Graham White (politician)
Henry Graham White (26 August 1880 – 19 February 1965), known as Graham White, was a radical British Liberal Party politician.
Background
He was the son of John Arnold White and Annie Sinclair Graham of
Family
He married, in 1910, Mary Irene Heath of Nether Stowey, Somerset. They had two sons and one daughter. Mary died in 1962.[3] His son, John Graham-White (1913-2008), was a founder of the profession of clinical psychology.[4]
Political career
In 1917 he was elected a Member of Birkenhead Town Council. In 1918 he was Liberal candidate for the Birkenhead East Division of Cheshire at the General Election. He was critical of the Coalition Government for calling an election while many of those in the armed forces were still abroad and unable to take part in the election. Apart from this criticism, he was happy to call himself a supporter of David Lloyd George and the Coalition Government.[5] However the Coalition Government endorsed his Unionist opponent and White came third, losing his deposit;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist
|
Alfred Bigland | 13,012 | 64.5 | n/a | |
Labour | John Finigan | 5,399 | 26.7 | n/a | |
Liberal | Graham White | 1,787 | 8.8 | n/a | |
Majority | 7,613 | 37.8 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 60.7 | n/a | |||
Unionist win
|
In 1920 he was re-elected to Birkenhead Council. In 1921 he was appointed the town council's Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, serving until 1922. In 1922 he stood for the second time as Liberal candidate for Birkenhead East and managed to turn third place with a lost deposit into victory;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Graham White | 14,690 | 57.8 | +49.0 | |
Unionist
|
Alfred Bigland | 10,745 | 42.2 | -22.3 | |
Majority | 3,945 | 15.6 | 53.4 | ||
Turnout | 77.5 | ||||
Unionist
|
Swing | +35.7 |
He stood down from Birkenhead Town Council in 1923. He was a passionate internationalist and in 1923 he was elected a Member of the Executive Committee, of the League of Nations Union, serving until 1924. In 1923 he was re-elected to parliament with an increased majority;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Graham White | 15,845 | 63.5 | +5.7 | |
Unionist
|
Luke Lees | 9,091 | 36.5 | -5.7 | |
Majority | 6,754 | 27.0 | +11.4 | ||
Turnout | 74.1 | -3.4 | |||
Liberal hold | Swing | +5.7 |
In 1924 at the General election, the Labour party chose to field a candidate against him with disastrous effects, causing his defeat;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist
|
William Henry Stott | 11,328 | 40.3 | +3.8 | |
Liberal | Graham White | 9,275 | 33.0 | -30.5 | |
Labour | James Coulthard | 7,496 | 26.7 | n/a | |
Majority | 2,053 | 7.3 | 34.3 | ||
Turnout | 81.0 | +6.9 | |||
Unionist gain from Liberal
|
Swing | +17.1 |
In 1929 he re-gained his Birkenhead East seat and returned to parliament after an absence of five years;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Graham White | 13,157 | 35.9 | +2.9 | |
Unionist
|
Edmund Brocklebank | 11,860 | 32.3 | -8.0 | |
Labour | James Coulthard | 11,654 | 31.8 | +5.1 | |
Majority | 1,297 | 3.6 | 10.9 | ||
Turnout | 78.8 | ||||
Unionist
|
Swing | +5.5 |
In 1930 he served a second term as a Member of the Executive Committee, of the League of Nations Union. In 1930 he was appointed a Member of the parliamentary Select Committee on Private Schools. In 1930 he was appointed a Member of Indian Round Table Conference in London to discuss constitutional reforms. Upon the formation of the National Government in 1931 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster General. In 1931 at the General Election, the Conservatives chose not to field a candidate against him as the parties were partners in the National Government, as a result, White was comfortably re-elected;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Graham White | 26,938 | 73.2 | +37.3 | |
Labour | C McVey | 9,868 | 26.8 | -5.0 | |
Majority | 17,070 | 46.4 | +36.5 | ||
Turnout | 79.1 | +0.3 | |||
Liberal hold | Swing | +21.2 |
In 1932 he resigned from National Government office along with all the other Liberal party Ministers who followed
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Graham White | 16,548 | 48.1 | -25.1 | |
Conservative | S J Hill | 9,854 | 28.6 | n/a | |
Labour | M A Mercer | 8,028 | 23.3 | -3.5 | |
Majority | 6,694 | 19.5 | -17.0 | ||
Turnout | 74.2 | -4.9 | |||
Liberal hold | Swing | n/a |
In 1935 after
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Labour | Frank Soskice
|
14,790 | 45.5 | +22.2 | |
Liberal | Graham White | 10,140 | 31.1 | -17.0 | |
Conservative | Frederick Newell Bucher | 7,624 | 23.4 | -5.2 | |
Majority | 4,650 | 14.4 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 73.6 | -0.6 | |||
Labour gain from Liberal | Swing | +19.6 |
In 1945 he was conferred the title of Freeman of Birkenhead. In 1950 his old Birkenhead East seat was abolished with part of it going into the new Bebington constituency. White stood there as Liberal candidate but finished third;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Hendrie Oakshott | 25,309 | 43.8 | n/a | |
Labour | Frank Soskice
|
22,090 | 38.3 | n/a | |
Liberal | Graham White | 10,324 | 17.9 | n/a | |
Majority | 3,219 | 5.5 | n/a | ||
Turnout | 87.2 | n/a | |||
Conservative win |
He did not stand for parliament again. He was President of the Liberal Party from 1954 to 1955.[20] In 1955 he was awarded a LLD by the University of Liverpool. He was Vice-President of the Liberal Party from 1958 to 1959. White also served on a number of other bodies; the executive of the
His parliamentary colleague Sir Percy Harris described him as "disinterested, with a fine sense of duty and a varied knowledge of every kind of social problem, he was a mine of information and always ready to step into the breach."[23]
Papers
A collection of White's papers were donated to
References
- ^ The English Historical Review
- ^ "Old Birkonian web-site 50 years ago". Archived from the original on 9 June 2018. Retrieved 14 September 2016.
- ^ ‘WHITE, Rt Hon. (Henry) Graham’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 28 Jan 2014
- ^ "The Guardian - Obituary". 1 August 2008.
{{cite journal}}
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(help) - ^ The Downfall of the Liberal Party by Trevor Wilson
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ Memoirs by Viscount Samuel (1945)
- ^ The Times House of Commons, 1935
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ Forty Years in and out of Parliament by Sir Percy Harris
- ^ Report of the Annual Conference, 1939
- ^ The Times House of Commons, 1950
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1950-1974, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ Parliament web site
- ^ The Times House of Commons, 1931
- ^ ‘WHITE, Rt Hon. (Henry) Graham’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 28 Jan 2014
- ^ Forty Years in and out of Parliament by Sir Percy Harris
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Graham White
- Portrait of Henry Graham White
- Photograph of White and other MPs on their way to Buchenwald: http://find.galegroup.com/iln/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=ILN&userGroupName=esusslib&tabID=T003&docPage=article&docId=HN3100337416&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0
- White at Buchenwald: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/german-atrocities/query/Buchenwald
- Parliamentary Archives, Papers of Henry Graham White, MP