David Marshall Mason
Encyclopedia
David Marshall Mason was a Scottish Liberal
, later Liberal National
politician, banker and businessman.
, the eldest son of Stephen Mason
, himself a Liberal MP and Martha Marshall. He was educated at Partick Academy and Kelvinside Academy
, Glasgow, Craigmount in Edinburgh
and then at Glasgow University. He also studied privately in Germany
. He married Mary Crouse of Akron, Ohio
who was the daughter of the Hon. George W. Crouse
, formerly a Republican
Member of Congress. They had two sons and five daughters.
. He was described by The Times
newspaper in 1910 as having banking and railways interests. Mason acquired a reputation as an expert on the economy, financial and trading questions. He was a founder member of chairman of the Executive Committee of the Sound Currency Association
.
at the 1906 general election
where he also stood, again unsuccessfully, in January 1910. He was however returned in the December 1910 election as MP for Coventry
when he gained the seat from the sitting Conservative MP, John Kenneth Foster
. He held Coventry until 1918
.Mason tended to be an opponent of the coalition government during the First World War pressing in Parliament for the government to explore opportunities for peacemaking and supporting votes which placed him in ‘the pacifist minority’. He was often described as an Independent or Independent Liberal in the press and stood as an Independent at the 1918 general election. The coalition coupon was given to Edward Manville, a Conservative
who was the victor in a contest involving five candidates. Like other Liberal MPs who had taken an unpopular stance over aspects of war policy, Mason was rejected by the electorate, coming fifth of the five candidates in the poll.
Mason tried to return to Parliament at each of the next three general elections for the Romford
Division of Essex, and then for Barnstaple
in North Devon at the 1929 general election
.
Mason was certainly associated with radical causes. He was a strong proponent of Irish Home Rule and supporter of John Redmond
. He was connected to the Peace Society and opposed greater spending on arms and armaments and was a member of a deputation to Liberal prime minister H H Asquith to advise him of the uneasiness of the Parliamentary Liberal Party regarding increasing spending on the Navy. All this, and his criticisms of the government got him into trouble with Coventry Liberal Association who announced in January 1914 that they would be finding a new candidate for the next election In response Mason said he would stand as an Independent Liberal in opposition to the official candidate. He was a member of the Liberal Foreign Affairs Committee, a private backbench group set up in December 1911. This was an essentially radical organisation and critical of the direction and conduct of the foreign policy of Sir Edward Grey. In July 1914, a dozen or so of the group, including Mason met and passed a resolution urging British neutrality in the emerging crisis. Mason was a signatory to the letter which the group sent to Grey covering the text of the resolution and urging him to use the government’s good offices to secure peace.
Mason was an opponent of the Bill introducing conscription
in 1916, being one of one 34 Liberal MPs to vote against it. He was also in favour of votes for women and was identified by Sylvia Pankhurst
as a fervent supporter of the Suffragette
cause inside and outside Parliament.
However it is clear that Mason was far more conservative on issues surrounding the economy. He kept a high political profile during the 1920s with his chairmanship of the Sound Currency Association and many letters to the Times newspaper on various aspects of the economy, trade and foreign policy . He was described as a ‘notorious advocate of a return to the gold standard’. However he may have been moving in that direction far earlier as he was re-elected to Parliament at the 1931 general election
as a Liberal candidate in East Edinburgh
promising to support National Government of Ramsay Macdonald
, the official position of the Liberal Party, and defeating the sitting Labour
MP, Drummond Shiels
. At this election, the Conservative candidate J Carmont had withdrawn in favour of Mason because he pledged support to the government but the honeymoon with the Unionists did not last and Mason got into trouble with the local Unionist association for voting against the government just a few weeks later. By the time of the 1935 general election
he had gone into opposition with his Liberal colleagues, and so faced a Unionist opponent. However the seat was won back by Labour and Mason finished bottom of the poll.
in Worcestershire
.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
, later Liberal National
National Liberal Party (UK, 1931)
The National Liberal Party, known until 1948 as the Liberal National Party, was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1931 to 1968...
politician, banker and businessman.
