Innes Harold Stranger KC MP (21 June 1879 – 28 July 1936) was a British

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 ...

and Liberal politician who was briefly Member of Parliament for the Newbury constituency.

Family and education

Stranger was born in Islington a son of Innes Thomas Stranger of Worthing. He was educated privately and read law. In 1907 he married Milly Norah Tunbridge, daughter of J.B. Tunbridge JP of Hythe, in Elham, Kent. In 1909 he was called to the

Bar Bar or BAR may refer to: Food and drink * Bar (establishment), selling alcoholic beverages * Candy bar * Chocolate bar Science and technology * Bar (river morphology), a deposit of sediment * Bar (tropical cyclone), a layer of cloud * Bar (u ...

by the Middle Temple. His daughter, Yvonne Stranger, also a Barrister (called 1933), married William Charles Osman Hill in 1947.

Political career

In the 1922 general election Stranger unsuccessfully fought the Newbury seat for the Liberal Party. In 1923 he was elected to the seat in the general election of 1923 with a majority of just 41 votes over his Conservative opponent in a two-party contest. In Parliament he allied with the left of the Liberal Party. In October 1924 with 12 other Liberal MPs, he refused to join the majority of the party in voting for a motion which the

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

government had declared a motion of no confidence and backed the government instead. However this rebellion was not sufficient to save it. In 1924 in the ensuing

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 ( ...

, Labour decided to run a candidate against him and he lost the seat back to the Conservative opponent whom he had beaten in 1923. Up to 1929 he continued as prospective Liberal candidate for Newbury but did not contest the general election of that year.

Professional career

In 1901 Stranger started work in the city. From 1909 he practiced as a Barrister in the commercial and Admiralty Courts. In February 1933 he became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel ( post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

. In January 1936 he was appointed Recorder of

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, a part-time Judgeship.

Travel

Stranger travelled in America and the Near East on which subject he had written.The Liberal Year Book for 1929 While on an overseas trip in 1930 he was flying from Johannesburg to Victoria Falls when the aircraft developed difficulties and had to land in a jungle clearing.

Death

In July 1936, aged 57, he died of a sudden heart attack while at work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stranger, Harold 1879 births 1936 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Newbury, Berkshire UK MPs 1923–1924 British barristers