Henry George Purchase
Encyclopedia
Henry George Purchase was an English barrister
and Liberal
politician.
He was educated at King’s College, London where he received the law degree, LL.B
. In 1902, he married Kathleen Roberts the daughter of a Justice of the Peace
from Hollybrook in County Cork
. His wife died in 1910 and they do not appear to have had any children.
. He then joined the Northern Circuit, localised at Liverpool
and later acquired the degree of Doctor of Law
from London University.
During the Great War
Purchase performed various public tasks. In 1915, he was sent on a special mission to France for the purpose of organising a British and American hospital at Neuilly
. In 1917 he took a post in the enforcement branch of the Ministry of Food in London and was shortly afterwards made an assistant director of the Ministry.
in Lambeth
since 1906
decided not to contest the seat at the 1918 general election
, perhaps because at the age of 71 he felt it was time to stand down. This left a vacancy and Purchase was selected to fight the seat for the Liberals. Purchase stood as a supporter of the Coalition government of David Lloyd George
. It is not known of he was in receipt of the Coalition coupon
but he was to be opposed by a Unionist
, Colonel Francis Alfred Lucas, the former MP for Lowestoft
who had fought the seat in the general elections of January and December 1910. However Lucas died before polling day, invalidating the poll and the election in Kennington had to be run as a separate event about a fortnight after all other polling on 20 December 1918. Purchase faced two opponents, for the Unionists, Mrs Alice Lucas, the widow of Col. Lucas was chosen thus giving the Conservative Party its first woman candidate in a Parliamentary election.
Mr William Glennie fought the seat for the Labour Party
. Purchase may not have received the infamous ‘coupon’ but he did get a telegram
of support from Lloyd George. Despite the novelty of Mrs Lucas’ candidacy, the election seems to have been a lacklustre affair. The Times
newspaper reported on polling day that ‘....very little interest is being taken in the contest and a visitor to the constituency would have difficulty in knowing that an election is in progress.’ Purchase held the seat for the Liberals and the Coalition with a majority of 1,132 votes and 42% of the poll, Mrs Lucas polled 32% and Glennie came third with 25%. Although this was a good majority compared with the 55 votes by which Sir Stephen Collins had defeated Colonel Lucas in December 1910, it was perhaps closer than some commentators anticipated, given the landslide for the Coalition which had taken place overall. One historian has written of Mrs Lucas’ result that she was ‘probably the first woman to discover that there is nothing like bereavement, injury or childbirth to commend a candidate to the British electorate.’
in 1918, in its Enforcement Branch, Purchase was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary
to the Chairman of the National Insurance Joint Committee in 1919. He also served as Hon. Secretary to Coastwise Traffic Parliamentary Committee and was a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Lords and Commons.
as a Lloyd George National Liberal
against Labour and Conservative opponents. In a reversal of fortune from 1918, Purchase found himself at the bottom of the poll with just 16.6% of the votes cast. The seat was won for the Tories by Francis Capel Harrison with a majority of 2,411 votes.
Purchase made regular attempts to get back into the House of Commons
. He stood as Liberal candidate in Kidderminster
in 1923
and in the same seat in 1924
. He then contested Leicester South
in 1929
, Gainsborough
in 1931
and finally Blackpool
in 1935
- all without success.
. As well as commemorating the anniversary of Cromwell’s birth at an event in the City Temple
on 25 April 1899, and arranging for the erection of a statue of Cromwell in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament, the Tercentenary Committee also set up a fund for various charitable projects including improvements to Huntingdon Grammar School
where Cromwell was educated. But donations were also made to other good causes. In November 1899, the former Liberal prime minister, Lord Rosebery
was the leading speaker at a commemorative meeting which raised money for the Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund.
The following year Purchase became an Assistant Secretary of the New Reform Club, a club founded in 1900 as a social rallying point for what was then called ‘advanced Liberal organisations’ (that is those supporting radical policies such as those embodied in the Newcastle Programme
), although it harked back to more traditional Liberal approaches in its desire to bring about ‘peace, retrenchment and reform’ in the footsteps of the plans for the original Reform Club
. Robert Reid MP
was the Club’s first president. Purchase operated as Secretary from the Club’s premises in St Ermine’s Mansions in Westminster
.
Purchase also furthered his political ambitions by becoming the Secretary to the Committee of London Liberal MPs in which capacity he served from 1918–1922 and in 1930 he was a member of the Bar delegation to Canada and the United States.
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and Liberal
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...
politician.
Family and education
Henry George Purchase was the son of George and Victoria Purchase of Weymouth in DorsetDorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
He was educated at King’s College, London where he received the law degree, LL.B
Bachelor of Laws
The Bachelor of Laws is an undergraduate, or bachelor, degree in law originating in England and offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree...
. In 1902, he married Kathleen Roberts the daughter of a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
from Hollybrook in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
. His wife died in 1910 and they do not appear to have had any children.
Career
Following his university degree, Purchase took further law examinations and in 1913 he was called to the bar at the Middle TempleMiddle Temple
The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known 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 and Lincoln's Inn...
. He then joined the Northern Circuit, localised at Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
and later acquired the degree of Doctor of Law
Doctor of law
Doctor of Law or Doctor of Laws is a doctoral degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country, and includes degrees such as the LL.D., Ph.D., J.D., J.S.D., and Dr. iur.-Argentina:...
from London University.
During the Great War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
Purchase performed various public tasks. In 1915, he was sent on a special mission to France for the purpose of organising a British and American hospital at Neuilly
Neuilly
Neuilly is a common place name in France, deriving from the male given name Nobilis or Novellius:...
. In 1917 he took a post in the enforcement branch of the Ministry of Food in London and was shortly afterwards made an assistant director of the Ministry.
1918
Sir Stephen Collins, the Liberal MP for KenningtonKennington (UK Parliament constituency)
Kennington was a borough constituency centred on the Kennington district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
in Lambeth
Lambeth
Lambeth is a district of south London, England, and part of the London Borough of Lambeth. It is situated southeast of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...
since 1906
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**...
decided not to contest the seat at the 1918 general election
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...
, perhaps because at the age of 71 he felt it was time to stand down. This left a vacancy and Purchase was selected to fight the seat for the Liberals. Purchase stood as a supporter of the Coalition government of David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
. It is not known of he was in receipt of the Coalition coupon
Coalition Coupon
The ‘Coalition Coupon’, often referred to as ‘the coupon’, refers to the letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the United Kingdom general election, 1918 endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory in...
but he was to be opposed by a Unionist
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...
, Colonel Francis Alfred Lucas, the former MP for Lowestoft
Lowestoft (UK Parliament constituency)
Lowestoft was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Lowestoft in Suffolk. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by the first past the post voting system...
who had fought the seat in the general elections of January and December 1910. However Lucas died before polling day, invalidating the poll and the election in Kennington had to be run as a separate event about a fortnight after all other polling on 20 December 1918. Purchase faced two opponents, for the Unionists, Mrs Alice Lucas, the widow of Col. Lucas was chosen thus giving the Conservative Party its first woman candidate in a Parliamentary election.
Mr William Glennie fought the seat for the Labour Party
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...
. Purchase may not have received the infamous ‘coupon’ but he did get a telegram
Telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages via some form of signalling technology. Telegraphy requires messages to be converted to a code which is known to both sender and receiver...
of support from Lloyd George. Despite the novelty of Mrs Lucas’ candidacy, the election seems to have been a lacklustre affair. 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 reported on polling day that ‘....very little interest is being taken in the contest and a visitor to the constituency would have difficulty in knowing that an election is in progress.’ Purchase held the seat for the Liberals and the Coalition with a majority of 1,132 votes and 42% of the poll, Mrs Lucas polled 32% and Glennie came third with 25%. Although this was a good majority compared with the 55 votes by which Sir Stephen Collins had defeated Colonel Lucas in December 1910, it was perhaps closer than some commentators anticipated, given the landslide for the Coalition which had taken place overall. One historian has written of Mrs Lucas’ result that she was ‘probably the first woman to discover that there is nothing like bereavement, injury or childbirth to commend a candidate to the British electorate.’
Government office
Following his attachment as Assistant Director to the Ministry of FoodMinister of Food
The Minister of Food Control and the Minister of Food were British government ministerial posts separated from that of the Minister of Agriculture. A major task of the latter office was to oversee rationing in the United Kingdom arising out of World War II...
in 1918, in its Enforcement Branch, Purchase was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary is a role given to a United Kingdom Member of Parliament by a senior minister in government or shadow minister to act as their contact for the House of Commons; this role is junior to that of Parliamentary Under-Secretary, which is a ministerial post, salaried by...
to the Chairman of the National Insurance Joint Committee in 1919. He also served as Hon. Secretary to Coastwise Traffic Parliamentary Committee and was a member of the Ecclesiastical Committee of the Lords and Commons.
