for [[North Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|North Dorset]]"},"parliament1":{"wt":""},"majority1":{"wt":""},"term_start1":{"wt":"14 December 1918"},"term_end1":{"wt":"15 November 1922"},"predecessor1":{"wt":"[[Randolf Littlehales Baker]]"},"successor1":{"wt":"[[John Emlyn-Jones]]"},"office2":{"wt":"[[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]]
for [[West Dorset (UK Parliament constituency)|West Dorset]]"},"parliament2":{"wt":""},"majority2":{"wt":""},"term_start2":{"wt":"15 November 1922"},"term_end2":{"wt":"21 June 1941"},"predecessor2":{"wt":"[[Sir Robert Williams,1st Baronet,of Bridehead|Robert Williams]]"},"successor2":{"wt":"[[Simon Digby (Conservative politician)|Simon Wingfield Digby]]"},"birth_date":{"wt":"{{birth date|1888|2|25|df=yes}}"},"birth_place":{"wt":"[[Bridport]],[[Dorset]],[[United Kingdom]]"},"death_date":{"wt":"{{death date and age|1966|11|8|1888|2|25||df=y}}"},"death_place":{"wt":"[[Symondsbury]],[[Dorset]],[[United Kingdom]]"},"restingplace":{"wt":""},"birthname":{"wt":"William Phillip Colfox"},"nationality":{"wt":"[[United Kingdom|British]]"},"party":{"wt":"[[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]]"},"otherparty":{"wt":""},"spouse":{"wt":"Mary Bullen (1920-1966;his death)"},"relations":{"wt":""},"children":{"wt":"4"},"residence":{"wt":""},"alma_mater":{"wt":"[[Eton College]]"},"occupation":{"wt":"Politician,farmer,former soldier"},"profession":{"wt":""},"cabinet":{"wt":""},"committees":{"wt":""},"portfolio":{"wt":""},"signature":{"wt":""},"website":{"wt":""}},"i":0}}]}" id="mwCQ">.mw-parser-output .infobox-subbox{padding:0;border:none;margin:-3px;width:auto;min-width:100%;font-size:100%;clear:none;float:none;background-color:transparent}.mw-parser-output .infobox-3cols-child{margin:auto}.mw-parser-output .infobox .navbar{font-size:100%}body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-header,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-subheader,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-above,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-title,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-image,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-full-data,body.skin-minerva .mw-parser-output .infobox-below{text-align:center}
Sir Philip Colfox | |
---|---|
Member of Parliament for North Dorset | |
In office 14 December 1918 –15 November 1922 | |
Preceded by | Randolf Littlehales Baker |
Succeeded by | John Emlyn-Jones |
Member of Parliament for West Dorset | |
In office 15 November 1922 –21 June 1941 | |
Preceded by | Robert Williams |
Succeeded by | Simon Wingfield Digby |
Personal details | |
Born | William Phillip Colfox 25 February 1888 Bridport,Dorset,United Kingdom |
Died | 8 November 1966 78) Symondsbury,Dorset,United Kingdom | (aged
Political party | Conservative |
Spouse | Mary Bullen (1920-1966;his death) |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater | Eton College |
Occupation | Politician,farmer,former soldier |
Sir William Philip Colfox,1st Baronet,MC,DL,JP (25 February 1888 –8 November 1966) was an English soldier,farmer and Conservative Party politician.
Colfox was the son of Colonel Thomas Alfred Colfox of Coneygar,Bridport,and Constance,daughter of Edward John Nettlefold of Hallfield,Birmingham. Born in Bridport,Dorset, [1] he was educated at Eton College and at Woolwich. Serving in 132 Royal Field Artillery (RFA) in Fermoy 1908-9 and Ewshott 1909-12 he joined 14 RFA at Allahabad 1912-14 and Secunderabad 1914. He served as a Major in France and Belgium in 128,130,129,G/38,6DAC and D/162 RFA during World War I,and was wounded twice in 1917,receiving a Military Cross. He then taught classics and mathematics at Eton for the rest of World War I. In later life,when fully retired,he taught mathematics to children in Bridport as a volunteer.
