Edmund Lamb

Edmund George Lamb MA FCS FRGS (8 July 1863 – 3 January 1925) was an English landowner, colliery proprietor, and radical Liberal Party politician.

Background

He was the son of Richard Westbrook Lamb JP DL of West Denton, Northumberland and Georgiana Eaton of Ketton Hall, Rutland.^[1] He was educated at Oratory School, Edgbaston and Merton College, Oxford where he received a Master of Arts and finally University College, London.^[2] In 1893 he married Mabel Winkworth (1862–1941), daughter of a Manchester cotton mill owner. They had one child, Winifred Lamb (1894–1963). She was a classical archaeologist, and author of several works on ancient Greece.^[3]

Professional career

Lamb was a colliery proprietor in Northumberland, and a landowner in Northumberland and Sussex. He was a Fellow of the Chemical Society. He was a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society.^[4]

Political career

He was elected at the 1906 general election as the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for the Leominster division of Herefordshire, unseating the sitting Conservative MP Sir James Rankin.

In parliament he was an advocate of the abolition of the House of Lords.^[5]

He was defeated at the January 1910 election by the Conservative candidate Sir James Rankin, who he had ousted. This was despite polling more votes than when he had won in 1906. He did not contest the December 1910 general election or the Leominster by-election in 1912 when no Liberal stood.^[6] Leominster Liberals wanted him to run in 1912 but he declined.^[7] He retained involvement with the local Liberal association, being elected as its President.^[8]

He decided to fight the post-war general election of December 1918 at Leominster in an attempt to regain his old seat. He was the official candidate of Leominster Liberal Association, though some records describe him as an 'Independent Radical'. His task had been made difficult firstly when the Lloyd George led Coalition Government chose to endorse his Unionist opponent. It was further handicapped by the intervention of another Liberal standing as an 'Agriculture' candidate, backed by the Herefordshire Farmers Union who advocated support for Lloyd George.^[9] Unsurprisingly the Unionists held the seat.

He did not stand for parliament again.^[10]

In 1926 he had published a family history Some Annals of the Lambs, a Border Family. He retired to West Sussex where he was elected a member of the County Council.^[11]

Election results

General Election January 1906: Leominster Electorate 9,328

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edmund George Lamb	3,892	50.2
	Conservative	Sir James Rankin	3,864	49.8
Majority			28	0.4
Turnout				83.1
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing

General Election January 1910: Leominster Electorate 9,689

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Conservative	Sir James Rankin	4,822	54.7
	Liberal	Edmund George Lamb	3,991	45.3
Majority			831	9.4
Turnout				91.0	+7.9
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election 1918: Leominster Electorate 26,184

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Maj. Charles Lionel Atkins Ward-Jackson	8,308	50.5
	Liberal	Edmund George Lamb	5,291	32.1
	Agriculture	Ernest Wilfred Langford	2,870	17.4	n/a
Majority			3,017	18.4
Turnout				62.9
	Unionist hold		Swing

References

1. 'LAMB, Edmund', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 15 April 2014
2. The Liberal Year Book, 1908
3. Gill, David (September 2004). "Lamb, Winifred (1894–1963)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, online edn. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 June 2010.
4. 'LAMB, Edmund', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 15 April 2014
5. "Political Notes." Times [London, England] 28 June 1907: 5. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 15 April 2014.
6. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 293. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
7. "Hereford Election." Times [London, England] 9 March 1912: 6. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 15 April 2014.
8. Hereford Times 25 May 1912
9. "In The Country." Times [London, England] 9 December 1918: 10. The Times Digital Archive. Web. 15 April 2014.
10. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 370. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
11. 'LAMB, Edmund', Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 15 April 2014

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edmund Lamb