Sir Ellis William Hume-Williams, 1st Baronet

KBE KBE may refer to: * Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, post-nominal letters * Knowledge-based engineering Knowledge-based engineering (KBE) is the application of knowledge-based systems technology to the domain o ...

, PC, KC (19 August 1863 – 4 February 1947) was a British barrister and Conservative Party politician. Hume-Williams was a

King's Counsel A King's Counsel (Post-nominal letters, post-nominal initials KC) is a senior lawyer appointed by the monarch (or their Viceroy, viceregal representative) of some Commonwealth realms as a "Counsel learned in the law". When the reigning monarc ...

(KC), and in October 1901 was appointed Recorder of the Borough of

Bury St Edmunds Bury St Edmunds (), commonly referred to locally as ''Bury,'' is a cathedral as well as market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk District, West Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer map 211: Bury St. Edmunds an ...

Biography

Born to an

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

family with Welsh roots, Hume Williams' father was a doctor turned lawyer who built up a large practice in London, 'and was for a time on the staff of

the Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal, founded in England in 1823. It is one of the world's highest-impact academic journals and also one of the oldest medical journals still in publication. The journal publishes ...

. Ellis Hume-Williams attended schools in Brighton, Germany, France and Hitchin, before going up to

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

, where he attended Trinity Hall. Williams showed an interest in politics from an early age, perhaps unsurprisingly, since his father was a member of the Junior Carlton Club, a London Gentlemen's Club associated with the Conservative Party. Hume-Williams was selected to fight North Monmouthshire Constituency at the 1895 general election, losing to

Reginald McKenna Reginald McKenna (6 July 1863 – 6 September 1943) was a British banker and Liberal politician. His first Cabinet post under Henry Campbell-Bannerman was as President of the Board of Education, after which he served as First Lord of the Admira ...

, but reducing McKenna's majority by almost 400 votes. He fought the Frome constituency at the 1900 general election, but again failed to be elected. At the

1906 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1906. Asia * 1906 Persian legislative election Europe * 1906 Belgian general election * 1906 Croatian parliamentary election * Denmark ** 1906 Danish Folketing election ** 1906 Danish Landsting e ...

, Williams fought the North Kensington constituency, another unsuccessful fight. In his autobiography, Hume Williams claimed that he could have secured election for the safe Marylebone constituency, but did not wish to let the North Kensington Conservatives down. At the

January 1910 general election The January 1910 UK general election was held from 15 January to 10 February 1910. Called amid a constitutional crisis after the Conservative-dominated House of Lords rejected the People's Budget, the Liberal government, seeking a mandate, los ...

, Hume-Williams was elected as Member of Parliament for the Bassetlaw constituency in

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. He was created a baronet, of Ewhurst, in the County of Surrey, in 1922. He lost his seat at the 1929 general election to

Malcolm MacDonald Malcolm John MacDonald (17 August 1901 – 11 January 1981) was a British politician and diplomat. He was initially a Labour Party (UK), Labour Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP), but in 1931 followed his father ...

(son of the Labour Party leader

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

), and 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. He was made a

Privy Counsellor The Privy Council, formally His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the sovereign of the United Kingdom. Its members, known as privy counsellors, are mainly senior politicians who are current or former ...

in July 1929, shortly after his electoral defeat. Williams published his autobiography, ''The World, The House and the Bar'' in 1930. Besides giving details of his Parliamentary career, this book outlines a number of the legal cases in which he was involved over the years.

Arms

References

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hume-Williams, William E 1863 births 1947 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom