Sir William Henry Prescott, 1st Baronet,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

, DL (1874 – 15 June 1945) was a British engineer and Conservative Party politician. The son of John Prescott, he initially studied law and was called to the bar at

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 W ...

in 1909. He subsequently took up a career in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

, acting as a consultant to a number of government committees on water supply and roads. During the

First World War 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 ...

he was commanding officer of 222nd Field Company, Royal Engineers, part of the British Expeditionary Force on the Western Front. He was invalided home to the United Kingdom in 1915. He was elected at the 1918 general election as

Coalition Conservative The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory ...

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 o ...

(MP) for Tottenham North. Unusually for a Conservative, he was sponsored by a trade union, the

National Association of Local Government Officers The National and Local Government Officers' Association was a British trade union representing mostly local government "white collar" workers. It was formed in 1905 as the National Association of Local Government Officers, and changed its full ...

, of which he held membership. Prescott stood down at the 1922 election. He was appointed a

in 1920 for his role is raising troops in

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Wal ...

and was knighted in 1921. He was also awarded the King Albert Medal by Albert I of Belgium. A longtime member of

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the coun ...

where he served as an

alderman An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members t ...

and vice-chairman, he represented the authority on the

Metropolitan Water Board The Metropolitan Water Board was a municipal body formed in 1903 to manage the water supply in London, UK. The members of the board were nominated by the local authorities within its area of supply. In 1904 it took over the water supply functi ...

(MWB). He was chairman of the MWB from 1928 to 1940, and two massive steam-driven pumping engines at Kempton Park Pumping Station were named "William" and "Bessie" after Prescott and his wife. He co-founded the Tottenham War Services Institute in 1920. He was appointed in 1924 as a Deputy Lieutenant of Middlesex, and in 1929 served as High Sheriff of the county. He was also a member of a number of other committees connected with Middlesex, a member of the

Worshipful Company of Paviors The Worshipful Company of Paviors is one of the livery companies of the City of London. The Paviors can trace their history back to medieval times; they were responsible for the paving and maintenance of London's streets. It received a royal ch ...

and the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass and a

Freeman of the City of London The Freedom of the City of London started around 1237 as the status of a 'free man' or 'citizen', protected by the charter of the City of London and not under the jurisdiction of a feudal lord. In the Middle Ages, this developed into a freedom or ...

. Prescott retired to

Godmanchester Godmanchester ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Huntingdonshire district of Cambridgeshire, England. It is separated from Huntingdon, to the north, by the valley of the River Great Ouse. Being on the Roman road network, the town has a lo ...

Huntingdonshire Huntingdonshire (; abbreviated Hunts) is a non-metropolitan district of Cambridgeshire and a historic county of England. The district council is based in Huntingdon. Other towns include St Ives, Godmanchester, St Neots and Ramsey. The popu ...

. In the

King's Birthday Honours The Birthday Honours, in some Commonwealth realms, mark the reigning British monarch's official birthday by granting various individuals appointment into national or dynastic orders or the award of decorations and medals. The honours are prese ...

1938, he was honoured for his work with the water board by being made a baronet, of Godmanchester in the county of Huntingdon.London Gazette Issue 34518 published on 7 June 1938. Page 1 of 26 in the same year he served as

High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire High may refer to: Science and technology * Height * High (atmospheric), a high-pressure area * High (computability), a quality of a Turing degree, in computability theory * High (tectonics), in geology an area where relative tectonic uplift to ...

. In 1898 he married Bessie Stanley of

Ambleside Ambleside is a town and former civil parish, now in the parish of Lakes, in Cumbria, in North West England. Historically in Westmorland, it marks the head (and sits on the east side of the northern headwater) of Windermere, England's larges ...

, and they had four children. He died at his Godmanchester home in June 1945 and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Richard Stanley Prescott. His second son, William Robert Stanley Prescott was MP for

Darwen Darwen is a market town and civil parish in the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The residents of the town are known as "Darreners". The A666 road passes through Darwen towards Blackburn to the north, Bolton to the s ...

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Prescott, William 1874 births 1945 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom UK MPs 1918–1922 Knights Bachelor Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Middlesex High Sheriffs of Middlesex High Sheriffs of Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire English civil engineers Members of Gray's Inn Royal Engineers officers