 39th King George's Own Central India Horse Regiment, he was promoted to lieutenant. During 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 ...

, he was made a temporary captain, and then later a full captain, from September 1915, although it was not until the following September that he received the pay and allowances of the rank. After the First World War, he joined the

, and was temporarily granted the rank of lieutenant colonel "while specially employed" as the officer in attendance for the Shah of Persia during his tour of Europe between August and November 1919, and then again from December 1919 to May 1921. In 1920, he was awarded the

, 3rd Class by the Shah of Persia. In March 1928, ranking a major, he was appointed a Member of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order (french: Ordre royal de Victoria) is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the British monarch, Canadian monarch, Australian monarch, or ...

(MVO). He served as the officer in attendance for the

, Amānullāh Khān, in 1928. He then served in a variety of overseas roles: as an assistant financial adviser to the government of Persia, a counsellor at the British embassy in

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...

, Afghanistan, a secretary to the Baluchistan chief commissioner, and later became the Deputy Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, his final role in India. He retired from the Army in January 1935, at which point he was promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Member of Parliament

Hamilton Gault Andrew Hamilton Gault (18 August 1882 – 28 November 1958) was a Canadian Army officer and British politician. At his own expense, he raised the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, the last privately raised regiment in the British Emp ...

, the standing

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

announced that he would not seek re-election in the 1935 general election, having served as the constituency's MP for the previous ten years. The Taunton branch of the

invited Wickham, who was living in London at the time, to contest the election for them. Despite his residence, Wickham was described as coming from an "old

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_ ...

family", and he confirmed that if he was elected, he would move to Taunton. The Labour Party was the only other party to contest the election, putting forward James Lunnon, who had previously acted as an organising secretary for the Agricultural Workers Union. The main topics during the election were agriculture and armament. The election was held on Thursday 14 November, and Wickham was returned with a majority of 8,224, holding the seat for the Conservative Party. During his time in office, Wickham first addressed 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 ...

in March 1937, to speak about foreign policy. He spoke at length on the subject again the following year. He was appointed as a Parliamentary Private Secretary to Florence Horsbrugh in the Ministry of Health in July 1939, and in November 1939 switched to the same role under the Secretary of State for War,

Leslie Hore-Belisha Leslie Hore-Belisha, 1st Baron Hore-Belisha, PC (; 7 September 1893 – 16 February 1957) was a British Liberal, then National Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) and Cabinet Minister. He later joined the Conservative Party. He proved highly su ...

. When Hore-Belisha resigned from his post six weeks later, Wickham also left his position in the War Office. He was appointed to another Parliamentary Private Secretary role in June 1940, assisting Victor Warrender, the Financial Secretary to the Admiralty. Eight months later, he took on the role under the Secretary of State for War, this time

David Margesson Henry David Reginald Margesson, 1st Viscount Margesson, PC (26 July 1890 – 24 December 1965) was a British Conservative politician, most popularly remembered for his tenure as Government Chief Whip in the 1930s. His reputation was of a stern ...

. In 1944 he led a parliamentary delegation to Australia and New Zealand, and the following year visited the Buchenwald concentration camp. General elections had been suspended during the Second World War, and after Wickham's election in 1935, another one was not held until

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which Nuclear weapon, nuclear weapons Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, have been used in combat. Events Below, ...

. He again stood for the Conservative Party, with Victor Collins contesting the seat for Labour. During the election on 5 July, which was a landslide victory for the Labour Party, the Conservatives lost 182 seats, including that of Taunton. Wickham was defeated by a majority of 2,118 votes. His last address to the House of Commons had been in May 1945, on the subject of air services to Australia and India. The following year, he announced that he would not contest the Taunton seat at the next election.

Later life

Wickham later acted as the vice-chairman of the British Van Heusen Company, and the director of its subsidiary, J. & J. Ashton Ltd. He died in

Liss, Hampshire Liss (previously spelt Lys or Lyss) is a village and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, 3.3 miles (5.3 km) north-east of Petersfield, on the A3 road, on the West Sussex border. It covers 3,567 acres (14 km2) o ...

, at the age of 67 on 25 August 1957.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wickham, Edward 1890 births 1957 deaths British Indian Army officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Somerset UK MPs 1935–1945 Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst