Ernest Henry Lamb, 1st Baron Rochester,

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(4 September 1876 – 13 January 1955) was a British Liberal and National Labour politician who served as Paymaster-General from 1931 to 1935 in the

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Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

. The eldest son of Benjamin Lamb of Yorkshire, Ernest was educated at Dulwich College and

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before training as an

electrical engineer Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

. He specialised in the new technology of telephony, travelling extensively in Europe in this twenties. He returned to England and formed the New System Private Telephone Company, and was also chairman of the family firm of transport contractors, Lamb Sons and Company. He entered public life when he was elected to the common council of the City of London, later becoming a deputy alderman and lieutenant of the city. He subsequently became a member of the

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and chairman of the Chatham and District Water Board. He then turned to national politics and was elected to parliament for Rochester in 1906 as a Liberal. He lost his seat in the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. The government called the election in the midst of a constitutional crisis caused by the rejection of the People's Budget by the Conservative-dominat ...

, but regained the seat in the

December 1910 general election The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held before the History of the United Kingdom during the First World War, First Wo ...

. He continued to hold this seat until the constituency was abolished in 1918. Lamb was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1907, and was

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in 1914. Lamb joined the Labour Party in 1929. On 23 January 1931 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rochester, of Rochester in the County of Kent. He was a supporter of

after the latter formed the

in August 1931 and his subsequent expulsion from the Labour Party, and became a member of the National Labour Organisation, founded the same year by supporters of MacDonald. In November 1931 MacDonald appointed him Paymaster-General in the National Government. He continued to hold this post until 1935, and during the same period also represented the

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in the House of Lords. After 1935 he took little further part in politics, devoting himself to religious and philanthropic activities. A Methodist, Rochester had acted as

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presidi ...

since the nineteenth century. in 1941 he was elected vice president of the Methodist Conference. He served for many years on the board of the National Children's Home and Orphanage, was secretary of the Wesleyan Temperance and Social Welfare Department and vice president of the

British and Foreign Bible Society The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply the Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world. The Soc ...

. He married Rosa Dorothea Hurst, daughter of William John Hurst of Drumaness,

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, in 1913, and they had six children. He died at his home in Croydon,

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, in January 1955, aged 78, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest son Foster Charles Lowry Lamb.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rochester, Ernest Lamb, 1st Baron 1876 births 1955 deaths Barons in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Lamb, Ernest Labour Party (UK) hereditary peers Lamb, Ernest UK MPs who were granted peerages People educated at Dulwich College People educated at Wycliffe College, Gloucestershire British electrical engineers National Labour (UK) politicians Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Barons created by George V