Gordon Richards Matthews,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

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FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(16 December 1908 – 4 February 2000) was a British chartered accountant, Director of a department store, and politician. Despite a near half-century involvement in the

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 ...

in the West Midlands, he served only a single term in Parliament.

Accountancy

Matthews attended

Repton School Repton School is a 13–18 Mixed-sex education, co-educational, Independent school (United Kingdom), independent, Day school, day and boarding school in the English Public school (United Kingdom), public school tradition, in Repton, Derbyshire, ...

but did not go to university. Instead he trained as a chartered accountant, qualifying in 1932. His grandfather, William Matthews, had joined with John Rackham to set up Rackhams and Matthews department store in Bull Street,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

, and this business had also employed his father Frank. Matthews himself joined the company in 1933 as a secretary, using his knowledge of accountancy.

Conservative links

In 1934 Matthews married Ruth Brooks, the daughter of the former Lord Mayor of Birmingham Sir David Brooks. He also became involved in the

, and in 1937 was appointed as Hon. Treasurer of

Deritend Deritend is a historic area of Birmingham, England, built around a crossing point of the River Rea. It is first mentioned in 1276. Today Deritend is usually considered to be part of Digbeth. History Deritend was a crossing point of the River Rea ...

Unionist Association. At the outbreak of 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 opposin ...

, Matthews enlisted in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

; he was all set to join when he was switched to work as an accountant at the Admiralty. At the end of the war, Matthews fought the Deritend division of Birmingham in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

. He spent a great deal of time in the late 1940s reviving the Young Unionist association in Birmingham, under his own chairmanship. From 1948 to 1953 Matthews served as Hon. Secretary of the Birmingham Unionist Association, and at the 1950 general election he was the candidate in

Birmingham Yardley Birmingham Yardley is a constituency of part of the city of Birmingham represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2015 by Jess Phillips of the Labour Party. Yardley Rural District was annexed to Birmingham under the 1911 ...

. In the 1950s, Matthews was a member of the Board of Management of the Linen and Woollen Drapers Institution and acted as President of its Appeal for the year 1954–1955. He also get involved in the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

and was Chairman of the Finance Committee for the Birmingham Area. From 1957 to 1964, he was President of the City of Birmingham Friendly Society.

Parliamentary candidate

Matthews did not find a seat at the

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

general elections, but was adopted for Meriden for the 1959 general election. This was a Labour-held marginal constituency which included prosperous and working-class areas, but Matthews took advantage of the national trend to the Conservatives to overturn a majority of over 1,000 to win by 263 votes.

Backbencher

He proved a generally loyal Conservative backbencher, although he at first abstained on, and then supported, a new clause in the Finance Bill moved by

Gerald Nabarro Sir Gerald David Nunes Nabarro (29 June 1913 – 18 November 1973) was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician who was an MP from 1950 until his death. Nabarro positioned himself on the right of the Conservative Party. Though h ...

which aimed at exempting

owner-occupier Owner-occupancy or home-ownership is a form of housing tenure in which a person, called the owner-occupier, owner-occupant, or home owner, owns the home in which they live. The home can be a house, such as a single-family house, an apartment, con ...

s from Schedule A income tax to which the government was opposed. In December 1960 he was appointed

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 ...

Reginald Bevins John Reginald Bevins (20 August 1908 – 16 November 1996) was a British Conservative politician who served as a Liverpool Member of Parliament (MP) for fourteen years. He served in the governments of the 1950s and 1960s, playing an important r ...

; in March 1961, he initiated a debate on housing for the elderly, and called for private housebuilders to build more suitable homes. In December 1962 he called for reform of the rating system so that the burden fell more evenly. He opposed the government's move to abolish resale price maintenance in 1964, but abstained rather than vote against.

Defeat

At the 1964 general election, Matthews had a tough time defending his seat given his narrow majority and the national trend to Labour. However, his record of diligent constituency work and the increased local prosperity (the car manufacturers were significant local employers) helped him. In one of the last results to be announced on the day of the election, Matthews lost to the Labour candidate – but only by 363 votes, a much better result for him than national trends would have seen.

Post-Parliament career

Matthews found he had more time for his voluntary activities and served on the National Council and National Executive Committee of the YMCA from 1968 to 1971. He was also Chairman of the Finance Committee of the

YWCA The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries. The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...

Birmingham Area from 1965 to 1972. Although giving up Parliamentary ambitions, he remained involved in the Conservative Party and served as Deputy Chairman, then Chairman of the West Midlands Conservative Council. Later in the 1970s, Matthews retired to

Chipping Campden Chipping Campden is a market town in the Cotswold district of Gloucestershire, England. It is notable for its terraced High Street, dating from the 14th century to the 17th century. ("Chipping" is from Old English ''cēping'', 'market', 'market- ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

. He was Chairman of the Oxfordshire Branch of the

Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) CPRE, The Countryside Charity, formerly known by names such as the ''Council for the Preservation of Rural England'' and the ''Council for the Protection of Rural England'', is a Charitable organization, charity in England with over 40,000 memb ...

in the late 1970s and served one last term as President of the West Midlands Conservatives from 1983 to 1985. He died after a fall in 2000.

References

*"Who Was Who", A & C Black *"Obituary: Tory MP and Rackhams director who revived Young Unionist movement", ''Birmingham Post'', 11 February 2000 *''The Times''

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Matthews, Gordon 1908 births 2000 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Repton School UK MPs 1959–1964 People from Birmingham, West Midlands