Emil William Pickering (3 June 1882 – 14 March 1942) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

industrialist, army officer and politician. Born in

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a minster and market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, east of Hudder ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Pickering was educated at Dewsbury Grammar School and

Tettenhall College Tettenhall College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school located in the Wolverhampton suburb of Tettenhall in England. History The college was founded in 1863 by a group of prominent local businessmen and industrialists, most ...

. He subsequently entered business as a woollen manufacturer in partnership with John Greaves. The Pickering Greaves business, based at Ravensthorpe Mills, continued until 1926. In 1911 Pickering joined the part-time

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry i ...

when he received a commission as a second lieutenant in the 2nd West Riding Brigade,

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

. He was promoted to full lieutenant in 1913. With the outbreak of war in August 1914 the unit was mobilised. Pickering was promoted to captain and then to temporary major before the brigade moved to the Western Front in April 1915. Pickering was awarded the

Distinguished Service Order The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typ ...

for "great gallantry and an utter disregard of his own person" in 1917, and twice

mentioned in dispatches To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...

, Pickering ended the war with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. When a

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

was called at the end of 1918, Pickering was chosen to contest the

constituency as a

Coalition Conservative The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory ...

candidate. The election was a three-way contest between Pickering, Benjamin Riley of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

and the sitting

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 ...

, Walter Runciman of the anti-coalition

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

faction. Pickering was elected to the

Commons The commons is the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, including natural materials such as air, water, and a habitable Earth. These resources are held in common even when owned privately or publicly. Commons ...

, receiving 7,853 votes, more than 2,000 ahead of Riley while Runciman finished third. In 1919 he married Evelyn Shaw of Brooklands, near Halifax, and the couple had two sons. Pickering only served one term in parliament, choosing to stand down at the next election in 1922. He continued his association with the reconstituted Territorial Army, becoming commanding officer of the 70th (West Riding) Field Brigade, Royal Artillery. He retired from the army in 1926, when he received the

brevet Brevet may refer to: Military * Brevet (military), higher rank that rewards merit or gallantry, but without higher pay * Brevet d'état-major, a military distinction in France and Belgium awarded to officers passing military staff college * Aircre ...

rank of colonel and the

Territorial Decoration __NOTOC__ The Territorial Decoration (TD) was a military medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army. This award superseded the Volunteer Officer's Decoration when the Te ...

. Pickering retired to his residence, Netherton Hall, near

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

. He was appointed a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and a Deputy Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire. He continued to work for the interests of ex-service men, and became chairman of the Yorkshire Branch of the

British Legion The Royal British Legion (RBL), formerly the British Legion, is a British charity providing financial, social and emotional support to members and veterans of the British Armed Forces, their families and dependants, as well as all others in ne ...

. In 1941, at the height of

World War II 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 opposin ...

he was appointed a Deputy Regional Commissioner for the Northern Region. Emil Pickering died in March 1942 aged 59 when he was thrown from his horse. He was buried in the graveyard of Thornhill Parish Church.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Pickering, Emil 1882 births 1942 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–1922 People from Dewsbury People educated at Tettenhall College Royal Artillery officers Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Deputy Lieutenants of the West Riding of Yorkshire English justices of the peace British Army personnel of World War I British Army personnel killed in World War II Royal Field Artillery officers Deaths by horse-riding accident in England