Family and Education
Mason was born at Campsie, near GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, the eldest son of Stephen Mason
Stephen Mason (MP)
Stephen Mason was a Scottish Liberal politician.-Family and business:Moon was born at Kennoway in the Kingdom of Fife. He was educated locally in a private school. He married Martha Marshall of Machan in Lanarkshire....
, himself a Liberal MP and Martha Marshall. He was educated at Partick Academy and Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy
Kelvinside Academy is a private school in the City of Glasgow, Scotland, founded in 1878. It has a capacity of 640 pupils and spans two years of Junior Start , six years of Junior School , and seven years of Senior School , comprising fifteen years in all...
, Glasgow, Craigmount in Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and then at Glasgow University. He also studied privately in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
. He married Mary Crouse of Akron, Ohio
Akron, Ohio
Akron , is the fifth largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Summit County. It is located in the Great Lakes region approximately south of Lake Erie along the Little Cuyahoga River. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 199,110. The Akron Metropolitan...
who was the daughter of the Hon. George W. Crouse
George W. Crouse
George Washington Crouse was a U.S. Representative from Ohio.Born in Tallmadge, Ohio, Crouse attended the common schools.He taught school for five years.He moved to Akron, Ohio....
, formerly a Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
Member of Congress. They had two sons and five daughters.
Business interests
Mason went into banking, becoming an Associate of the Institute of BankersInstitute of Bankers
The ifs School of Finance, founded in 1879 as the Institute of Bankers, is a registered educational charity incorporated by Royal Charter...
. He was described by The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper in 1910 as having banking and railways interests. Mason acquired a reputation as an expert on the economy, financial and trading questions. He was a founder member of chairman of the Executive Committee of the Sound Currency Association
Sound Currency Association
The Sound Currency Association was a British pressure group formed in early 1920 as a result of a conference of bankers, traders and economists held in December 1919 to consider the financial outlook which seemed to observers to be particularly grave....
.
Political career
Mason first contested a Parliamentary seat for the Liberals at Glasgow, TradestonGlasgow Tradeston (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Tradeston was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1955. It elected one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...
at the 1906 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
where he also stood, again unsuccessfully, in January 1910. He was however returned in the December 1910 election as MP for Coventry
Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)
Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the House of Commons of England and its successors, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom....
when he gained the seat from the sitting Conservative MP, John Kenneth Foster
John Kenneth Foster
John Kenneth Foster was a British Conservative Party politician.He was MP for Coventry in 1910. Like a few Conservatives, he took the seat in the first general election of January that year, but lost it in December 1910....
. He held Coventry until 1918
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
.Mason tended to be an opponent of the coalition government during the First World War pressing in Parliament for the government to explore opportunities for peacemaking and supporting votes which placed him in ‘the pacifist minority’. He was often described as an Independent or Independent Liberal in the press and stood as an Independent at the 1918 general election. The coalition coupon was given to Edward Manville, a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
who was the victor in a contest involving five candidates. Like other Liberal MPs who had taken an unpopular stance over aspects of war policy, Mason was rejected by the electorate, coming fifth of the five candidates in the poll.
Mason tried to return to Parliament at each of the next three general elections for the Romford
Romford (UK Parliament constituency)
Romford is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
Division of Essex, and then for Barnstaple
Barnstaple (UK Parliament constituency)
Barnstaple was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Barnstaple in Devon, in the South West of England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until 1885, when its representation was reduced to one member.The constituency...
in North Devon at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
.
Radical, centrist or right-wing?
Described as being on the Radical wing of the Liberal party especially in relation to foreign policy, Mason played a leading role in condemning Italian atrocities in Tripolitania during the war between Italy and Turkey in 1911 and urging British government intervention. Attempting to rally an effective protest Mason said the Italian invasion had provoked an outburst of indignation from the friends of freedom and foes of aggression’ in Britain. However another historian has called Mason a ‘Liberal Centrist’ typical of the sort of candidates being adopted by Liberal Associations in the hope of attracting working class votes whilst maintaining the support of traditional Liberals.Mason was certainly associated with radical causes. He was a strong proponent of Irish Home Rule and supporter of John Redmond
John Redmond
John Edward Redmond was an Irish nationalist politician, barrister, MP in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and leader of the Irish Parliamentary Party from 1900 to 1918...
