Arthur Crosfield

Sir Arthur Crosfield

Sir Arthur Henry Crosfield, 1st Baronet GBE (5 April 1865 – 22 September 1938), was a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Warrington from 1906 to December 1910.

Background

In 1907 he married Domini Elliadi who was also active in Liberal politics.

Political career

He was elected during the 1906 Liberal landslide gaining Warrington from the Conservative Robert Pierpont. He was re-elected in January 1910 but defeated by the Conservative Harold Smith in December 1910. He was created a baronet, of Highgate in the County of Middlesex, in 1915.^[1] He was interested in the Balkans, and wrote The Settlement of the Near East, published in 1922.

Business career

From his parent, he inherited the business of Joseph Crosfield and Sons, soap and candle manufacturers. He sold the company in 1911 and built Witanhurst on the proceeds, being the largest house in London besides Buckingham Palace. He was a keen golfer and won many championships. Crosfield was also Chairman of National Playing Fields Association (for which he was knighted GBE in 1929^[2]) and served as a School Governor for Highgate School from 1929–1930.

Crosfield lost a fortune in a failed Greek mining venture in the mid 1930s, and was killed shortly thereafter when he fell out the window of a railway sleeper car in southern France.^[3][4]

References

1. The London Gazette: no. 29242. p. 7321. 27 July 1915.
2. The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 33472. p. 1440. 1 March 1929.
3. Ed Caesar, 1 June 2015. House of Secrets, The New Yorker
4. "Sir A. Crosfield's Fall from Train". The Manchester Guardian. 30 September 1938. p. 13. A verdict of accidental death was recorded by the Coroner (Mr. Bentley Purchase) at the inquest at St. Pancras yesterday on Sir Arthur Crosfield, who fell from the Geneva-Ventimiglia express at Muy, France, last Thursday. ... When about three-quarters of an hour from Cannes the porter called out that her [Lady Crosfield's] husband had fallen out of the window. Sir Arthur was always very fond of fresh air and liked open windows.