His father had started as a Liberal,but Colfox followed his mother's family –which included Joseph Chamberlain (Founder of the National Liberal Federation,Liberal Unionist Association and National Radical Union),his sons Austen and Neville Chamberlain —first to become Liberal [2] or Radical Unionists then Unionists [3] and later Conservative Unionists.
At the 1918 general election,Colfox was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Dorset North as a Coalition Unionist [4] (majority 212) becoming in 1920 Private Secretary (unpaid) to Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions (George Tryon) and in 1921 Private Secretary (unpaid) to Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies (Hon EFL Wood - Lord Halifax). [5] [6]
At the 1922 general election,he was returned to the House of Commons as MP for Dorset West with a majority of 4,548. Between 1922 and 1923 he was Assistant Government Whip.
In 1923 and 1924,he held the seat as a Unionist (majorities 3,013 and 6,662) and outspoken backbencher and from 1925 as a Conservative Unionist.
At the 1929 election,his majority was 4,326;in 1931,5,239;and in 1935 it reduced to 2,090 following disparaging remarks made about his opponent Mr Chapel,a Welsh Methodist minister.
Refusing lesser honours,Colfox accepted a baronetcy in 1939 [7] from his cousin Neville Chamberlain,speaking in the debate following the latter's resignation in support of the outgoing Prime Minister. He held the seat until his retirement in 1941. He served as High Sheriff of Dorset for 1946. [8] He remained an Alderman of Dorset County Council until he died in 1966. He ran his farm based on sound organic principles in conjunction with his son John.
During World War II,he ran the West Dorset Home Guard as Lt Col. An inspection by the War Office recorded that he ran it in a most independent fashion. Mary,Lady Colfox recalled that he was irritated by this inspection saying:"What do they know about running a war in London?"
Six hundred years after Sir Nicholas Colfox (on the instructions of Richard II and his feudal lord,the Duke of Norfolk) was involved in the murder of the King's uncle,Thomas of Woodstock,Duke of Gloucester (1397), [9] Sir Philip had returned Colfoxs to the national scene. Sir Nicholas was pardoned by King Henry IV in 1404. [10]
Colfox's family had a long connection with Symondsbury,Bridport. The family is first mentioned in the town records in 1280. In 1357 Peter Colfox was commissioned by Edward III to rebuild Marshwood Castle, [11] sold by Colfox's brother-in-law in the early 20th century. In 1394,Sir William Colfox,Vicar of Chilthorne Dommer near Yeovil, [12] witnessed an Inquisition [13] relating to part of the Manor of Symondsbury which Sir William Philip Colfox inherited in 1924.
In 1920,he married Mary Frances Bullen (1892–1973),the daughter of John Bullen Symes Bullen of Catherston,Charmouth Dorset. [14] They had 2 sons and 2 daughters:Thomas Andrew (1922–1936),(William) John (2nd Bart) (1924–2014),Susan Frances (1929–),and Bridget Alice (1931–2016).
He was a Unitarian worshipping in the Chapel in Bridport built by his ancestor Thomas Collins Colfox in 1797. In Bridport,he continued to teach children Mathematics and Classics and was Chairman of the Governors of the Colfox School,so-named in honour of his father who had given the land and refounded the previous Unitarian grammar school.
Sir Philip and cars were a notorious combination - he parked his car in Bridport perpendicularly to the pavement and policemen were warned that everyone else but him were to be fined. A daughter was asked at a party in Kent - "Are you related to that bad driver from Dorset?"
Colfoxes had been on the Bridport Bench as magistrates continually since the 15th century. On one occasion Sir Philip,Lady Colfox (and her brother,Jack Bullen) heard a misdemeanour offence against the couple's son charged by the police for the road traffic offence of leaving mud on a public road - which he freely admitted. John was defended by his brother-in-law. His father,mother and uncle found him not guilty and awarded costs against the police. This made local press but only in inside pages in 1950.[ citation needed ]
|
The Liberal Unionist Party was a British political party that was formed in 1886 by a faction that broke away from the Liberal Party. Led by Lord Hartington and Joseph Chamberlain,the party established a political alliance with the Conservative Party in opposition to Irish Home Rule. The two parties formed the ten-year-long coalition Unionist Government 1895–1905 but kept separate political funds and their own party organisations until a complete merger between the Liberal Unionist and the Conservative parties was agreed to in May 1912.