. He was connected to the Peace Society and opposed greater spending on arms and armaments and was a member of a deputation to Liberal prime minister H H Asquith to advise him of the uneasiness of the Parliamentary Liberal Party regarding increasing spending on the Navy. All this, and his criticisms of the government got him into trouble with Coventry Liberal Association who announced in January 1914 that they would be finding a new candidate for the next election In response Mason said he would stand as an Independent Liberal in opposition to the official candidate. He was a member of the Liberal Foreign Affairs Committee, a private backbench group set up in December 1911. This was an essentially radical organisation and critical of the direction and conduct of the foreign policy of Sir Edward Grey. In July 1914, a dozen or so of the group, including Mason met and passed a resolution urging British neutrality in the emerging crisis. Mason was a signatory to the letter which the group sent to Grey covering the text of the resolution and urging him to use the government’s good offices to secure peace.
Mason was an opponent of the Bill introducing conscription
Conscription
Conscription is the compulsory enlistment of people in some sort of national service, most often military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and continues in some countries to the present day under various names...
in 1916, being one of one 34 Liberal MPs to vote against it. He was also in favour of votes for women and was identified by Sylvia Pankhurst
Sylvia Pankhurst
Estelle Sylvia Pankhurst was an English campaigner for the suffragist movement in the United Kingdom. She was for a time a prominent left communist who then devoted herself to the cause of anti-fascism.-Early life:...
as a fervent supporter of the Suffragette
Suffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
cause inside and outside Parliament.
However it is clear that Mason was far more conservative on issues surrounding the economy. He kept a high political profile during the 1920s with his chairmanship of the Sound Currency Association and many letters to the Times newspaper on various aspects of the economy, trade and foreign policy . He was described as a ‘notorious advocate of a return to the gold standard’. However he may have been moving in that direction far earlier as he was re-elected to Parliament at the 1931 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
as a Liberal candidate in East Edinburgh
Edinburgh East (UK Parliament constituency)
Edinburgh East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
promising to support National Government of Ramsay Macdonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
, the official position of the Liberal Party, and defeating the sitting Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
MP, Drummond Shiels
Drummond Shiels
Sir Drummond Shiels MC was a Scottish Labour politician.The son of James Drummond Shiels and Agnes Campbell of Edinburgh, he was educated at Edinburgh University where he graduated MB ChB....
. At this election, the Conservative candidate J Carmont had withdrawn in favour of Mason because he pledged support to the government but the honeymoon with the Unionists did not last and Mason got into trouble with the local Unionist association for voting against the government just a few weeks later. By the time of the 1935 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
he had gone into opposition with his Liberal colleagues, and so faced a Unionist opponent. However the seat was won back by Labour and Mason finished bottom of the poll.
Death
Mason died on 19 March 1945 in a Nursing home in MalvernMalvern, Worcestershire
Malvern is a town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, governed by Malvern Town Council. As of the 2001 census it has a population of 28,749, and includes the historical settlement and commercial centre of Great Malvern on the steep eastern flank of the Malvern Hills, and the former...
in Worcestershire
Worcestershire
Worcestershire is a non-metropolitan county, established in antiquity, located in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire" NUTS 2 region...
.
Publications
- Macedonia and Great Britain’s Responsibility; T Fisher Unwin, 1903
- Six Years of Politics, 1910-1916; J M Murray, 1917
- National Currency and Finance Reform; Loxley Bros. 1923
- Monetary Policy, 1914–1928; M Hopkinson & Co, 1928
- National Finance and the Future of Gold; National Liberal Club, 1937
- Stabilization of the Currency: its bearing on foreign trade; Industrial Publications, 1937