Frederick Halsey

Infobox Politician
honorific-prefix = The Right Honourable
name= Frederick Halsey


imagesize=
office = Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire
primeminister = Benjamin Disraeli
William Gladstone
term_start = 1874
term_end = 1885
predecessor = Henry Brand
successor = Constituency Abolished
office2 = Member of Parliament for Watford
term_start2 = 1885
term_end2 = 1906
primeminister2 = Marquess of Salisbury
William Gladstone
Marquess of Salisbury
William Gladstone
Earl of Roseberry
Marquess of Salisbury
Arthur Balfour
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
predecessor2 = new constituency
successor2 = Nathaniel Micklem
birth_date =9 December 1839
birth_place =
death_date =12 February 1927
death_place =
party = Conservative Party

Sir Thomas Frederick Halsey, 1st Baronet PC (9 December 1839–12 February 1927) was an English politician.

Halsey came from one of the most prominent families of Hertfordshire, whose seat was at Gaddesden Place, near Hemel Hempstead. His father, Thomas Plumer Halsey, was Member of Parliament for Hertfordshire from 1847 to 24 April 1854, when he, his wife and his younger son were drowned in the shipwreck of the steamer "Ercolano" in the Gulf of Genoa. Frederick survived as he was at Eton at the time. He progressed from there to Christ Church, Oxford.

After graduating in 1861, he took up the life of a county notable in Hertfordshire, obtaining a commission in the North Hertfordshire Yeomanry and becoming a Justice of the Peace. In 1874 he was elected Conservative MP for Hertfordshire and served in the post until 1885, when the constituencies were reorganised. He was then elected for Watford and served until 1906, when he lost his seat to the Liberals. In 1899 he was elected Chairman of the House of Commons Standing Orders Committee, and for service in this role was appointed to the Privy Council after the accession of King Edward VII on 24 January 1901, [ [http://www.londongazette.co.uk/ViewPDF.aspx?pdf=27272&geotype=London&gpn=551&type=ArchivedSupplementPage&all=&exact=&atleast=&similar= London Gazette issue 27272] ] entitling him to the style "The Right Honourable".

After his parliamentary defeat he once more devoted himself to county affairs, serving as chairman of the St Albans Quarter Sessions from 1908 to 1918 (having served as deputy chairman from 1889 to 1908). No decision of his court was ever appealed. He was an alderman of Hertfordshire County Council from 1888, and was particularly interested in the Hertfordshire Constabulary. He finally retired from the Hertfordshire Yeomanry with the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, having served as second-in-command, and then joined the county Territorial Force association, becoming its chairman. He was an active Freemason, and served as Deputy Grand Master of England and Second Grand Principal of the Supreme Grand Chapter of the Royal Arch from 1903.

He was created a baronet on 22 June 1920, in the 1920 Birthday Honours. [ [http://www.leighrayment.com/baronetage/baronetsH1.htm Leigh Rayment's Peerage page] ]

Halsey's fourth son was Admiral Sir Lionel Halsey.

Footnotes

References

*Obituary, "The Times", 14 February 1927