1922-1935
Purchase defended his seat at the 1922 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
as a Lloyd George National Liberal
National Liberal Party (UK, 1922)
The National Liberal Party was a liberal political party in the United Kingdom from 1922 to 1923. It was led by David Lloyd George and was, at the time, separate to the original Liberal Party.-History:...
against Labour and Conservative opponents. In a reversal of fortune from 1918, Purchase found himself at the bottom of the poll with just 16.6% of the votes cast. The seat was won for the Tories by Francis Capel Harrison with a majority of 2,411 votes.
Purchase made regular attempts to get back into the House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
. He stood as Liberal candidate in Kidderminster
Kidderminster (UK Parliament constituency)
Kidderminster was a parliamentary constituency in Worcestershire, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.-History:...
in 1923
United Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
and in the same seat in 1924
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
. He then contested Leicester South
Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)
Leicester South is a borough 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 voting system...
in 1929
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
, Gainsborough
Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
Gainsborough is a county 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....
in 1931
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...
and finally Blackpool
Blackpool (UK Parliament constituency)
Blackpool was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Blackpool in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
in 1935
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...
- all without success.
Other appointments
In 1899, Purchase had been appointed as one of the Hon Secretaries to the Tercentenary Celebration of the birth of Oliver CromwellOliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
. As well as commemorating the anniversary of Cromwell’s birth at an event in the City Temple
City Temple (London)
City Temple Church is a church on Holborn Viaduct in London, most famous as the preaching place of 20th century liberal theologian Leslie Weatherhead.Other notable preachers include Thomas Goodwin and Joseph Parker....
on 25 April 1899, and arranging for the erection of a statue of Cromwell in the grounds of the Houses of Parliament, the Tercentenary Committee also set up a fund for various charitable projects including improvements to Huntingdon Grammar School
Hinchingbrooke School
Hinchingbrooke School is a large school situated on the outskirts of Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire. Originally all of the surrounding land—including what is now Huntingdon Town—comprised the grounds of Hinchingbrooke House. In fact, the Town was given the name "Huntingdon" as the owners of the house...
where Cromwell was educated. But donations were also made to other good causes. In November 1899, the former Liberal prime minister, Lord Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
was the leading speaker at a commemorative meeting which raised money for the Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund.
The following year Purchase became an Assistant Secretary of the New Reform Club, a club founded in 1900 as a social rallying point for what was then called ‘advanced Liberal organisations’ (that is those supporting radical policies such as those embodied in the Newcastle Programme
The Newcastle Programme
The Newcastle Programme was a statement of policies passed by the representatives of the English and Welsh Liberal Associations meeting at the annual conference of the National Liberal Federation in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1891...
), although it harked back to more traditional Liberal approaches in its desire to bring about ‘peace, retrenchment and reform’ in the footsteps of the plans for the original Reform Club
Reform Club
The Reform Club is a gentlemen's club on the south side of Pall Mall, in central London. Originally for men only, it changed to include the admission of women in 1981. In 2011 the subscription for membership of the Reform Club as a full UK member is £1,344.00, with a one-off entrance fee of £875.00...
. Robert Reid MP
Robert Reid, 1st Earl Loreburn
Robert Threshie Reid, 1st Earl Loreburn GCMG, PC, QC was a British lawyer, judge and Liberal politician. He served as Lord Chancellor between 1905 and 1912.-Background and education:...
was the Club’s first president. Purchase operated as Secretary from the Club’s premises in St Ermine’s Mansions in Westminster
Westminster
Westminster is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster, England. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, southwest of the City of London and southwest of Charing Cross...
.
Purchase also furthered his political ambitions by becoming the Secretary to the Committee of London Liberal MPs in which capacity he served from 1918–1922 and in 1930 he was a member of the Bar delegation to Canada and the United States.
Publications
In 1931, Purchase produced a legal text book, The Law relating to Documents of Title to Goods, published by Sweet & Maxwell Ltd.External links
- Hansard 1803-2005:Contributions in Parliament by Henry George Purchase http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-henry-purchase