Sir Luke White (1845 – 17 August 1920) was an

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Liberal Party politician.

Early life

White was born at Deighton, Yorkshire. He was a

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

by profession, served as

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 s ...

and was from 1897

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for the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

Liberal agent

In the 1886 general election he was agent to the Liberal candidate for the Buckrose constituency in the east of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, William Alexander McArthur. At that election, McArthur was declared the victor over 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 in ...

opponent Christopher Sykes by a single vote, 3,742 to 3,741. McArthur and took his seat, but "on scrutiny" the seat was eventually awarded to Sykes.

Liberal MP

In 1899, 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 o ...

(MP) for Buckrose Sir Angus Holden announced he was standing down from politics at the next election and White was adopted by the Buckrose Liberal Council to succeed him. At the time of his adoption White was Chairman of Driffield Urban Council and had previously been an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members ...

of the East Riding County Council. He was elected as MP for Buckrose at the General Election of 1900, albeit by the modest margin of 90 votes. At the

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he increased his majority to 1,602 votes. Political times had become tougher by 1910 however and at the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominat ...

White's majority dropped to 218. He held on in December 1910 too. During 1918 White's health began to worsen and as a result in July of that year he announced he would not be seeking re-election at the 1918 general election. White was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in November 1908.
The London Gazette
', 18 December 1908 (issue 28206), p. 9650.

Bankruptcy

White's standing down because of ill-health may however have been a touch diplomatic for after the general election it emerged that White was in serious financial difficulty with debts of more than £21,000 much of which had apparently been run up in election expenses. White was called to appear before the

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Bankruptcy Court but failed to attend citing his poor health. A warrant for his arrest on fraud charges, jointly with a local solicitor, Herbert Brown described in the press as White's clerk, was later issued but the court was told that White's physical and mental health would not allow him to be moved and the warrant was suspended. After a six-day hearing Brown was acquitted of the charges in June 1919.The Times, 23 June 1919 White died in 1920.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:White, Luke 1845 births 1920 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1900–1906 UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Political history of Yorkshire English solicitors Place of birth missing Knights Bachelor Politicians awarded knighthoods