Charles Vernon Oldfield Bartlett,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(30 April 1894 – 18 January 1983) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

journalist, politician and author. He served as a

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

(MP) from 1938 to 1950: first as an

Independent Progressive Independent progressive is a description in the United Kingdom and elsewhere, to denote a political progressive, who lacks a formal affiliation to a party. In the United Kingdom In the late 19th century/early 20th century, the Progressive Party ...

advocating a

Popular Front A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault". More generally, it is "a coalition ...

, then for the

Common Wealth Party The Common Wealth Party (CW) was a socialist political party in the United Kingdom with parliamentary representation from the middle of the Second World War until the year after its end. Thereafter it continued in being, essentially as a pre ...

, and then again as an Independent Progressive.

Life

Born at Westbury, Wiltshire, Bartlett was educated at

Blundell's School Blundell's School is a co-educational day and boarding independent school in the English public school tradition, located in Tiverton, Devon. It was founded in 1604 under the will of Peter Blundell, one of the richest men in England at the t ...

, then joined the British Army during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, from which he was invalided out. He became a journalist, working for the '' Daily Mail'', and later was a foreign correspondent for ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

''. In 1922 he was appointed director of the London office of the

League of Nations The League of Nations (french: link=no, Société des Nations ) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference that ...

, after which he worked as a news reporter for

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

. He did not have his BBC contract renewed after his coverage of Hitler's decision to leave the League of Nations in 1933 was deemed too sympathetic ("not beastly enough"). In 1933 he joined the ''

News Chronicle The ''News Chronicle'' was a British daily newspaper. Formed by the merger of '' The Daily News'' and the ''Daily Chronicle'' in 1930, it ceased publication on 17 October 1960,''Liberal Democrat News'' 15 October 2010, accessed 15 October 2010 be ...

'' and was its diplomatic correspondent for twenty years, including a period in Spain during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

.Preston, Paul. ''We Saw Spain Die: Foreign Correspondents in the Spanish Civil War.'' Constable. 2008 Bartlett was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. T ...

for the

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

seat of Bridgwater as a

candidate opposed to appeasement in a by-election held on 18 November 1938. He held the seat for twelve years. In 1942, Bartlett,

Richard Acland Sir Richard Thomas Dyke Acland, 15th Baronet (26 November 1906 – 24 November 1990) was one of the founding members of the British Common Wealth Party in 1942, having previously been a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP). He joined the Labour P ...

J. B. Priestley John Boynton Priestley (; 13 September 1894 – 14 August 1984) was an English novelist, playwright, screenwriter, broadcaster and social commentator. His Yorkshire background is reflected in much of his fiction, notably in ''The Good Compa ...

, and others established the socialist

. At the 1945 election, Bartlett held his Bridgwater seat, standing as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

. In 1950 he joined the Labour Party and retired from parliament. In 1954 Bartlett also retired from his work with the ''News Chronicle'' and moved to

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

, where he was both political commentator for the ''

Straits Times ''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...

'' and also South East Asia correspondent for the '' Manchester Guardian''.

Publications

*''Calf Love'', 1929 *''Journey's End: a novel'' (with R. C. Sherriff), 1930 *''Nazi Germany Explained'', 1933 *''This is My Life'', 1937 *''Tomorrow Always Comes'', 1943 *''East of the Iron Curtain'', 1950 *''Struggle for Africa'', 1953 *''You and your surfboard'', 1953 *''And Now, Tomorrow'', 1960 *''Tuscan Retreat'', 1964 *''A Book about Elba'', 1965 *''Introduction to Italy'', 1967 *''The Past of Pastimes'', 1969 *''The Colour of their Skin'', 1969 *''Tuscan Harvest'', 1971 *''Central Italy'', 1972 *''Northern Italy'', 1973 *''I Know What I Liked'', 1974

References

External links

*
Summary of his life and works

Vernon Bartlett website
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bartlett, Vernon 1894 births 1983 deaths Military personnel from Wiltshire British Army personnel of World War I 20th-century British Army personnel People from Westbury, Wiltshire People educated at Blundell's School Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies Daily Mail journalists English male journalists Independent politicians in England The Times people English socialists Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Common Wealth Party MPs UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 Common Wealth Party