Sir John Warren Loveridge (9 September 1925 – 13 November 2007) was a British

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 ...

Member of Parliament (MP) for 13 years, from 1970 to 1983. He was also the owner of a London secretarial college, a farmer in the West Country, and a published poet and an abstract sculptor.Obituary in ''The Independent'', 20 November 2007

Early life

Loveridge was born in Bowdon in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, the son of Claude W Loveridge and his wife, Emily (née Malone). His father was a civil engineer and businessman who had been wounded at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

, and his mother founded St Godric's College, a secretarial college in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, in 1921. He was educated privately, and studied engineering at

St John's College, Cambridge St John's College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the House of Tudor, Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corpo ...

. After graduating, he worked in aviation, developing fighter aircraft from 1945 to 1947, but soon became the Vice-Principal of St Godric's College. He became Principal in 1954, retaining that position until the college closed in 1990. Author John Fowles taught at the college for nearly 10 years. Loveridge assisted a son, Michael, to founding

Devonshire House Preparatory School Devonshire House preparatory school is a co-educational independent IAPS day school for children from 2 to 11 for girls and to 13 for boys. The school is based in four large Victorian houses in Hampstead. The school currently has about 640 pupi ...

, Loveridge and his wife also ran Lyndhurst House Preparatory School, both in Hampstead.

Political career

Loveridge fought several elections for the Liberal Party, but joined the Conservative Party in 1949. He contested

Aberavon Aberavon ( cy, Aberafan) is a town and community in Neath Port Talbot county borough, Wales. The town derived its name from being near the mouth of the river Afan, which also gave its name to a medieval lordship. Today it is essentially a distri ...

in the 1951 general election, a Labour Party

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...

, and stood unsuccessfully for the London County Council in Brixton in 1952. He served as a Conservative member of

Hampstead Borough Council Hampstead was a civil parish and metropolitan borough in London, England. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex, governed by an administrative vestry. The parish was included in the area of responsibility of the Metropolitan Boa ...

from 1953 to 1959. He became a magistrate in London in 1963, but also acquired farming interests in the West Country. He bought the Bindon Manor estate near Axmouth in Devon in 1962, and restored the house.Obituary in ''The Daily Telegraph'', 29 November 2007
/ref> He fought

Hornchurch Hornchurch is a suburban town in East London, England, and part of the London Borough of Havering. It is located east-northeast of Charing Cross. It comprises a number of shopping streets and a large residential area. It historically formed ...

at the 1970 general election, winning back a seat that the Conservative Party had lost in 1966 with a majority of 5,830. After boundary changes in 1974, he fought the more marginal seat of Upminster, winning the two elections in February and October 1974 by 1,008 and then 694 votes respectively (meanwhile, Labour regained Hornchurch). He built a larger majority of 9,065 in 1979, and served on several influential

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

committees in the House of Commons. He retained the seat until he retired from parliament in 1983 to concentrate on his business interests. He continued to work for local constituency and regional party committees, and was knighted in 1988. He was the founder of the Dinosaurs Club for former Conservative MPs, serving as its chairman and later president, and also a liveryman of the

Girdlers' Company The Worshipful Company of Girdlers is one of the Livery Companies of the City of London. Girdlers were granted the right to regulate their trade in the City from 1327 and obtained a Royal Charter in 1449. Girdlers, or makers of belts and gi ...

After Parliament

He retired to his farm in Devon, where his artistic side flourished in later years. He exhibited his contemporary sculptures and paintings in Devon, and held one-man exhibitions at the Royal British Society of Sculptors in 2000 and at Norwich Cathedral in 2001. He was also a published poet, with works including ''God Save the Queen: sonnets of Elizabeth I'' (1981), ''Hunter of the Moon'' (1983) and ''Hunter of the Sun'' (1984). He also published two books on sculpture, ''New Sculpture in Stone, Metal, Wood and Glass'' (2000) and ''To Seek Is To Find'' (2005), and one on business matters.

Family

He married Jean Chivers in 1954. They had three sons and two daughters. He died in London in 2007 aged 82.

References

External links

* *'' Times Guide to the House of Commons, 1979''
Obituary in ''The Guardian'', 8 January 2008
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Loveridge, John Warren 1925 births 2007 deaths Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Knights Bachelor UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 Members of Hampstead Metropolitan Borough Council