Max Townley
Encyclopedia
Maximilian Gowran Townley (22 June 1864 – 12 December 1942) was a British
land agent, agriculturist and politician. He served one term in Parliament as a Conservative
, and later campaigned for policies to support agriculture. At the end of his life he chaired the River Great Ouse
Catchment Board, where he attempted to prevent damage to Fenland
farms caused by regular flooding.
from 1874 to 1893, and was born at Fulbourn
. He attended Eton College
and Trinity College
, Cambridge
. He went into business as a land agent
to Lord St John of Bletso
based in Melchbourne near Sharnbrook
in Bedfordshire
. In 1908 he was appointed as a Justice of the Peace
of the county of Bedfordshire. He was also Chairman of Norfolk Estuary Company.
In September 1911, Townley was unanimously adopted as the Conservative candidate for Wisbech or North Cambridgeshire
division, a seat held narrowly by Hon Neil James Archibald Primrose
for the Liberal Party. However when Primrose was killed during the First World War, the Conservative Association felt obliged to endorse the Liberal candidate Colin Coote
by the terms of the electoral pact. During the war, Townley was a temporary Major in the Remount Service, attached to General Headquarters.
on 18 November 1918, where he received the Coalition Coupon
in opposition to Sir Arthur Black
, incumbent MP for Biggleswade
who was a Liberal supporter of H. H. Asquith
. He won the seat with a majority of 1,721, In Parliament, Townley concentrated on agricultural issues on which he had professional knowledge; he was a member of a delegation from the Agriculture Committee of the House of Commons to see the Prime Minister in July 1919.
When the Agriculture Bill
was before Parliament in 1920, Townley defended the inclusion of a clause giving compensation to agricultural tenants for disturbance by their landlords, arguing it would not harm any good landlord. He made it clear that his commitment to agriculture dominated other issues, joining a protest in July 1921 against the Government's Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Bill which removed subsidy. Townley asked rhetorically what the Government intended to do with ex-servicemen who had been encouraged to go into farming, and whether it was better "to spend money on British agriculture than to seek to make Palestine
a land fit for Hebrews to live in?" He was within the mainstream of the Conservative Party in general, not joining with the right-wing in seeking to limit spending. He opposed making British Summer Time
permanent.
Townley lost his seat by 2,737 votes to Frederick Linfield
of the Liberal Party. He retained his interest in politics and in November 1923 he was adopted as Conservative candidate for Isle of Ely
(the successor to Wisbech) where the sitting MP Col Norman Coates
was standing down although threatening to stand as an "Independent Agricultural" candidate. Coates eventually decided not to stand, but Townley lost the election by 467 votes. In June 1924 Townley was co-opted as a member of the Grand Council of the Primrose League
.
, and applauded when Stanley Baldwin
endorsed the policy in 1930. When the Land Drainage Act 1930 created 39 catchment boards for the main rivers, Townley was appointed to that for the River Great Ouse
. In 1936 he was chairman of the executive council of the Catchment Boards Association.
of the area of the catchment board was so low that the cost of the works would be crippling, and called for Government help. Under his chairmanship but against his advice, the Catchment Board decided in January 1938 that it could no longer finance their projected outfall scheme to relieve flooding. Townley denied that the Board was in conflict with the Ministry of Agriculture which had agreed to finance 95% of the scheme, remarking that not even that Ministry could over-rule the Treasury
.
. In July 1941 they left Heydon, Cambridgeshire
to live in Monadh Liath
near Aviemore
in Inverness-shire
. He died there on 12 December 1942.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
land agent, agriculturist and politician. He served one term in Parliament as 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...
, and later campaigned for policies to support agriculture. At the end of his life he chaired the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
Catchment Board, where he attempted to prevent damage to Fenland
The Fens
The Fens, also known as the , are a naturally marshy region in eastern England. Most of the fens were drained several centuries ago, resulting in a flat, damp, low-lying agricultural region....
farms caused by regular flooding.
