William Mather Rutherford Pringle (22 January 1874 – 1 April 1928) was a

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician in the

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who served as a

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 of ...

(MP) from 1910 to 1918 and again from 1922 to 1924. Pringle was educated at

Glasgow University , image = UofG Coat of Arms.png , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms Flag , latin_name = Universitas Glasguensis , motto = la, Via, Veritas, Vita , ...

and was called to the Bar of the

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1904. Pringle's son, also William Pringle later became a politician and trade unionist.David E. Martin, "Pringle, William Joseph Sommerville", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.II, pp.312–313

Political career

He first stood for parliament at the 1906 elections; Pringle was elected as member for Lanarkshire North West in January 1910. It was an exceptional result as it was one of only a handful of gains made by the Liberal party at those elections, and achieved, despite the presence of a Labour candidate. In 1914, as a back-bench Liberal MP, he supported Britain going to war in Europe but he opposed the introduction of Conscription being planned by Asquith. Although Pringle remained a supporter of the party led by Asquith, he was very critical of the party leader during the war. After the war, he returned to being a strong supporter of Asquith. He was described as "one of the ablest Parliamentary tacticians of the 20th Century" and also as "one of the most intransigeant and pertinacious of anti-Lloyd George Liberals". In 1916, when Lloyd George took over as Prime Minister, Pringle, along with

James Hogge James Myles Hogge (19 April 1873 – 27 October 1928) was a British social researcher and Liberal politician. Hogge was educated at the Edinburgh Normal School, Moray House School of Education, and the University of Edinburgh, where he was pr ...

, became the most vocal critics of the Prime Minister from the Liberal benches. After the war, the Pringle-Hogge partnership ended when Pringle became a loyal supporter of Asquith, while Hogge looked to Lloyd George for peacetime inspiration.''The Downfall of the Liberal Party'' by Trevor Wilson

966 Year 966 (Roman numerals, CMLXVI) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * 23 June - Arab-Byzantine Wars, Byzantine-Arab War: Arab-Byzantine ...

/ref> His Lanarkshire seat was abolished as part of the boundary changes for the 1918 elections, so he had to look for a new seat. Standing as a Liberal without the support from the Coalition government, he unsuccessfully contested Glasgow Springburn at the 1918 general election He sought a return to parliament at

Rusholme Rusholme () is an area of Manchester, England, two miles south of the city centre. The population of the ward at the 2011 census was 13,643. Rusholme is bounded by Chorlton-on-Medlock to the north, Victoria Park and Longsight to the east, F ...

at a

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in 1919. During the Rusholme by-election, he declared for a Capital Levy which was not party policy. Still keen to return to parliament, he fought another by-election; At the 1922 general election he was elected as

for

Penistone Penistone ( ) is a market town and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England, which had a population of 22,909 at the 2011 census. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is west of Barnsley, n ...

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, defeating the sitting

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP William Gillis, who had narrowly beaten Pringle to win the seat at a

in 1921. Pringle held the seat in 1923, By 1924 he had become a member of Asquith's Liberal Shadow Cabinet, and he was a vocal critic of the Labour Government, accusing it of not getting ahead with reforming measures. He was defeated at the 1924 general election by Labour's

Rennie Smith Rennie Smith (14 April 1888 – 25 May 1962) was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1924 to 1931. At the 1924 general election he was elected as MP for Penistone in Yorkshire, defeat ...

; After his election defeat in 1924, Pringle led Liberal candidate criticisms of Lloyd George for failing to make sufficient money from the Lloyd George Fund available to help the Liberal campaign.''Tempestuous Journey'' by Frank Owen

954 Year 954 ( CMLIV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Spring – A Hungarian army led by Bulcsú crosses the Rhine. He camps at Worms in th ...

/ref> He helped to form the Liberal and Radical Candidates Association, becoming its inaugural Chairman and argued that this body should be part of the process in electing the next Chairman of the Liberal Parliamentary party. He hoped that this would help prevent Lloyd George taking that position but Asquith, now out of parliament, did not support his proposal and Lloyd George took over as Chairman. He stood in the 1925 Ayr Burghs by-election, but finished a poor third After Lloyd George took over as Leader from Asquith, Pringle put his efforts into a newly created body called the Liberal Council, which sought to rally those in the Liberal Party who opposed Lloyd George. He did not stand for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

again and died in 1928 aged 54.

References

External links

*
Parliamentary Archives, The Political Papers of William Mather Rutherford Pringle, MP
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pringle, William 1874 births 1928 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow Members of the Middle Temple Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Scottish constituencies Scottish Liberal Party MPs UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 Politics of Penistone