Sir Robert Henry Rew (4 August 1858 – 7 April 1929) was a British agricultural statistician. He had a long career in public service and was a prominent member of the

Royal Statistical Society The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good. ...

serving as its President from 1920–22.

Life

He was the son of Robert Rew (1835–1917), a Congregational minister in Somerset and Buxton. In 1890 Rew became Secretary of the Central Chamber of Agriculture. He was secretary of the Royal Statistical Society from 1902 to 1920, and their

Guy Medal The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Silver and Bronze medals are awarded annually. The Gold Medal was awarded every three years between 1987 and 2011, but is awarded bienni ...

list in 1905. At the beginning of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, in November 1914, Rew was put in charge of the government's Grain Supplies Committee, which he chaired to 1916. Rew was knighted as a

Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

in 1916. He stood twice for the Liberals in

Henley (UK Parliament constituency) Henley may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Henley, Dorset, a location * Henley, Gloucestershire, a location * Henley-on-Thames, a town in South Oxfordshire, England ** Henley (UK Parliament constituency) ** Henley Rural District, a former ru ...

in 1922 and 1923 but lost on both occasions to Conservative Reginald Terrell.

Works

*''Stack Ensilage'' (1888) *''An Agricultural Faggot: a Collection of Papers on Agricultural Subjects'' (1913) *1917, a chapter on wheat supply in a new edition of ''The Wheat Problem'' by

William Crookes Sir William Crookes (; 17 June 1832 – 4 April 1919) was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry, now part of Imperial College London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing ...

, publication subsidised by Lord Rhondda. Wartime conditions allowed Rew to reinforce the original message of Crookes, on the connection of

food security Food security is the state of having reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, healthy Human food, food. The availability of food for people of any class, gender, ethnicity, or religion is another element of food protection. Simila ...

and chemistry. Rew was an Assistant Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Agricultural Depression from 1894. He produced reports on

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

and

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

in 1895.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rew, Henry, Robert 1858 births 1929 deaths Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society British statisticians Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates