Robert Pattinson (British politician)

Sir Robert Pattinson (1872 - 4 December 1954) was the Chairman of Kesteven County Council for 20 years and briefly a Liberal MP.

Family and education

The son of William Pattinson of Ruskington, Robert was educated at Carre's Grammar School in Sleaford and privately.^[1] He married Catherine Lucy Pratt, daughter of Henry Pratt of Lincoln in 1895. There were two sons and one daughter of the marriage.^[1]

His brother Samuel Pattinson (1870–1942) and his sister's husband Richard Winfrey (1858–1944) were both Liberal MPs; Samuel for Horncastle from 1922–24 and Richard for South West Norfolk from 1906–23, he also represented Gainsborough from 1923-24.

Career

Pattinson was a railway contractor and a Director of Pattinson & Co. Ltd (Builders Merchants) of Sleaford.^[2]

Politics

Lincolnshire politics

For 50 years, Pattison was a member of Kesteven County Council, becoming its Chairman in 1934, the year he was knighted, and serving as Chairman until his death in 1954.^[1] He was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1941. He served as Chairman of the Witham & Steeping Rivers Catchment Board^[3] and was appointed to be one of the original members of the River Board Areas Consultative Committee^[4] and a member Central Transport Board for Great Britain, 1948-54.^[5] He was an Alderman of Kesteven County Council^[6] and the first chairman of the Lincolnshire Archives Committee^[7] He also served as a Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county.^[8]

The Robert Pattinson School in North Hykeham was named after him in 1953

Parliamentary politics

For many years Pattison was an active member of the Liberal Party. He was first chosen as Liberal candidate for Sleaford division of Lincolnshire in 1914.^[9] A general election was expected in either 1914 or 1915 but due to the outbreak of war, the election was postponed. At the 1918 general election he unsuccessfully contested the Grantham division,^[10] but was elected for the same constituency at the 1922 general election, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Colonel Edmund Royds with a majority of 425 votes.^[11] However, at the 1923 general election he was defeated by the Conservative candidate Victor Warrender.^[10]

In 1937 he was suggested as a possible candidate at the Holland with Boston by-election. As a well-known local man he was thought to be an acceptable candidate to both Liberal and Conservative Associations in the division. In fact he was reported to be the preferred candidate of the local Conservatives.^[12] The by-election was caused by the death of the sitting MP, Sir James Blindell, who had captured the seat for the Liberals in a by-election in 1929 and had later joined the Liberal Nationals. In the end Herbert Butcher of Peterborough, Chairman of the East Midlands Liberal National Area Council was chosen as the National Government candidate^[13] and successfully held the seat. Pattinson himself later formally joined the Liberal Nationals.^[14]

Death

Pattinson died at his home, The Fosse House, in Lincoln on 2 December 1954 at the age of 82 years.^[1]

References

1. "Sir Robert Pattinson", The Times, 4 December 1954
2. Who was Who, OUP 2007
3. The Times, 2 November 1944
4. The Times, 1 September 1948
5. The Commercial Motor, Vol 98; Temple Press, 1953 p634
6. English Review Magazine, Vol 4, Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1950
7. The Lincolnshire Historian; Lincolnshire Local History Society, 1954 p45
8. Who was Who, OUP 2007
9. Grantham Journal, 21 March 1914
10. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 415. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
11. The Times, 27 November 1923
12. The Times,31 May 1937
13. The Times, 22 May 1937
14. The Times, 23 June 1938, 10 December 1938

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sir Robert Pattinson