Ernest Davies (Enfield MP)

Ernest Albert John Davies (18 May 1902 – 16 September 1991) was a British journalist, author and Labour Party politician.^[1][2]

Born in London, Davies was the son of

From 1929 until 1932, Davies was editor of The Clarion, a weekly socialist newspaper, and in 1932 became associate editor of its short-lived successor the New Clarion.^[2] From 1938 until 1940, he was the Governor for the National Froebel Foundation (an educational foundation).^[2] From 1940 to 1945, he worked for the BBC, becoming its North American Service Organiser in 1944.^[1][2] That same year, he divorced his first wife, marrying Peggy Yeo, with whom he had a daughter.

He returned to journalism after he lost his seat in parliament, and was managing editor of Traffic Engineering and Control from 1960–76 and managing editor of Antique Finder from 1962–72.^[2]

Davies joined the Fabian Society in 1919 and the Labour Party in 1924.^[1] At the 1935 general election he was the party's candidate for the seat of Peterborough, but failed to be elected.^[2]

With elections postponed due to

Following boundary changes, Davies was elected to the new constituency of Enfield East at the 1950 general election.^[2] He was briefly parliamentary under-secretary of state for Foreign Affairs under Ernest Bevin and Herbert Morrison before Labour lost power at the 1951 general election.^[1][2] He retired from parliament at the 1959 general election.^[2]

• Finance. How money is managed (Editor) (Odhams Press, London, 1935)
• How much Compensation? A problem of transfer from private to public enterprise (Victor Gollancz; New Fabian Research Bureau, London, 1937)
• "National" Capitalism: the government's record as protector of private monopoly (Victor Gollancz, London, 1939)
• The State and the Railways (Victor Gollancz; Fabian Society, London, 1940)
• American Labour: the story of the American trade union movement (George Allen & Unwin; Fabian Society, London, 1943)
• British Transport: a study in industrial organisation and control (Fabian Publications, [London,] 1945)
• National Enterprise: the development of the public corporation (Victor Gollancz, London, 1946)
• Nationalization of Transport (Labour Party, London, [1947])
• Problems of Public Ownership (Labour Party, London, [1952])
• Roads and their Traffic (Editor) (Blackie & Son, London & Glasgow, 1960).
• Britain's Transport Crisis: a socialist's view (Arthur Barker, [London, 1960])
• Traffic Engineering and Control (Managing Editor), 1960–76
• Transport in Greater London (London School of Economics and Political Science: [London,] 1962)
• Antique Finder (Managing Editor), 1962–72
• Traffic Engineering Practice (editor) (E. & F. N. Spon, London, 1963)

The British Library of Political and Economic Science has a collection of papers relating to his political work (dated from approximately 1935 to 1987) ^[3]

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ernest Davies