Robert Dunstan (1877 – 1963) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

doctor and political activist. Dunstan qualified as both a

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 a medical doctor.George J. Barnsby, ''Socialism in Birmingham and the Black Country, 1850-1939'', pp.362-364 He worked as a general practitioner, and was a member of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. He stood for the

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 ...

, unsuccessfully, in

Totnes Totnes ( or ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish at the head of the estuary of the River Dart in Devon, England, within the South Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is about west of Paignton, about west-so ...

December 1910 The following events occurred in December 1910: December 1, 1910 (Thursday) * Porfirio Diaz was inaugurated for his eighth term as President of Mexico."Record of Current Events", ''The American Monthly Review of Reviews'' (January 1911), pp ...

on a platform of

land reform Land reform is a form of agrarian reform involving the changing of laws, regulations, or customs regarding land ownership. Land reform may consist of a government-initiated or government-backed property redistribution, generally of agricultural ...

, and the local party again adopted him as their candidate for the General Election expected to take place in 1914/15. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Dunstan served in Mesopotamia as a lieutenant with the

Royal Army Medical Corps The Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC) is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all Army personnel and their families, in war and in peace. The RAMC, the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, the Royal Army Dental Corps a ...

. He returned to the UK in 1917, resigned from the Liberal Party, and instead joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP). Through his membership of the ILP, he was adopted as the Labour Party candidate in Birmingham Moseley at the 1918 general election. He took 16% of the vote and second place in a campaign notable for the large crowds who came to hear him speak. He also ran as the Labour candidate for the

1919 Manchester Rusholme by-election The 1919 Manchester Rusholme by-election was a by-election, parliamentary by-election held in October 1919 for the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, British House of Commons United Kingdom constituencies, constituency of Manchester Rusholme. ...

. Dunstan's wife died in 1921, and the following year, he married Margaret MacCallum, a fellow doctor. At the 1922 general election, Dunstan stood in

Birmingham Ladywood Birmingham Ladywood is a constituency of part of the city of Birmingham, represented in the House of Commons since 2010 by Shabana Mahmood of the Labour Party. Members of Parliament Clare Short, elected as a Labour MP from the 1983 gene ...

against

Neville Chamberlain Arthur Neville Chamberlain (; 18 March 18699 November 1940) was a British politician of the Conservative Party who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from May 1937 to May 1940. He is best known for his foreign policy of appeasemen ...

. He focused his campaign on poor health and education for working-class people in the city, calling Birmingham a "rotten and benighted city", while also maintaining his focus on land reform. He came within 2,500 votes of unseating Chamberlain, and improved his vote again at the 1923 general election. Early in 1924, Dunstan visited the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

, and concluded that conditions for workers were better there than in Britain. Shortly afterwards, he resigned from the ILP and joined the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPG ...

(CPGB). He tried to get the local Labour Party in Ladywood to re-adopt him for the 1924 general election, but they would not. He instead stood in Birmingham West for the CPGB, describing himself as a "workers' candidate"; he gained the backing of several local Labour Party branches, and won 32% of the vote. In 1928, the Labour Party banned CPGB activists from holding joint membership. Despite this, the

Edgbaston Edgbaston () is an affluent suburban area of central Birmingham, England, historically in Warwickshire, and curved around the southwest of the city centre. In the 19th century, the area was under the control of the Gough-Calthorpe family an ...

Labour Party voted not to expel Dunstan; this led the national Labour Party to disaffiliate the branch and form a new one.Graham Stevenson,
Dunstan Robert (Dr)
, ''Compendium of Communist Biography'' Surprisingly, the CPGB decided Dunstan should run in Bethnal Green South West at the 1929 general election; this was closer to his home in

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandsworth ...

, but he did not perform well, taking only 7.7% of the vote.Matthew World, ''Class Against Class'', p.184 Dunstan remained active in less high-profile roles in communist politics in Birmingham until the end of

World War II 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 died in 1963.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dunstan, Robert 1877 births 1963 deaths Communist Party of Great Britain members British general practitioners Independent Labour Party politicians Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Members of Gray's Inn People from Fulham Royal Army Medical Corps officers Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates