Geoffrey Hutchinson, Baron Ilford

Major Geoffrey Clegg Hutchinson, Baron Ilford QC, MC, TD (14 October 1893 – 21 August 1974)[1] was a British soldier, a barrister and Conservative Party politician.

Background and military career

Born in Prestwich, he was the youngest son of the cotton manufacturer Henry Omerod Hutchinson and his wife Elizabeth Clegg.[2] He was educated at Cheltenham College and went then to Clare College, Cambridge, graduating with a Master of Arts in 1919.[3] In 1920 Hutchinson was called to the bar by the Inner Temple and went to the Northern Circuit.[4] He was nominated a Queen's Counsel in 1939 and was selected a bencher in 1946.[4]

With the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, Hutchinson joined the Lancashire Fusiliers.[4] He was attached to the British Expeditionary Force until the end of the war and during this time was wounded.[4] In 1916 he was decorated with the Military Cross[4] and in 1933 obtained a captaincy.[5] He was promoted to major in 1937[6] and was awarded the Territorial Decoration in the next year.[4]

After the begin of the Second World War he was reactivated in 1940 and sent with the then Expeditionary Force to the Franco-Belgian border.[4] Hutchinson was allocated to the War Office in the following year, where he served as deputy assistant to the Military Secretary.[4] He retired in 1945 having reached the age limit[7] and was appointed honorary colonel of the 5th battalion of his former regiment in 1948.[8]

Political career

In 1931 Hutchinson joined Hampstead Borough Council, on which he sat for six years.[9] Subsequently he served as president of the Non-County Boroughs Association until 1944 and chaired then the finance committee of the London County Council until 1949.[10] Hutchinson continued to represent Hampstead in the County Council until 1952.[9] He was chosen vice-president of the Association of Municipal Corporations in 1944.[9]

After unsuccessfully running for Gower in 1935, Hutchinson entered the House of Commons in 1937, retaining Ilford for the Conservatives at a by-election.[1][3] He represented that constituency until it was abolished in 1945,[3] That year he ran for the new seat of Ilford North and lost, but won it in 1950 and 1951.[1] In Parliament, Hutchinson became a member of the Select Committee on National Expenditure in 1942 and of the Speaker's Committee in 1944.[4] He sat in the Joint Committee on Consolidation, &c., Bills in 1951 and again two years later.[4]

Hutchinson was almoner and governor of Christ's Hospital.[11] In 1947 he became director of the Colne Valley Water and three years later was president of the British Waterworks Association.[4] He worked in the same function for the Water Companies Association from 1951 and chaired the East Surrey Water Company from the subsequent year.[4] He resigned from Parliament in 1954, when he became chairman of the National Assistance Board, a position he held until 1962.[4] He received a knighthood in 1952[12] and he became a life peer with the title Baron Ilford, of Bury, in the County Palatine of Lancaster on 14 May 1962.[13]

Family

Hutchinson married Janet Bidlake, youngest daughter of Henry Frederick Keep in 1919.[2] He died in Cannes in France in 1974.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 Stenton and Lees (1981), p. 183
  2. 1 2 Fox-Davies (1929), p. 1013
  3. 1 2 3 Dod (1966), p. 144
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Who's Who (1963), p. 1552
  5. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 33925. p. 2118. 28 March 1933. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  6. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 34368. p. 793. 5 February 1937. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  7. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 37364. p. 5746. 23 November 1945. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  8. ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 38353. p. 4071. 13 July 1948. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  9. 1 2 3 Young (1975), p. 19
  10. ↑ Young (1975), p. 18
  11. ↑ Who's Who (1963), p. 1551
  12. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 39480. p. 1192. 29 February 1952. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  13. ↑ The London Gazette: no. 42675. p. 3943. 15 May 1962. Retrieved 9 January 2010.

References

  • Who's Who 1963. London: Adam & Charles Black Ltd. 1963. 
  • Charles Roger Dod and Robert Phipps Dod (1966). Dod's Parliamentary Companion 1966. London: Dod's Parliamentary Companion Ltd. 
  • Young, Ken (1975). Local Politics and the Rise of Party: The London Municipal Society and the Conservative Intervention in Local Elections, 1894–1963. Leicester: Leicester University Press. 
  • Fox-Davies, Arthur Charles (1929). Armorial Families. vol. I. London: Hurst & Blackett. 
  • Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, eds. (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: 1945–1979. Brighton: Harvester Press. ISBN 0-85527-335-6. 

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Collingwood Hamilton, Bt		 Member of Parliament for Ilford
1937 – 1945 		Constituency abolished
Preceded by
Mabel Ridealgh		 Member of Parliament for Ilford North
1950 – 1954 		Succeeded by
Thomas Iremonger
Military offices
Preceded by
The Earl of Derby		 Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion, Lancashire Fusiliers
1948–1954 		Succeeded by
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