Hubert William Culling Carr-Gomm (20 June 1877 – 21 January 1939) was a British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician and publisher.

Early life and family

Carr-Gomm's family came from

Farnham Royal Farnham Royal is a village and civil parish within Buckinghamshire, England. It is in the south of the county, immediately north of Slough (with which it is contiguous), and around 22 miles west of Charing Cross, Central London. Within the parish ...

Buckinghamshire Buckinghamshire (), abbreviated Bucks, is a ceremonial county in South East England that borders Greater London to the south-east, Berkshire to the south, Oxfordshire to the west, Northamptonshire to the north, Bedfordshire to the north-ea ...

but his father, Francis Culling Carr (1834–1919) was a member of the

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 300 million ...

and District Judge of

Tinnevelly Tirunelveli (, ta, திருநெல்வேலி, translit=Tirunelveli) also known as Nellai ( ta, நெல்லை, translit=Nellai) and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tami ...

so Hubert was born in India. In the year that he was born, his mother, Emily Blanche Carr, was bequeathed by her aunt, Lady Elizabeth Ann Gomm (1807-1877), all the estates of her late husband, Field Marshal Sir

William Maynard Gomm Field Marshal Sir William Maynard Gomm (10 November 178415 March 1875) was a British Army officer. After taking part in the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland, he served in most of the battles of the Napoleonic Wars. During the Hundred Days he ...

(1784-1875), on the proviso that the family assumed the name of Gomm in addition to Carr. Upon the death of his mother in 1909 he inherited these estates. Hubert was educated at

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

and

Oriel College Oriel College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title formerly claimed by University College, wh ...

, Oxford where he graduated with an MA in Modern History in 1900. Between 1898 and 1907 he served in the Volunteer Battalion of the

Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) The Queen's Royal Regiment (West Surrey) was a line infantry regiment of the English and later the British Army from 1661 to 1959. It was the senior English line infantry regiment of the British Army, behind only the Royal Scots in the British Arm ...

.The Times, 24.1.39 In 1909 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 ...

for Buckinghamshire In 1906 he married Kathleen Rome. This marriage ended in divorce in 1913 because of his wife's adultery with

Eliot Crawshay-Williams Eliot Crawshay-Williams (4 September 1879 – 11 May 1962), was a British author, army officer, and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party politician. He was a Member of Parliament (MP) and Parliamentary Private Secretary to David Lloyd George, Llo ...

, Liberal MP for

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

, who was married with two children. It was a considerable scandal not least because, according to the poet and writer

Lucy Masterman Lucy Blanche Masterman (née ''Lyttelton''; 19 July 188422 April 1977) was a British poet and diarist from the Lyttelton family. In 1908 she married the Liberal journalist Charles Masterman, who was later elected to parliament and briefly served ...

, the wife of another Liberal MP,

Charles Masterman Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters. He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Church ...

, Carr-Gomm and Crawshay-Williams had been friends at school, college and in politics. It ruined Crawshay-Williams’ political career. Carr-Gomm was remarried in 1916 to Eleanor Russell the daughter of a

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

of the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

Politics

Carr-Gomm was for a time Secretary of the London Liberal Federation and in the 1906 general election he was elected Liberal MP for

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 ...

. He held the seat until 1918. From 1906 to 1908 he was Assistant Private Secretary to Liberal Prime Minister

Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman (né Campbell; 7 September 183622 April 1908) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. He served as the prime minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 190 ...

. At the

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

general election Carr-Gomm was again adopted by the Rotherhithe Liberals but was not one of those candidates favoured with the government coupon. This was instead bestowed on his

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 ...

opponent

John Rolleston Lort-Williams Sir John Rolleston Lort-Williams (14 September 1881 – 9 June 1966) was a Judge and MP for Rotherhithe between the general elections of 1918 and 1923. Lort-Williams was born in Walsall, the only son of Charles William Williams, a local solicit ...

who was successfully returned. Carr-Gomm fought Rotherhithe once more 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 ...

but again lost to Lort-Williams. In the 1923 general election he switched to being Liberal candidate for Paddington South but lost to the sitting Unionist MP, Douglas King. Carr-Gomm continued to take an interest in political questions after leaving Parliament. In 1922 he wrote to ''The Times'', perhaps unsurprisingly condemning the then

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 ...

-led government as being a coalition around one man or one set of men rather than around established parties and ideas. In 1936 he privately published a pamphlet calling for a system of

proportional representation Proportional representation (PR) refers to a type of electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to geographical (e.g. states, regions) and political divis ...

to be used in municipal elections in London where local government wards were ideal for its introduction.

Military service and publishing

In the

Great 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 ...

, Carr-Gomm served in France and

Salonika Thessaloniki (; el, Θεσσαλονίκη, , also known as Thessalonica (), Saloniki, or Salonica (), is the second-largest city in Greece, with over one million inhabitants in its metropolitan area, and the capital of the geographic region of ...

as a Captain in the 2/22nd Battalion, The London Regiment (The Queen's). After landing in Salonika in 1917, Carr-Gomm was appointed to command the Second Entrenching Battalion. In 1921, the publisher John Lane who had been the co-founder of the imprint

Bodley Head The Bodley Head is an English publishing house, founded in 1887 and existing as an independent entity until the 1970s. The name was used as an imprint of Random House Children's Books from 1987 to 2008. In April 2008, it was revived as an adul ...

set up a successor company and Carr-Gomm became one of the directors.

Death & papers

In later life Carr-Gomm and his second wife lived at Tile House,

Seaford, East Sussex Seaford is a town in East Sussex, England, east of Newhaven and west of Eastbourne.OS Explorer map Eastbourne and Beachy Head Scale: 1:25 000. Publisher:Ordnance Survey – Southampton B2 edition. Publishing Date:2009. In the Middle Ages, Sea ...

. While travelling in the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...

he contracted

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

and died on 21 January 1939 in

Tenerife Tenerife (; ; formerly spelled ''Teneriffe'') is the largest and most populous island of the Canary Islands. It is home to 43% of the total population of the archipelago. With a land area of and a population of 978,100 inhabitants as of Janu ...

, aged 61. A small collection of photo-copied papers consisting of recollections of Parliament, three letters from

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

and a note by Carr-Gomm on his father and the treatment of the Indians by the rubber companies in Putumayo,

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

are deposited in the archive of the London School of Economic and Political Science.The collection of GOMM HUBERT WILLIAM CULLING CARR 1877-1939 MP
at LSE Archives

References

External links