Sir Leonard David Gammans, 1st Baronet (10 November 1895 – 8 February 1957), known as David Gammans, was a British
Conservative Party politician.
Gammans was educated at
Portsmouth Grammar School
The Portsmouth Grammar School is a co-educational independent day school in Portsmouth, England, located in the historic part of Portsmouth. It was founded in 1732 as a boys' school and is located on Portsmouth High Street.
History
In 17 ...
.
He served with the
Royal Field Artillery
The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...
1914–1918. He was in the Colonial Service in Malaya, 1920-1934 and attached to the British Embassy in Tokyo, 1926–1928. In 1930 he toured in India, Europe and America and, on retiring from the Colonial Service, lectured in the US and Canada. he was Director and Secretary of the
Land Settlement Association, 1934–1939.
He was first elected to
Parliament at a
by-election in 1941, following the death of the Conservative
Member of Parliament (MP) for
Hornsey,
Euan Wallace. Gammans held the
North London seat until his own death in 1957, aged 61. The resulting
1957 Hornsey by-election
The Hornsey by-election of 30 May 1957 was held after the death of Conservative Party MP David Gammans.
The seat was safe, having been won at the 1955 United Kingdom general election
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on T ...
was won for the Conservatives by his wife
Muriel, known as Lady Gammans.
In
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...
's
1951–55 government, he served as
Assistant Postmaster-General, under
Earl De La Warr.
In 1952 there was "public outrage" that the
Post Office cats had not had a pay rise since 1873, and the next year there was a question in the House of Commons, and Gammans was asked, "when the allowance payable for the maintenance of cats in his department was last raised?"
Gammans replied, "There is, I am afraid, a certain amount of industrial chaos in The Post Office cat world. Allowances vary in different places, possibly according to the alleged efficiency of the animals and other factors. It has proved impossible to organise any scheme for payment by results or output bonus ... there has been a general wage freeze since July 1918, but there have been no complaints!"
Gammans was made a
baronet, of
Hornsey in the
County of Middlesex on 24 January 1956.
The baronetcy became extinct on his death.
References
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External links
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1895 births
1957 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Ministers in the Eden government, 1955–1957
Ministers in the third Churchill government, 1951–1955
People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
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