Robert Mathew TD (9 May 1911 – 8 December 1966) was a British Barrister and politician. From a military family (his father was a major-general), Mathew went to

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

and

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

. He read for the Bar and was called (

Lincoln's Inn The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. (The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn.) Lincoln ...

) in 1937. He joined the Territorial Army in the

King's Royal Rifle Corps The King's Royal Rifle Corps was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army that was originally raised in British North America as the Royal American Regiment during the phase of the Seven Years' War in North America known in the United St ...

and during 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 ...

served in Italy and Greece as well as at the Staff College. He ended the war with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. He was demobilized early as a Parliamentary candidate, fighting

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...

for the

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

in the 1945 general election. He fought the same seat in a 1946 byelection, having in the meantime been elected to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

Borough Council for Hans Town ward. He fought

Rochester and Chatham Rochester and Chatham was a parliamentary constituency in Kent which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until it was abolished for the 1983 general election. It larg ...

in the elections of

1950 Events January * January 1 – The International Police Association (IPA) – the largest police organization in the world – is formed. * January 5 – 1950 Sverdlovsk plane crash, Sverdlovsk plane crash: ''Aeroflot'' Lisunov Li-2 cr ...

and

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United ...

, a potentially winnable seat. Mathew was chosen for the safe seat of

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

and won it in the 1955 general election.

Derek Walker-Smith Derek Colclough Walker-Smith, Baron Broxbourne, (13 April 1910 – 22 January 1992), known as Sir Derek Walker-Smith, Bt, from 1960 to 1983, was a British Conservative Party politician. The son of Sir Jonah Walker-Smith (1874–1964) and his ...

, who served as Minister for Health, picked him as his

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

from 1957 to 1960 and also in 1964. Although a backbencher, Mathew's views were regarded as important; his strong support for British membership of the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

when the Macmillan government applied for membership did much to solidify Conservative opinion. Mathew died in his sleep in December 1966 at the early age of 55.

References

* M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs" Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981) * Obituary, "The Times", 9 December 1966.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mathew, Robert 1911 births 1966 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge King's Royal Rifle Corps officers Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Chelsea Metropolitan Borough Council UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 British Army personnel of World War II Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Honiton Ministers in the Macmillan and Douglas-Home governments, 1957–1964