Captain Harold Richard Adams (8 October 1912 – 25 June 1978) was a British

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 ...

politician who served as the

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 of ...

for Balham and Tooting from 1945 to 1950, and Wandsworth Central from 1950 to 1955.

Early life and military career

Born on 8 October 1912, the son of A. Adams, he was educated at

Emanuel School Emanuel School is an independent, co-educational day school in Battersea, south-west London. The school was founded in 1594 by Anne Sackville, Lady Dacre and Queen Elizabeth I and occupies a 12-acre (4.9 ha) site close to Clapham Junction ra ...

and studied at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He was a lecturer in Economics and Business Administration.Stenton and Lees ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament'' vol. iv p. 1 He married twice, firstly to Joyce Love in 1938, with whom he had two daughters; the marriage was dissolved in 1955, and he married secondly to Peggy Fribbins in 1956. He began his political career on

Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan The London Plan is the statutory spatial development strategy for the Gre ...

borough council, where he was a member from 1938 to 1940, but this was interrupted by the outbreak of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. He joined the

East Surrey Regiment The East Surrey Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 until 1959. The regiment was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 31st (Huntingdonshire) Regiment of Foot, the 70th ...

in 1940, and saw service with the

25th Army Tank Brigade The 25th Army Tank Brigade was an armoured brigade formation of the British Army that was active before and during the Second World War. It served with the British First Army and the British Eighth Army during the battles in North Africa and Ita ...

in North Africa and Italy, before ending the war serving on the staff in Land Forces Adriatic.

Political career and later life

Having fought

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

, he was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Balham and Tooting, part of his home district of Wandsworth, in the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

. He was an assistant

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from 1947, and became a

Lord Commissioner of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the ...

in 1949, a post he held until 1951. Balham and Tooting was dissolved for the 1950 general election, and Adams stood in the redrawn Wandsworth Central constituency, succeeding

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

as its Member of Parliament. He was re-elected for the same seat in the 1951 general election, but chose to stand down in the 1955 election, being succeeded in the now-marginal seat by the Conservative Michael Hughes-Young. Adams died on 25 June 1978.

References

Citations

Bibliography

*"ADAMS, (Harold) Richard." In ''Who Was Who 1897-2006''. *Obituary in ''The Times'', 6 July 1978 * Stenton, M., Lees, S. (1981). ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament'', volume iv (covering 1945–1979). Sussex: The Harvester Press; New Jersey: Humanities Press. {{DEFAULTSORT:Adams, Richard 1912 births 1978 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies East Surrey Regiment officers British Army personnel of World War II UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 People educated at Emanuel School Members of Wandsworth Metropolitan Borough Council Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951