Piers Gilchrist Thompson (10 May 1893 – 7 February 1969) was an English

publisher Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...

and Liberal Party politician.

Family and education

Thompson was born in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in south London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and extends along the south bank of the River Thames. It includes the Battersea Park. History Batter ...

, the son of the Reverend Canon Henry Percy Thompson and his wife Lillian (née Thomas). He was educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of the ...

and

Brasenose College, Oxford Brasenose College (BNC) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. It began as Brasenose Hall in the 13th century, before being founded as a college in 1509. The library and chapel were added in the mi ...

where he obtained his MA degree. He was married to Hester Barnes and they had two sons and a daughter.

Career

On 26 August 1914, shortly after the British entry into the First World War, aged 21 years, Thompson was commissioned into the 4th

Battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are ...

The Queen's Own (Royal West Kent Regiment) The Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army based in the county of Kent in existence from 1881 to 1961. The regiment was created on 1 July 1881 as part of the Childers Reforms, originally as the Quee ...

. He ended his military service with the rank of captain. From the early 1920s, Thompson was looking for a career in publishing. He invested in the publishing house established by

Jonathan Cape Jonathan Cape is a London publishing firm founded in 1921 by Herbert Jonathan Cape, who was head of the firm until his death in 1960. Cape and his business partner Wren Howard set up the publishing house in 1921. They established a reputation ...

and became a junior director in the firm. After 1923, he was a Treasurer of Jonathan Cape. He also worked with

Hamish Hamilton Hamish Hamilton Limited was a British book publishing house, founded in 1931 eponymously by the half-Scot half-American Jamie Hamilton (''Hamish'' is the vocative form of the Gaelic Seumas eaning James ''James'' the English form – which was ...

who founded his own publishing house. He later became a partner in the publishing company of Lovat Dickson and Thompson Ltd.

Politics

Torquay

Thompson first stood for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at the 1922 general election. Torquay Liberal Association had had trouble in finding a suitable candidate after the 1918 general election. They consulted the Liberal Chief Whip and party headquarters in 1919 but no nominee came forward until Thompson was adopted as Liberal candidate for

Torquay Torquay ( ) is a seaside town in Devon, England, part of the unitary authority area of Torbay. It lies south of the county town of Exeter and east-north-east of Plymouth, on the north of Tor Bay, adjoining the neighbouring town of Paignton ...

in 1922.Matthew Worley, Labour's ''grass roots: essays on the activities and experiences of local labour parties and members, 1918-45;'' Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2005 pp14-15 At the 1918 general election the Liberal candidate, Captain Russell Cooke, had finished a poor third behind Coalition Conservative and

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 ...

opponents, gaining just 15% of the poll.F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949''; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p332

1922-1923

In 1922, Thompson faced a straight fight against the sitting

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

MP, Colonel Charles Rosdew Burn, who was a distinguished ex-soldier and an Aide-de-camp to

the King In the British English-speaking world, The King refers to: * Charles III (born 1948), King of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms since 2022 As a nickname * Michael Jackson (1958–2009), American singer and pop icon, nicknamed "T ...

. In the absence of a Labour candidate Burn's majority was reduced from the 10,039 he had obtained in 1918 to 1,251 or 4.4% of the poll. Burn stood down from the House of Commons at the 1923 general election. Thompson had another straight fight in Torquay this time against the new Conservative candidate Charles Williams. In a tight contest, Thompson emerged as the winner by the narrow majority of 372 votes, just 1.2% of the total votes cast.

1924

At the 1924 general election Thompson faced the intervention of a Labour candidate, Arthur Moyle, who later went on to be MP for Stourbridge. Labour's decision to stand was criticised by the Liberals as serving only to split the anti-Tory vote. Charles Williams renewed his attack on the seat for the Conservatives. The Tory revival in the country at large was repeated in Torquay and Williams obtained 55% of the poll to win by a majority of 6,161 over Thompson. Moyle came bottom of the poll, losing his deposit but it can hardly be contended that his intervention cost Thompson the seat. The level of support for Williams was too great and the Liberal Party's decline was a national phenomenon.

1924-1940

After he lost in 1924 Thompson declined to stand again in Torquay. The local Liberal Association did however approach him again when they were looking for a new candidate after the 1929 general election but he was unwilling to take it on. Thompson made his home in

Shipbourne Shipbourne ( ) is a village and civil parish situated between the towns of Sevenoaks and Tonbridge, in the borough of Tonbridge and Malling in the English county of Kent. In 2020 it was named as the most expensive village in Kent. It is located i ...

near

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

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 ...

and in 1936 accepted an invitation to become Liberal candidate for the Sevenoaks Division of Kent, although he never contested an election in the seat. In fact he never stood for Parliament again. He maintained his connection with Liberalism however and was sometime Honorary Secretary of the Home Counties Liberal Federation. He was also a member of the executive committee of the

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 ...

Society.

Death

Thompson died on 7 February 1969 aged 75 years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Piers Gilchrist 1893 births 1969 deaths People educated at Winchester College Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford British Army personnel of World War I Publishers (people) from London UK MPs 1923–1924 Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politics of Devon People from Shipbourne People from Battersea 20th-century English businesspeople