Sir Joseph Austen Chamberlain was a British statesman,son of Joseph Chamberlain and older half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. He served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 45 years,as Chancellor of the Exchequer (twice) and was briefly Conservative Party leader before serving as Foreign Secretary.
Arthur Wellesley Peel,1st Viscount Peel,,was a British Liberal politician,who sat in the House of Commons from 1865 to 1895. He was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1884 until 1895,when he was raised to the peerage.
Walter Hume Long,1st Viscount Long,,was a British Unionist politician. In a political career spanning over 40 years,he held office as President of the Board of Agriculture,President of the Local Government Board,Chief Secretary for Ireland,Secretary of State for the Colonies and First Lord of the Admiralty. He is also remembered for his links with Irish Unionism,and served as Leader of the Irish Unionist Party in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1910.
James Gray Stuart,1st Viscount Stuart of Findhorn,was a British Unionist politician. He was joint-Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury in Winston Churchill's war-time coalition government and later served as Secretary of State for Scotland under Churchill and then Sir Anthony Eden from 1951 to 1957. In 1959 he was elevated to the peerage as Viscount Stuart of Findhorn.
Sir Robert William Hamilton was a Scottish Liberal Party politician and Chief Justice of the East Africa Protectorate.
Geoffrey William Algernon Howard JP was an English Liberal politician. He served as Vice-Chamberlain of the Household under H. H. Asquith between 1911 and 1915.
Henry Meysey Meysey-Thompson,1st Baron Knaresborough was a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons variously between 1880 and 1905 when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Knaresborough.
Sir John Helias Finnie McEwen,1st Baronet,also known as Jock McEwen,was a British Unionist politician who served in the House of Commons as Conservative Member of Parliament for Berwick and Haddington from the 1931 to 1945 general elections.
The Colfox Baronetcy,of Symondsbury in the County of Dorset,is a title in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 4 July 1939 for the Conservative politician Philip Colfox. He was succeeded by his younger and only surviving son,the second Baronet,who was a Deputy Lieutenant of Dorset in 1977. Following the second baronet's death in 2014,the title was then held by his elder son.
Sir Arthur Harold Marshall,KBE was an English Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Wakefield 1910–1918 and for Huddersfield 1922–1923.
Sir Thomas Henry Devereux Berridge,KBE was a British Liberal politician and solicitor.
Sir Percy Angier Hurd was a British journalist and Conservative Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament for nearly thirty years. He was the first of four generations of Hurds to serve as Conservative MPs.
The Carlton Club meeting,on 19 October 1922,was a formal meeting of Members of Parliament who belonged to the Conservative Party,called to discuss whether the party should remain in government in coalition with a section of the Liberal Party under the leadership of Liberal Prime Minister David Lloyd George. The party leadership favoured continuing,but the party rebels led by Bonar Law and Stanley Baldwin argued that participation was damaging the party. The meeting voted decisively against the Coalition,which resulted in its collapse,the resignation of Austen Chamberlain as party leader,and the invitation of Law to form a Government. The Conservatives subsequently won the general election with an overall majority.
Sir Harold William Stannus Gray,KBE was an Anglo-Irish landowner,horse breeder and politician. He served a brief period as a Member of Parliament during which he pressed for more help for agriculture.
The 1923 Willesden East by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Willesden East held on 3 March 1923. The constituency was a large one extending from Kilburn in the south to the Welsh Harp and on to Neasden.
Henry George Purchase was an English barrister and Liberal politician.
Ernest Claude Meysey-Thompson was a British Army officer and Liberal Unionist Party politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1906 to 1922 as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Handsworth.
The 1922 Chertsey by-election was a parliamentary by-election for the British House of Commons constituency of Chertsey on 24 March 1922.
The 1926 North Cumberland by-election was held on 17 September 1926. The by-election was held due to the succession to the peerage of the incumbent Conservative MP,Donald Howard. It was won by the Conservative candidate Fergus Graham.