Harold James Glanville (5 June 1854 – 27 September 1930) was an English businessman and

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 ...

politician.

Family and education

Glanville was born in

Bermondsey Bermondsey () is a district in southeast London, part of the London Borough of Southwark, England, southeast of Charing Cross. To the west of Bermondsey lies Southwark, to the east Rotherhithe and Deptford, to the south Walworth and Peckham, a ...

in south London the son of James Glanville, a Chartered Accountant of 15 Great St Helens, in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London fr ...

. He was educated at

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home to Deptford Dock ...

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. In 1881 he married Hannah Elizabeth, the daughter of James and Hannah Abbott of Bermondsey. They had three sons and a daughter. One of their sons was James Harold Abbott Glanville (1884–1966) who also had a career in public service and was President of the Liberal Party in 1959–60. Hannah Glanville died in 1891. Harold was married for a second time in 1918 to Bertha Nimmo, a widow from

Brockley Brockley is a district and an wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of south London, England, in the London Borough of Lewisham south-east of Charing Cross. History The name Brockley is derived from "Broca's woodland clearing", a wood ...

Career

On leaving school, Glanville entered the

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but afterwards he worked for a while in his father's office. In 1883 he entered into partnership with his father-in-law and for over 30 years carried on the business of mill furnishers, being head of the firm of James White Abbott & Co. However he always took a keen interest in public affairs.

Politics

Bermondsey politics

Glanville started off in local politics. He served on the Bermondsey

Vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

, a body set up under the

Metropolis Management Act 1855 The Metropolis Management Act 1855 (18 & 19 Vict. c.120) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that created the Metropolitan Board of Works, a London-wide body to co-ordinate the construction of the city's infrastructure. The Act al ...

as a second tier of local government in London. In 1889 he was prominent in a campaign to stop the provision of meals and refreshments to

vestrymen A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries. Canada Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...

and officials on the

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. At this time Glanville was Secretary of the Bermondsey Liberal and Radical Association and was involved in a court case arising from a disturbance at a Vestry meeting where members of the public were being excluded from the proceedings.

London County Council

Glanville graduated from the Vestry 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). He was first elected to the LCC for the Rotherhithe Division in 1898 as a

Progressive Progressive may refer to: Politics * Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform ** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context * Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...

. He was re-elected in 1901 and 1904. During his time on the Council he was chosen to represent the LCC on the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

. He was last re-elected to the LCC for Rotherhithe in 1907. He lost his Bermondsey West seat at the

1922 London County Council election An election to the County Council of London took place on 2 March 1922. It was the eleventh triennial election of the whole council. There were sixty dual member constituencies and one four member constituency, making a total of 124 seats. The ...

. During his years on the Council Glanville held many local positions in the borough of Bermondsey and he also served as 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 ...

for the County of London.

Parliament

Glanville's first Parliamentary contest was for the constituency of

Rotherhithe Rotherhithe () is a district of south-east London, England, and part of the London Borough of Southwark. It is on a peninsula on the south bank of the Thames, facing Wapping, Shadwell and Limehouse on the north bank, as well as the Isle of Dogs ...

at the 1892 general election but he lost to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

John Cumming Macdona by 1,230 votes. His next chance came in 1909 when he was adopted as Liberal candidate for

. There had been a by-election in the seat on 28 October 1909. The sitting Liberal MP, George Joseph Cooper had died and the Liberals adopted

Spencer Leigh Hughes Spencer Leigh Hughes (21 April 1858 – 22 February 1920) was a British engineer, journalist, and Liberal politician. Family and education Spencer Leigh Hughes was born at Trowbridge in Wiltshire,''The Times House of Commons, 1910''; Politico's ...

, a journalist, to contest the constituency. However, the by-election was won by the Conservative

John Dumphreys John Molesworth Thomas Dumphreys (24 December 1844 – 18 December 1925) was a British Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician. He was elected Member of Parliament for Bermondsey (UK Parliament constituency), Bermondsey in a 1909 Bermond ...

who turned a Liberal majority of 1,759 at the 1906 general election into a Conservative majority of 987 – the intervention of a

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candidate who got 1,435 votes having split the anti-Tory vote. Hughes then moved to

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where he was elected in the general election of January 1910. This gave the Bermondsey Liberals the chance to pick a local man and Glanville was the successful applicant. He duly won the seat back in January 1910 in a straight fight against Dumphreys. He held the seat in the general election of December 1910 and served until 1918 when the constituency was abolished in boundary changes. A General Election had been expected to take place in either 1914 or 1915, at which, Glanville was expected to face a challenge, not only from a Unionist but also from an

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 ...

candidate, Dr

Alfred Salter Alfred Salter (16 June 1873 – 24 August 1945) was a British medical practitioner and Labour Party politician. Early life Salter was born in Greenwich in 1873, the son of Walter Hookway Salter and Elizabeth Tester. Following education at The ...

. During the earlier part of his Parliamentary career, Glanville was credited with playing a prominent part, as a backbencher, in the Liberal Party's programme of social reform legislation. Glanville then switched to the new seat of Bermondsey West. At the 1918 general election he was opposed by a Coalition Liberal, i.e. a member of that section of the party supporting Prime Minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

in his

Coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with the Conservative Party. This candidate, Mr C R Scriven, presumably received the

Coalition Coupon 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 ...

. Glanville also faced Labour opposition and an

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candidate supported by the National Federation of Discharged and Demobilized Soldiers and Sailors. During this period of his time in Parliament, Glanville assumed duties for the government in relation to claims and allowances arising from 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 ...

and he was helped in discharging these duties by his son, H J A Glanville, who later went on to be a Progressive member of the LCC. Glanville did not stand for re-election in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann (Irish Republic), Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éirean ...

as he was almost 70 years old by this time. However he earlier nearly got into the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...

. In the struggle between the Liberal government and the House of Lords over the

Parliament Act 1911 The Parliament Act 1911 (1 & 2 Geo. 5 c. 13) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is constitutionally important and partly governs the relationship between the House of Commons and the House of Lords, the two Houses of Parlia ...

H H Asquith Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928), generally known as H. H. Asquith, was a British statesman and Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom f ...

proposed to the King the creation of many new Liberal peers to ensure the measure could be carried if the Lords continued to obstruct. According to a list discovered in Asquith's papers Glanville was named as someone who would be nominated as one of these peers.

Death

Glanville, who had been seriously ill for some time, died at his home, Westwood, West Hill,

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne ...

on 27 September 1930The Times 29 September 1930 p14 at the age of 76 years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Glanville, Harold James 1854 births 1930 deaths Members of London County Council Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 Progressive Party (London) politicians