Ronald Cartland
Ronald Cartland | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for Birmingham King's Norton | |
In office 14 November 1935 – 30 May 1940 | |
Preceded by | Lionel Beaumont-Thomas |
Succeeded by | John Peto |
Personal details | |
Born | Birmingham, England, UK | 3 January 1907
Died | 30 May 1940 Watou, Belgium | (aged 33)
Cause of death | Killed in action |
Political party | Conservative |
Relations | Barbara Cartland (sister) |
Alma mater | Charterhouse School |
Major John Ronald Hamilton Cartland (3 January 1907 – 30 May 1940) was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for King's Norton in Birmingham from 1935 until he was killed in action, aged 33. He was the brother of Barbara Cartland.
Early life
Cartland was the son of Major Bertram Cartland and Mary Hamilton Scobell, and the younger brother of prolific romance author
In 1910, he went to work for the local Conservative Party office, where he managed the election of the candidate. When he won the election, the new MP offered Bertram the post of private secretary. When the
In 1919 Mary Cartland, along with Ronald, her 18-year-old daughter Barbara and 8-year-old son Anthony, moved to London, and Ronald gained a scholarship to
When Ronald was a child, Mary would take him with her on her trips to some of the poorer areas of Pershore, giving him a first-hand look at their dire living conditions. After he left Charterhouse, since Mary could not afford to send her son to university, Ronald went to work at
Parliamentary career
After
Cartland's maiden speech to the Commons, in May 1936, attacked the National Government of Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin for its less-than-enthusiastic attitude in aiding 'distressed areas', the parts of the UK that were suffering from extreme economic difficulties, with unemployment rates as high as 40%.[citation needed] In 1936, he delivered a rebuke to the Treasury for balancing the budget on the backs of Britain's poor, attacking Neville Chamberlain, then serving as Baldwin's Chancellor of the Exchequer, despite Chamberlain's role in Cartland's selection as a Conservative candidate.[citation needed]
After Chamberlain succeeded Baldwin as Prime Minister, Cartland earned the wrath of the Conservative Party's hierarchy by taking a stand against the Government's policy of appeasement of Germany and Italy, which brought him to the attention of other Conservative dissident backbenchers, as well as Winston Churchill.[3] Before Cartland's election in 1935, he and his sister Barbara had visited Germany, where Ronald was appalled at the Nazi persecution of Jews.[4]
On his return, he warned his fellow MPs of Adolf Hitler's expansionist plans for Austria and other countries of Central Europe and that sooner or later, Britain would be at war with Germany.[4]
He served as a backbench MP during Chamberlain's government. He is most famous for a speech that he gave to the house in August 1939 in which he accused the Prime Minister of having "ideas of dictatorship". Chamberlain had decided to adjourn the House until 3 October and instructed Conservative MPs that a majority vote for adjournment would be seen as a vote of confidence. That caused outrage in the House and prompted Cartland to stand up and make his famous speech, which also included what turned out to be prophetic words for himself: "We are in the situation that within a month we may be going to fight, and we may be going to die."[5][6]
Military career
Cartland achieved the rank of
Cartland was initially listed as
Personal life
Legacy
He is commemorated with his father and brother with a calvary at Tewkesbury Abbey. His name is to be found on the Memorial Chapel at Charterhouse School.[citation needed]
His sister Barbara published a memoir of him. She described him as "terribly inspiring" and said Winston Churchill "adored him" for his opposition to Chamberlain's policy of appeasing Hitler.[4] In her autobiography The Path To Power, Margaret Thatcher referred to Cartland as a "young, idealistic, Conservative MP". Labour MP Chris Bryant wrote about Cartland and his young, gay Conservative colleagues who opposed Chamberlain's appeasement in his non-fiction work The Glamour Boys, subtitled "the secret story of the rebels who fought for Britain to defeat Hitler".[12]
Cartland was played by Tom Burke in the 2008 television film In Love with Barbara, inspired by the life of Barbara Cartland.
References
- ISBN 978-1-4482-0778-7.
- ^ "Casualty Details: James Bertram Falkner Cartland". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
- ^ Lynne Olson. Troublesome Young Men: the Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power in 1940 and Helped to Save Britain (2007)
- ^ a b c d "The gay MPs persecuted for opposing appeasement of Nazi Germany". BBC News. 15 October 2020.
- Chicago Daily Tribune. p. 1.
- ^ "Adjournment (Summer)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 2 August 1939. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
- ^ "Casualty Details: James Anthony Hamilton Cartland". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
- ^ "Casualty Details: John Ronald Hamilton Cartland". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 20 April 2023.
- ^ Bush, Stephen (8 June 2015). "A camp history of Westminster's queer MPs". New Statesman. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
- ISBN 978-1-4055-1701-0.
- ISBN 978-0-552-77996-8.
- ^ Callow, Simon (6 November 2020). "The Glamour Boys by Chris Bryant review – the rebels who fought for Britain". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 January 2022.
Bibliography
- Olson, Lynne: Troublesome Young Men: The Rebels Who Brought Churchill to Power and Helped Save England, Farrar, Strous, Giroux, 2007