Peter Witheridge Grafton

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 ...

(19 May 1916 – 20 May 2012), was a British

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 and surveyor.

Background

He was born one of twin brothers, sons of James Hawkins Grafton and Ethel Marion Brannan. He was educated at

Westminster City School Westminster City School is a state-funded secondary academy for boys, with a mixed sixth form, in Westminster, London. The school educates over 800 students, with links to more than 100 different cultures, in a central London location. The sch ...

, Sutton Valence School and the

College of Estate Management The University College of Estate Management (abbreviated to UCEM), formerly the College of Estate Management (CEM) is an independent UK-based higher education institution which provides courses by distance learning for people in the real estate dev ...

. In 1939 he married Joan Bleackley who died in 1969. They had two daughters (and one son and one daughter, deceased). In 1971 he married Margaret Ruth Ward. They had two sons.

Early career

He served as a captain in the war of 1939–45 in the Queen's Westminster Rifles, the

Dorsetshire Regiment The Dorset Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958, being the county regiment of Dorset. Until 1951, it was formally called the Dorsetshire Regiment, although usually known as "The Dorsets". In 1 ...

and the Royal Engineers in the UK and the Far East. He served in India, Ceylon, and Java and went with the expeditionary force to the

Cocos Islands ) , anthem = "''Advance Australia Fair''" , song_type = , song = , image_map = Australia on the globe (Cocos (Keeling) Islands special) (Southeast Asia centered).svg , map_alt = Location of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands , map_caption = ...

Political career

He was Liberal candidate for the

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

division of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

at the 1950 General Election. He broke his leg three days before the election was called and conducted his campaign on crutches. He did not stand for parliament again. In 1953, together with

Desmond Banks Desmond Anderson Harvie Banks, Baron Banks, CBE (23 October 1918 – 15 June 1997) was a British Liberal Party politician. Banks was born in Ascot, Berkshire. He was educated at prep school in Harrow and University College School in Hampstead. ...

who had been Liberal parliamentary candidate in

Harrow East Harrow East is a constituency in Greater London created in 1945 and represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Bob Blackman, a Conservative. Constituency profile The censuses of 2001 and 2011 show the overwhelming ...

in 1950, Grafton co-founded the Radical Reform Group, a

social liberal Social liberalism (german: Sozialliberalismus, es, socioliberalismo, nl, Sociaalliberalisme), also known as new liberalism in the United Kingdom, modern liberalism, or simply liberalism in the contemporary United States, left-liberalism ...

pressure group within the Liberal Party to prevent what many saw as a rightward drift by the party, and its potential capture by the

economic liberals Economic liberalism is a political and economic ideology that supports a market economy based on individualism and private property in the means of production. Adam Smith is considered one of the primary initial writers on economic liberalis ...

. The Group campaigned under the slogan 'social reform without socialism'. Grafton was the group's Honorary Secretary.

Professional career

He was a senior partner, at G. D. Walford & Partners, Chartered Quantity Surveyors, 1978–82 having been a Partner 1949–78. In 1972 he was appointed a CBE.‘GRAFTON, Peter Witheridge’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2014; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 201
accessed 24 Sept 2014
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:GRAFTON, Peter Witheridge 1916 births 2012 deaths Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II Queen's Westminsters officers Dorset Regiment officers People educated at Westminster City School Royal Engineers officers