Early life
Townley was the fifth son of Charles Watson Townley, who was Lord Lieutenant of CambridgeshireLord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire
This is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. The title Lord Lieutenant is given to the British monarch's personal representative in the counties of the United Kingdom. The Lord Lieutenant is supported by a Vice Lord Lieutenant and Deputy Lieutenants which he or...
from 1874 to 1893, and was born at Fulbourn
Fulbourn
Fulbourn is a village in Cambridgeshire, England. The term for a resident of the village is "Fulbourner".- Geography :Fulbourn lies about five miles south-east of the centre of Cambridge, separated from the outer city boundary by farmland and the grounds of Fulbourn Hospital. The village itself is...
. He attended Eton College
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
and Trinity College
Trinity College, Cambridge
Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...
, Cambridge
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
. He went into business as a land agent
Land agent
Land agent may be used in at least three different contexts.Traditionally, a land agent was a managerial employee who conducted the business affairs of a large landed estate for a member of the landed gentry of the United Kingdom, supervising the farming of the property by farm labourers and/or...
to Lord St John of Bletso
St Andrew St John, 16th Baron St John of Bletso
St Andrew St John, 16th Baron St John of Bletso was an English peer.St John was the eldest son of St Andrew Beauchamp St John, 15th Baron St John and his wife Eleanor Hussey. He succeeded his father to become the 16th Lord St John, in 1874 and lived at Melchbourne...
based in Melchbourne near Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook
Sharnbrook is a village and civil parish located in the Bedford Borough of Bedfordshire, England.The settlement was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as a parish within the Hundred of Willey but was probably first developed in Saxon times. The oldest surviving building, St Peter's Church, is...
in Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire
Bedfordshire is a ceremonial county of historic origin in England that forms part of the East of England region.It borders Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Northamptonshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the west and Hertfordshire to the south-east....
. In 1908 he was appointed as 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...
of the county of Bedfordshire. He was also Chairman of Norfolk Estuary Company.
In September 1911, Townley was unanimously adopted as the Conservative candidate for Wisbech or North Cambridgeshire
Wisbech (UK Parliament constituency)
Wisbech is a former United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was created upon the abolition of an undivided Cambridgeshire county constituency in 1885 and was itself abolished in 1918.-Boundaries:...
division, a seat held narrowly by Hon Neil James Archibald Primrose
Neil James Archibald Primrose
Captain The Honourable Neil James Archibald Primrose PC, MC , was a British Liberal politician and soldier. The second son of Prime Minister Lord Rosebery, he represented Wisbech in parliament from 1910 to 1917 and served as Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in 1915 and as...
for the Liberal Party. However when Primrose was killed during the First World War, the Conservative Association felt obliged to endorse the Liberal candidate Colin Coote
Colin Coote
Sir Colin Reith Coote DSO was a British journalist and Liberal politician. For fourteen years he was the editor of the Daily Telegraph.-Biography:...
by the terms of the electoral pact. During the war, Townley was a temporary Major in the Remount Service, attached to General Headquarters.
Parliament
Townley was adopted as Conservative candidate for Mid BedfordshireMid Bedfordshire (UK Parliament constituency)
Mid Bedfordshire 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...
on 18 November 1918, where he received 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...
in opposition to Sir Arthur Black
Arthur Black (Liberal politician)
Sir Arthur William Black was an English lace manufacturer from Nottingham and a Liberal Party politician who served in local government in Nottingham before holding a seat in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1918.- Career :...
, incumbent MP for Biggleswade
Biggleswade (UK Parliament constituency)
Biggleswade was a county constituency in Bedfordshire which was represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until its abolition in 1918...
who was a Liberal supporter of H. H. Asquith
H. H. Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith, KG, PC, KC served as the Liberal Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916...
. He won the seat with a majority of 1,721, In Parliament, Townley concentrated on agricultural issues on which he had professional knowledge; he was a member of a delegation from the Agriculture Committee of the House of Commons to see the Prime Minister in July 1919.
When the Agriculture Bill
Agriculture Act 1920
The Agriculture Act 1920 was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom passed in December 1920 by the Coalition Government....
was before Parliament in 1920, Townley defended the inclusion of a clause giving compensation to agricultural tenants for disturbance by their landlords, arguing it would not harm any good landlord. He made it clear that his commitment to agriculture dominated other issues, joining a protest in July 1921 against the Government's Corn Production Acts (Repeal) Bill which removed subsidy. Townley asked rhetorically what the Government intended to do with ex-servicemen who had been encouraged to go into farming, and whether it was better "to spend money on British agriculture than to seek to make Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
a land fit for Hebrews to live in?" He was within the mainstream of the Conservative Party in general, not joining with the right-wing in seeking to limit spending. He opposed making British Summer Time
British Summer Time
Western European Summer Time is a summer daylight saving time scheme, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. It is used in the following places:* the Canary Islands* Portugal * Ireland...
permanent.
