Edmund Broughton Barnard
Sir Edmund Broughton Barnard OBE JP DL (16 February 1856 – 27 January 1930) was a British Liberal politician, landowner and sportsman.
Family and education
Barnard was the son of William Barnard who had connections to Harlow Mill in Essex and the nearby Sawbridgeworth in Hertfordshire. He was educated at Brighton College and Downing College, Cambridge where he gained his BA in 1879 and MA in 1882.[1] He was a member of the Agricultural Board of Studies of Cambridge University.[2] He married Alice Maude Richardson in 1887.[3] His wife died in 1907.[4]
Career
Barnard was an old-fashioned country gentleman, a patron of his locality on the Essex and Hertfordshire borders where his family had been extensive landowners and farmers for generations.[5] He was a generous local benefactor and supporter of good causes.[6]
Local politics
Barnard was an original member of Hertfordshire County Council, serving on and chairing many different committees and becoming its chairman in 1920 [7] and an Alderman. He was chairman of the County Council’s Education Committee and took a strong stand in favour of the retention of village schools, emphasising their importance to the preservation of village life. Barnard also served on Sawbridgeworth Urban District Council and was its chairman between 1905 and 1907 [8]
Parliamentary politics
He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament three times before getting elected. At the 1885 general election he was Liberal candidate in Epping; in 1886 he stood in Maldon and then in Kidderminster at the general election of 1900. After nursing the constituency for the next few years,[9] he was finally elected at Kidderminster in the Liberal landslide victory of 1906 where his Conservative opponent was the future prime minister Stanley Baldwin. He did not contest Kidderminster in the general elections of January 1910 but fought the December General Election and came close to winning back his old seat. He seemed to have had a falling out with the Liberals over the prosecution of the First World War and the conduct of party politics in general as in 1917 he fought a by-election at Islington East for the National Party. He fought the 1918 general election for the same party at Hertford.
Other public appointments
In 1904 Barnard was elected Chairman of the Metropolitan Water Board. He was sometime Chairman of the Lee Conservancy Board and the Thames Conservancy Board. In connection with this work he was appointed the First Employers’ Chairman of the Joint Industrial Council for the Waterworks Undertakings Industry. He was sometime president of the Canal Association of Great Britain. He was a Justice of the Peace for both Essex and Hertfordshire and Chairman of Bishops Stortford Petty Sessions. Barnard was also sometime chairman of the Hertfordshire Agricultural Executive, chairman of the Board of Governors of The Bishops Stortford Secondary School for Girls. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire.[10]
Honours
He was awarded the OBE and was knighted in January 1928.
Sportsman
Barnard was an accomplished horseman. He played polo for Cambridge and rode in competitions under Jockey Club Rules, on one occasion riding three winners in an afternoon at Lewes races. He later took to regular attendance at race meetings and combined this with a reputation for being a pleasure seeker and convivial host at his Sawbridgeworth home.
Death
Barnard died suddenly, aged 73, during a meeting of the Hertfordshire County Council which he was chairing on 27 January 1930. The meeting was being held in London in the Law Society’s Hall. Apparently Barnard was just about to move a resolution when he experienced a sudden seizure. The county medical officer went to his assistance but he had died almost instantly.[6]
References
- ↑ "Barnard, Edmund Broughton (BNRT878EB)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ↑ The Times, 19 January 1906
- ↑ FreeBMD
- ↑ Who was Who, OUP 2007
- ↑ David Parker, Hertfordshire Children in War and Peace, 1914-1939; University of Hertfordshire Press, 2007 p170
- 1 2 The Times, 28 January 1930
- ↑ Parker, op cit p168
- ↑ http://www.a2a.org.uk/search/documentxsl.asp?com=1&i=0&nbKey=1&stylesheet=xsl\A2A_com.xsl&keyword=EDMUND%20BROUGHTON%20BARNARD&properties=0601
- ↑ Harford Montgomery Hyde, Baldwin; the Unexpected Prime Minister; Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973 p33
- ↑ The Times, 12 January 1929
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Edmund Barnard
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Sir Augustus Godson |
Member of Parliament for Kidderminster 1906 – January 1910 |
Succeeded by Eric Ayshford Knight |