- Walter Forrest
Walter Forrest (July 1869 – 18 July 1939) was a British Liberal politician and businessman.
Birth and family
Walter Forrest was the son of Sir William Forrest of
Roundhay a district ofLeeds [Who was Who, OUP 2007] . Sir William Forrest was a textile manufacturer. He was a member ofPudsey Corporation and seven timesMayor of Pudsey.Walter Forrest married first Kate Shillings of Pudsey. She died in 1913. They had one son. He re-married in 1915, his second wife being Mary Macduff from
Sheffield . Forrest was a partner in his father's woollen manufacturing business [The Times, 18.8.19] . He later developed business interests in a number of companies, including investment trusts and insurance as well as heavy industry [The Times, 19.7.39] .Local politics
Forrest started his political career in local government. President of Pudsey Liberal Association in the 1890s, Forrest was a member of Pudsey Town Council in
Yorkshire between 1900 and 1919, serving asMayor from 1909 to 1912 and was later anAlderman . Between 1905 and 1919 he was a member of the West Riding County Council for Pudsey andFarsley . He also served as aJustice of the Peace .Parliamentary career
Forrest entered Parliament at a
by-election as a Coalition Liberal - that is a member of the Liberal Party supporting the Coalition with the Conservatives led byDavid Lloyd George - for the Pontefract division ofYorkshire in September 1919. He held the seat until the 1922 general election when he was defeated by Tom Smith the Labour candidate. He tried unsuccessfully to re-enter Parliament at the 1923 general election as Liberal candidate for Batley but he won that constituency at the 1924 general election. He lost the seat in 1929, again to Labour. In 1922 Forrest had briefly beenParliamentary private secretary to the Postmaster-General.Leaving the Liberals
In 1931 Forrest joined the Conservative Party, citing his loss of faith in the policy of Free Trade in a letter he sent to
Stanley Baldwin [The Times,2.4.31] but he later switched to the Tories’ Liberal National allies. At the time of his death, just short of his 70th birthday, he was treasurer of the London Liberal National Party and a member of the National Executive of the Liberal National Council. He wasknighted for political and public service in the New Year Honours List of 1935, becoming aKnight Bachelor [The Times, 1.1.35] .Yorkshire heritage
Forrest was always proud of his Yorkshire birth and heritage. He was of the Society of Yorkshiremen in London and also chaired the Yorkshire Society [The Times, 19.7.39] . In 1928, after the death of
H H Asquith a memorial to the former Liberal prime minister in the form of a bronze bust and panel was unveiled in the Town Hall in Morley, where he had been born. The ceremony was attended by some members of Asquith’s family and Forrest, as the local Liberal MP, placed a wreath on the memorial [The Times, 30.10.28] . He is buried in Pudsey cemetery along with his father and his second wife, Mary.References
For Pudsey Cemetery burial plot information, see http://www.calverley.info/pud_mem_d.htm
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