Defeat
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...
Townley lost his seat by 2,737 votes to Frederick Linfield
Frederick Caesar Linfield
Frederick Caesar Linfield was a British Liberal politician. He was originally in trade as a corn-merchant.-Local politics:Linfield first entered politics at local government level...
of the Liberal Party. He retained his interest in politics and in November 1923 he was adopted as Conservative candidate for Isle of Ely
Isle of Ely (UK Parliament constituency)
Isle of Ely was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, centred on the Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire...
(the successor to Wisbech) where the sitting MP Col Norman Coates
Norman Coates
Lieutenant-Colonel Norman Coates M.C. was a British army officer, School Head Master, and briefly a Conservative politician. First employed as a trainee accountant, he was given a commission when he enlisted in the first month of the First World War. He was wounded in action at Gallipoli and then...
was standing down although threatening to stand as an "Independent Agricultural" candidate. Coates eventually decided not to stand, but Townley lost the election by 467 votes. In June 1924 Townley was co-opted as a member of the Grand Council of the Primrose League
Primrose League
The Primrose League was an organisation for spreading Conservative principles in Great Britain. It was founded in 1883 and active until the mid 1990s...
.
Later life
Townley became involved with the Central and Associated Chambers of Agriculture, becoming Chairman of its council in 1922 when still a Member of Parliament. He later became chairman of its policy committee, and regularly commented on agriculture policy issues in public. He pressed for fixed prices for wheatWheat
Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region of the Near East, but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize and rice...
, and applauded when Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
endorsed the policy in 1930. When the Land Drainage Act 1930 created 39 catchment boards for the main rivers, Townley was appointed to that for the River Great Ouse
River Great Ouse
The Great Ouse is a river in the east of England. At long, it is the fourth-longest river in the United Kingdom. The river has been important for navigation, and for draining the low-lying region through which it flows. Its course has been modified several times, with the first recorded being in...
. In 1936 he was chairman of the executive council of the Catchment Boards Association.
Fen flood
In March 1937 there was a severe flood of the Great Ouse, requiring the armed forces to be called out to save lives. After the flood Townley complained that the rateable valueRates (tax)
Rates are a type of property tax system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one, the proceeds of which are used to fund local government...
of the area of the catchment board was so low that the cost of the works would be crippling, and called for Government help. Under his chairmanship but against his advice, the Catchment Board decided in January 1938 that it could no longer finance their projected outfall scheme to relieve flooding. Townley denied that the Board was in conflict with the Ministry of Agriculture which had agreed to finance 95% of the scheme, remarking that not even that Ministry could over-rule the Treasury
HM Treasury
HM Treasury, in full Her Majesty's Treasury, informally The Treasury, is the United Kingdom government department responsible for developing and executing the British government's public finance policy and economic policy...
.
Family
Townley married Hon Ellen Sydney St John, daughter of St Andrew St John, 16th Baron St John of BletsoSt Andrew St John, 16th Baron St John of Bletso
St Andrew St John, 16th Baron St John of Bletso was an English peer.St John was the eldest son of St Andrew Beauchamp St John, 15th Baron St John and his wife Eleanor Hussey. He succeeded his father to become the 16th Lord St John, in 1874 and lived at Melchbourne...
. In July 1941 they left Heydon, Cambridgeshire
Heydon, Cambridgeshire
Heydon is a village in the East of England region and the county Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. The area of the village is . Heydon has the King William IV Pub as its only pub. The village also has the Wood Green Animal Shelter Small Animals Rescue Home...
to live in Monadh Liath
Monadhliath Mountains
The Monadhliath Mountains, or Monadh Liath , are a range of mountains in Scotland. The name derives from Scottish Gaelic, and means "grey mountains". Running in a northeast to southwest direction, the mountains lie on the western side of Strathspey, to the west of the Cairngorms and to the south...
near Aviemore
Aviemore
Aviemore is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm...
in Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...
. He died there on 12 December 1942.