Edward Hemmerde

Edward George Hemmerde,KC (born 13 November 1871, died 24 May 1948) was an English barrister and politician.

Education, the Law and family

Hemmerde was born at Peckham in London the son of a former manager of the Imperial Ottoman Bank. He was educated at Winchester and University College, Oxford before establishing his law practice, having been called to the Bar by the Inner Temple in 1897. He took silk in 1908 and was the following year appointed Recorder of Liverpool, although his relations with the city authorities there were seldom good [The Times, 25.5.48 and 28.5.48] . He married Lucy Elinor Colley in 1906 but they were divorced in 1922. They had a son (who was killed in 1926) and a daughter [The Times,25.5.48] .

Liberal candidate

Hemmerde first tried to enter Parliament at the general election of 1900 when he fought Winchester ["Who was Who", OUP 2007] . He was next selected by Shropshire Liberals for a by-election at Shrewsbury expected in 1904 [The Times, 18.1.04] . However he was eventually elected as a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for the East Denbighshire constituency at the 1906 general election.

Liberal MP

Hemmerde held his seat in East Denbighshire until 1910. In November 1910, he announced that he had been asked by the party leadership to give up his seat in Wales and fight the Conservative, Lord Charles Beresford who, as a naval man had been involved in bitter political clashes with the government over the funding of the navy and who represented Portsmouth. Hemmerde reluctantly agreed to do but was unsuccessful in the contest in the December 1910 general election [The Times, 22.11.10] . In 1912 he was selected as the candidate for North West Norfolk for the by-election pending there following the death of Sir George White the sitting Liberal MP. [The Times, 24.4.12] . Hemmerde won the seat, albeit with a reduced majority [The Times, 3.6.12] , and represented the area until 1918. In Parliament Hemmerde was one of the principal advocates of the movement for the taxation of land values and often found himself at odds with the official land policy of the Liberal Party, although he could be emollient on the issue [K O Morgan (ed.) "Lloyd George Family Letters, 1885-1936"; University of Wales Press and OUP, 1973 P.165 ] .

The Coupon and defection to Labour

According to one historian of the Liberal Party, Hemmerde was regarded as a supporter of H H Asquith until the occasion of the Maurice Debate of 9 May 1918 [Trevor Wilson, "The Downfall of the Liberal Party"; Cornell University Press, 1966 pp145-146] when the Aquithian Liberals voted against the Lloyd George led coalition government on a motion arising from criticisms by the recently sacked Director of Military Operations that the Prime Minister had misled Parliament concerning British troop strength on the Western Front. Hemmerde decided to support the government in the Maurice Debate and was rewarded with an invitation to no. 10 Downing Street and, according to his own account, was promised government endorsement at the forthcoming general election. In the event however he was denied the coalition coupon at the 1918 general election and finding himself out of Parliament defected to the Labour Party in 1920 [Catherine Anne Cline, "Recruits to Labour: The British Labour Party 1914-1931"; Syracuse University Press, 1963 p161] . He was the first Labour MP for Crewe from 1922-24.

candal

Hemmerde was associated with a City financial scandal in 1913 and the in 1922 was involved in a separate court case concerning his personal finances. It was reported that although there was a just claim against him for the money lent him he avoided payment by pleading the Statute of Limitations. After this incident, although he retained his Recordership and continued to practice law on the Northern Circuit he withdrew from political life [The Times, 25.5.48] .

Playwright

Hemmerde was also a playwright. In 1912 he wrote the play "A Maid of Honour" under the pseudonym, Edward Denby. He co-authored (with Francis Neilson) the plays, "A Butterfly on the Wheel" (1922) and "The Crucible." In his own name he wrote the plays "Proud Maisie" (1915) and "A Cardinal’s Romance" and jointly with Cicely Fraser, "The Dead Hand. ["Who was Who", OUP 2007] "

References

###@@@KEY@@@###succession box
title = Member of Parliament for East Denbighshire
years = 1906–1910
before = Samuel Moss
after = Edward Thomas Johnsuccession box
title = Member of Parliament for North West Norfolk
years = 1912–1918
before = George White
after = "constituency abolished"succession box
title = Member of Parliament for Crewe
years = 1922–1924
before = Joseph Davies
after = Ernest Craig