Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet

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Sir William Bull in 1913
Officers of the C Company of Bushmen (West London Volunteers) 1915. Sir William Bull is in the centre.

Sir William James Bull, 1st Baronet,

PC (29 September 1863 – 23 January 1931) was an English solicitor and Conservative Party
politician.

Biography

Bull was the son of Henry Bull, a solicitor, and his wife Cecilia Ann Howard, daughter of James Peter Howard.[1] He was returned to Parliament for Hammersmith in 1900, a seat he held until 1918, and then sat for Hammersmith South until 1929.

Bull was knighted in 1905.[2] That year Walter Long became Chief Secretary for Ireland, and Bull was his Parliamentary Private Secretary.[3] A few years later, the Anti-Socialist Union was set up, and Bull served on its executive committee with R. D. Blumenfeld, while Long was a vice-president.[4] He ran Hammersmith meetings for the Union, with those attending having to sign affidavits of opposition to socialism, and ejected hecklers.[5]

Around 1911 Bull became involved with Frederick H. Crawford in running guns to the Ulster Volunteer Force. He did that in partnership with Herbert Augustus Budden, who was married to his sister Charlotte Annie Howard. They used two firms in Hammersmith, one set up as a front and the other a motor parts supplier set up by Bull's former chauffeur. Police seized over four thousand rifles in a 1913 Hammersmith raid, under the Gun Barrel Proof Act 1868.[6] Their informant was Budden.[7]

Bull was a suffragist, on good terms with the Pankhursts. In 1908 he visited

Privy Council that year.[13]

A week before the

Lloyd George, on a group not from the right wing, and determined that they felt the status quo would lead to a split in the party.[14] Bull was that year created a baronet, of Hammersmith in the County of London.[15]

Bull died in January 1931, aged 67. He is buried in Margravine Cemetery, Hammersmith.

Infrastructure

In the late 1890s Bull chaired the Bridges Committee of the London County Council that oversaw the construction of the Blackwall Tunnel.[16] He made an early proposal for a green belt round London, and championed a Channel Tunnel initiative.[17] He also sat on committees that oversaw the repairs to the Palace of Westminster.

Works

Bull published:

Family

Bull married Lilian Hester Brandon, daughter of Gabriel Samuel Brandon, on 5 January 1904. They had four sons. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Stephen. His third son, Anthony Bull, was Chairman of London Transport from 1965 to 1971. His youngest son, Peter Bull, became a well-known actor. Lady Bull died on 3 September 1963.

Coat of arms of Sir William Bull, 1st Baronet
Crest
A bull’s head caboshed Sable charged on the forehead with the sign of Taurus as in the arms.
Escutcheon
Sable three astronomical signs of Taurus Or.
Motto
Hitherto[20]

References

  1. ^ Howard, Joseph Jackson; Crisp, Frederick Arthur (1904). Visitation of England and Wales. Vol. 12. London: Priv. printed. pp. 128–132.
  2. ^ "No. 27865". The London Gazette. 19 December 1905. p. 9084.
  3. ISBN 978-0-87413-622-7
    .
  4. ISBN 978-0-7185-1140-1
    .
  5. ISBN 978-0-19-506238-0
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-317-18850-6
    .
  7. ISBN 978-0-19-522048-3
    .
  8. ^ "The Papers of William Bull – Churchill College". chu.cam.ac.uk. 19 December 2016.
  9. ISBN 978-0-521-52121-5
    .
  10. ISBN 978-0-415-62336-0
    .
  11. ISBN 978-0-691-21176-3
    .
  12. ISBN 978-1-134-16783-8
    .
  13. ^ "No. 30764". The London Gazette. 25 June 1918. p. 7461.
  14. ISBN 978-0-19-164483-2
    .
  15. ^ "No. 32779". The London Gazette. 22 December 1922. p. 9029.
  16. ISBN 978-1-4733-8488-0
    .
  17. ISBN 978-1-317-11128-3
    .
  18. ^ Bull, Sir William (1916). The Book of Limericks: A Collection of the Most Famous Rhymes of this Type in the World from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time, Together with Many New Ones, Being the Result of a Competition Inaugurated in the Daily Express on Behalf of Its Cheery Fund for Sailors and Soldiers. London: "Daily Express" Offices.
  19. ISBN 978-0-907961-02-4
    .
  20. ^ Burke's Peerage. 1949.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Hammersmith
1900–1918 		Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Hammersmith South
1918–1929 		Succeeded by
Daniel Chater
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Hammersmith)
1922–1931 		Succeeded by
Stephen John Bull
Court offices
Preceded by
(none)
 Registrar of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor
1908–1911 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Knight Principal of the Imperial Society of Knights Bachelor
1923–1931 		Succeeded by
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