Alec Beechman
Nevil Alexander Beechman MC KC (5 August 1896 – 6 November 1965) was a British barrister and Liberal politician who was Liberal National MP for St Ives from a 1937 by-election until 1950.
Family and education
Alec Beechman was the only surviving son of Mr N. C. and Mrs Emily Beechman.
In 1953 he married Mrs Mary Gwendolyn Caradoc Williams, the widow of Captain Garth Caradoc Williams, RE.[3]
Career
During the
For his professional career Beechman went in for the law and in 1923 he was
Politics
Beecham was a Liberal. After the war he returned to the University of Oxford. He was president of the Oxford Union in Hilary term of 1921 and was the first post-war chairman of the Oxford University Liberal Club in 1919–1920.[7] In 1922 Beechman also served as chairman of the Union of University Liberal Societies.[1]
In 1919 Beechman was a co-founder of the political publication Oxford Outlook,[3] a left-leaning magazine whose main protagonist was the later author and journalist Beverley Nichols.[8]
The Oxford University Liberal Club suffered a decline during the First World War. Many undergraduates went off to fight and many Liberals found the approach of their party in government decidedly illiberal, especially after the coming to power in December 1916 of the
In 1931 Beechman was nominated as Liberal candidate for Oldham but in the event the party chose not to contest the seat in the context of the 1931 general election after the formation of the National Government which it at first supported.[6]
However at some point between 1931 and 1935, Beechman broke with the mainstream Liberal Party and began to support that section of the party led by Sir John Simon which continued to be part of the National Government when the orthodox Liberals under Herbert Samuel broke with the government over the traditional policy of Free trade after the Ottawa agreements of 1932. He did not contest a seat at the 1935 general election but in 1937 he was chosen as Liberal National candidate to fight the by-election at St Ives in Cornwall when the seat fell vacant with the elevation to the peerage of the sitting MP Walter Runciman. In a hard-fought contest against former Liberal MP Isaac Foot, Beechman held the seat by just 210 votes (or 0.8% of the poll.)[9]
Despite the growing link between the Liberal Nationals and the Conservatives, Beechman remained at heart a Liberal and saw collaboration with the Conservatives as essentially an anti-socialist front. He stood at the 1945 general election as a National Liberal albeit without Conservative opposition and remained MP for St Ives until he stood down at the 1950 general election.[10] According to one historian of Liberal politics in the South West of England, the Liberal Nationals were looking to distance themselves from their Conservative allies after the 1945 general election and he names Beechman and George Lambert the MP for South Molton in Devon as two Liberal Nationals who were likely to favour a new Centre grouping of reunited Liberals, Conservative reformers and the right-wing of the Labour Party.[11] After he stood down St Ives continued to return National Liberals against Labour and Liberal Party opposition until the Conservatives formally absorbed the National Liberals in 1968.
Honours and appointments
Beechman served as a member of the
Beechman continued to live in St Ives after retirement from the House of Commons in a flat overlooking the harbour. From 1957 to 1965 he served on the town council.[3]
References
- ^ a b c d e Who was Who, OUP online, 2007
- ^ a b c The Times, 16 June 1937, p. 9
- ^ a b c d The Times, 8 November 1965, p. 12
- ^ "No. 29174". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 May 1915. p. 5096.
- ^ "No. 30308". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 September 1917. p. 9973.
- ^ a b David Dutton, Liberals in Schism: A History of the National Liberal Party; I B Tauris, 2008 p114
- ^ a b James Rattue, Kissing Your Sister: A History of the Oxford University Liberal Club, 1913–1993; Umbra, Oxford, 1993, Ch 1. The Last Edwardians
- ^ Bryan Connon (revised Clare L Taylor), (John) Beverley Nichols, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography online 2004–12
- ^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918–1945; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1969 p314
- ^ "UK General Election results February 1950". Richard Kimber's political science resources. Retrieved 12 April 2009.
- ^ Garry Tregidga, The Liberal Party in South West Britain since 1918; University of Exeter Press, 2000 pp 134–135