Stephen Goodwin Howard

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 ...

(1867 – 13 November 1934) was a British

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

politician.

Family

Howard was the son of Stephen Howard of

Kirtling Kirtling, together with Kirtling Green and Kirtling Towers, is a scattered settlement in the south-eastern edge of the English county of Cambridgeshire. It forms a civil parish with the nearby village of Upend to its north. The population of the ...

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. His family home was at The Moat,

Upend Upend is a hamlet in the east of Cambridgeshire. It is south-east of Newmarket and lies in the same parish as Kirtling. Until the 15th century Upend was called Upheme which is old English for "the up-dwelling". Upend may once have been a sepa ...

. In 1895 he married Mary Maude Hailey. They a son and two daughters. Their son Stephen Gerald Howard QC was

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

MP for

from 1950 to 1961.

Career

Howard described his profession as a tenant farmer and is recorded as owning land in Kirtling, very near the border with

West Suffolk West Suffolk may refer to the following places in Suffolk, England: * West Suffolk (county), a county until 1974 * West Suffolk District, a local government district established in 2019 * West Suffolk (UK Parliament constituency), an electoral dist ...

. He is described as one of the area's principal landowners. Howard also served in the 2nd Volunteer Battalion of the

Cambridgeshire Regiment The Cambridgeshire Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Army, and was part of the Army Reserve (United Kingdom), Territorial Army. Originating in units of Volunteer Force (Great Britain), rifle volunteers formed in 1860, the regiment ...

achieving the rank of Major.

Parliamentary politics

Howard was President of East Cambridgeshire Liberal Association and was then selected as the candidate for the Sudbury Division of Suffolk for the 1918 general election. Although he was known to be a supporter of prime minister

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during t ...

he was elected as a Liberal without receiving

the coalition coupon 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 ...

. However, once elected, he was one of nine such MPs to accept the Coalition

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

in the ensuing Parliament. Another historian says there were only eight such MPs but still includes Howard in the list. Howard was also one of a very few Liberals to win in a previously Conservative seat in 1918, so strong was the coalition government at that election. He defeated Captain R G Proby, who was standing as a Coalition Unionist Howard also stood in Sudbury at the 1922 general election this time as a Lloyd George National Liberal. However he now faced Tory and Independent Liberal opponents and lost to Herbert Mercer, the Conservative.

Cambridgeshire politics

Howard was a member of

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a mem ...

. He was sometime chairman of the Main Roads Committee and of the Roads and Bridges Committee. He also served on the Joint Committee. He was created an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

and became chairman of the County Council in 1921. Howard was appointed a

in 1918. He was also appointed a deputy lieutenant of Cambridgeshire and served as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

.''Who was Who,'' OUP 2007

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Stephen 1867 births 1934 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–1922 Cambridgeshire Regiment officers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of Cambridgeshire English justices of the peace People from East Cambridgeshire District Members of Cambridgeshire County Council National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians 19th-century British Army personnel