Charles Henry Roberts

Charles Roberts MP, circa 1910

Charles Henry Roberts (22 August 1865 – 25 June 1959) was a British radical^[1] Liberal politician.

Background

Roberts was the son of Reverend Albert James Roberts, Vicar of Tidebrook, Sussex and Ellen Wace of Wadhurst, Sussex and was educated at Marlborough College and Balliol College, Oxford. ^[2]

He was a fellow of Exeter College, Oxford, where he taught from 1889 to 1895.

Political career

He was the unsuccessful Liberal candidate for Wednesbury in the 1895 general election and for Lincoln in 1900. He was elected to Parliament for Lincoln in the 1906 general election and reelected in both elections in 1910.

He served under H. H. Asquith as Under-Secretary of State for India 1914 to 1915. He was then made both Comptroller of the Household and Chairman of the National Health Insurance Joint Committee from 1915 to 1916.

He lost his seat in 1918 when the Coalition Government gave endorsement to his Unionist opponent, but returned briefly to the House of Commons in 1922 when he was elected for Derby. However, he lost this seat in the 1923 general election and retired from national politics.

He afterwards committed himself to work creation schemes in Cumberland, reopening collieries and starting brickworks, limeworks and quarries. He also became involved in farming. From 1938–58 he was chairman of Cumberland County Council and the Cumberland branch of the National Farmers' Union. He also chaired the Aborigines' Protection Society. He was Chairman of the Cumberland War Agricultural Committee, 1939–47. He served as a Justice of the Peace in Cumberland from 1900 to 1950 and was Deputy Chairman of Cumberland Quarter Sessions until 1950. ^[2]

Election results

General Election 1900 Lincoln[3] Electorate 8,846
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Hilton Seely	4,002	50.4
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	3,935	49.6
Majority			67	0.8
Turnout
	Conservative hold		Swing

General Election 1906 Lincoln[4] Electorate 10,645
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	5,110	51.2	+1.6
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Hilton Seely	3,718	37.2	-3.2
	Conservative	Henry Page Croft	1,162	11.6	n/a
Majority			1,392	14.0	14.8
Turnout				93.8
	Liberal gain from Conservative		Swing	+7.4

General Election January 1910 Lincoln[5] Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	5,402	50.2	-1.0
	Conservative	Sir Robert Marcus Filmer	3,236	30.1	+18.5
	Liberal Unionist	Charles Hilton Seely	2,129	19.8	-17.4
Majority			2,166	20.1	+6.1
Turnout			10,767
	Liberal hold		Swing

General Election December 1910 Lincoln[6] Electorate
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	5,484	52.9	+2.7
	Conservative	Sir Robert Marcus Filmer	4,878	47.1	+17.0
Majority			606	5.8	-14.3
Turnout			10,362
	Liberal hold		Swing	-7.1

General Election 1918: Lincoln[7] Electorate 31,365
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Unionist	Alfred Thomas Davies	11,114	47.7	+0.6
	Labour	Robert Arthur Taylor	6,658	28.5	n/a
	Liberal	Charles Henry Roberts	5,550	23.8	-29.1
Majority			4,456	19.2	25.0
Turnout				74.4
	Unionist gain from Liberal		Swing	+14.8

Private Life

He married Lady Cecilia Maude Howard, daughter of George Howard, 9th Earl of Carlisle. They had one son, the Liberal MP Wilfrid Roberts and two daughters, one of whom was the artist Winifred Nicholson. Lady Cecilia died in 1947.^[8]

References

1. https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=2XWGuS25msYC&pg=PA293&lpg=PA293&dq=charles+roberts+(Lincoln)+radical&source=bl&ots=4LJ7503nOD&sig=2I8kkO3ccoS9tz0Ff_POcx4qgC4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBGoVChMI0oD97K-6yAIVTLgUCh1DNgRH#v=onepage&q=charles%20roberts%20(Lincoln)%20radical&f=false
2. "Obituary of Charles Henry Roberts". The Times, Friday, Jun 26, 1959. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
3. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
4. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
6. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
7. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
8. ‘ROBERTS, Charles Henry’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 20 Dec 2013

• Leigh Rayment's Peerage Pages
• Lundy, Darryl. "FAQ". The Peerage. External link in |publisher= (help)

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Henry Roberts