Sir Arthur Strettell Comyns Carr (19 September 1882 – 20 April 1965) was a British Liberal politician and lawyer.

Family and education

Comyns Carr was the son of

J. Comyns Carr Joseph William Comyns Carr (1 March 1849 – 12 December 1916), often referred to as J. Comyns Carr, was an English drama and art critic, gallery director, author, poet, playwright and theatre manager. Beginning his career as an art critic, Car ...

, a dramatist and art critic. His mother, Alice Comyns Carr (1850–1927), was a costume designer for the theatre. He was born in

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also , ) is a district in the West End of London, in the City of Westminster. Oxford Street, Europe's busiest shopping street, forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropolitan borough, it m ...

and educated at

Winchester College Winchester College is a public school (fee-charging independent day and boarding school) in Winchester, Hampshire, England. It was founded by William of Wykeham in 1382 and has existed in its present location ever since. It is the oldest of ...

and

Trinity College, Oxford (That which you wish to be secret, tell to nobody) , named_for = The Holy Trinity , established = , sister_college = Churchill College, Cambridge , president = Dame Hilary Boulding , location = Broad Street, Oxford OX1 3BH , coordinates ...

. In 1907, he married Cicely Raikes Bromage, the daughter of a

clergyman Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presiding over specific rituals and teaching their religion's doctrines and practices. Some of the ter ...

. They had three sons including Richard Strettell Comyns Carr, the second husband of the avant garde English novelist

Barbara Comyns Carr Barbara Irene Veronica Comyns Carr (born Barbara Irene Veronica Bayley; 27 December 1907Celia Brayfield (2004)Carr, Barbara Irene Veronica Comyns (1907–1992) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. – 14 ...

Roy Douglas Richard Roy Douglas (12 December 1907 – 23 March 2015) was an English composer, pianist and arranger. He worked as musical assistant to Ralph Vaughan Williams, William Walton, and Richard Addinsell, made well-known orchestrations of works suc ...

, "Sir Arthur Comyns Carr", Brack et al. (eds.) ''Dictionary of Liberal Biography''; Politico’s 1998, pp. 84-85

Career

In 1908, Comyns Carr was called to the Bar at

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wa ...

. He became a

King's Counsel In the United Kingdom and in some Commonwealth countries, a King's Counsel (post-nominal initials KC) during the reign of a king, or Queen's Counsel (post-nominal initials QC) during the reign of a queen, is a lawyer (usually a barrister or ...

in 1924, a

Bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher ca ...

of the Inn in 1938, and, eventually, Treasurer in 1951. Comyns Carr's reputation as a barrister was confirmed in a libel action brought by

Horatio Bottomley Horatio William Bottomley (23 March 1860 – 26 May 1933) was an English financier, journalist, editor, newspaper proprietor, swindler, and Member of Parliament. He is best known for his editorship of the popular magazine ''John Bull'', an ...

against an associate named Reuben Bigland. Carr's cross-examination of Bottomley and another key witness destroyed his case and was instrumental in Bottomley's eventual imprisonment on charges of fraud and his expulsion from 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. ...

. Comyns Carr later began to specialize in the law relating to

local taxation A comparison of tax rates by countries is difficult and somewhat subjective, as tax laws in most countries are extremely complex and the tax burden falls differently on different groups in each country and sub-national unit. The list focuses on ...

and as a result of appearing in landmark rating appeals he was engaged as counsel to government departments. He also became an expert in the subject of

national insurance National Insurance (NI) is a fundamental component of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. It acts as a form of social security, since payment of NI contributions establishes entitlement to certain state benefits for workers and their famil ...

. Much later Comyns Carr was a prosecutor in trials of German and Japanese war criminals, including serving as senior prosecutor at the

trial of Erich von Manstein Erich von Manstein (24 November 1887 – 9 June 1973) was a prominent commander of Nazi Germany's World War II army (Heer). In 1949 he was tried for war crimes in Hamburg, was convicted of nine of seventeen charges and sentenced to eighteen ye ...

in 1949, and he was knighted for this work in 1949.

War service

At the outbreak of the First World War Comyns Carr he joined the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, ...

and later served on the staff at the

Ministry of Munitions The Minister of Munitions was a British government position created during the First World War to oversee and co-ordinate the production and distribution of munitions for the war effort. The position was created in response to the Shell Crisis o ...

. He also acted as an adviser to the

Ministry of Reconstruction The Ministry of Reconstruction was a department of the United Kingdom government which existed after both World War I and World War II in order to provide for the needs of the population in the post war years. World War I The Ministry of Rec ...

. In the last months of the war he joined the army as a private soldier but did not serve overseas.

Politics

Comyns Carr's expertise in National Insurance led him to co-author a book on the subject in 1912 to which

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor, (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. He was a Liberal Party politician from Wales, known for leading the United Kingdom during ...

wrote the preface. He was a member of the Liberal land inquiry committee of 1912 and also sat on the land acquisition committee in 1917. His ambition to become a Liberal

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 Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) led Comyns Carr to stand for Parliament on eleven occasions in all. He first stood for election in

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

in St Pancras South West against a

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

opponent who had received

the Coalition Coupon The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victor ...

and fought the same seat again in

1922 Events January * January 7 – Dáil Éireann, the parliament of the Irish Republic, ratifies the Anglo-Irish Treaty by 64–57 votes. * January 10 – Arthur Griffith is elected President of Dáil Éireann, the day after Éamon de Valera ...

. At the 1923 general election Comyns Carr had his only success, becoming Liberal MP for

Islington East Islington East was a constituency which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885, until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election. Boundaries 1885 ...

turning a Unionist majority of nearly 4,000 into a Liberal majority of 1,632 but he lost the seat at the general election of 1924 like many other Liberals swept away as British politics seemed to be reverting to its traditional two party model. In 1928, he was Liberal candidate at the

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election ( Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election use ...

for the constituency of Ilford and fought the seat again in the general election of the following year. In 1930, Comyns Carr published an influential and controversial booklet, ''Escape from the Dole'', which gained him significant public attention. In it he queried the policy of spending large sums of money supporting the unemployed when the government could be investing in providing work for them. He then challenged Winston Churchill in his constituency at Epping in the

1931 general election Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir ...

and in

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart bec ...

he suffered his heaviest defeat ever at

Nottingham East Nottingham East is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2019 by Nadia Whittome of the Labour Party. Members of Parliament Constituency profile On average earners' incomes are slightly lower than the n ...

. In June 1936, he was elected to serve on the Liberal Party Council. He stood again in

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

when he lost at

Shrewsbury Shrewsbury ( , also ) is a market town, civil parish, and the county town of Shropshire, England, on the River Severn, north-west of London; at the 2021 census, it had a population of 76,782. The town's name can be pronounced as either 'S ...

. In October 1945, he was a candidate at another by-election, this time in the

City of London The City of London is a city, ceremonial county and local government district that contains the historic centre and constitutes, alongside Canary Wharf, the primary central business district (CBD) of London. It constituted most of London f ...

Other public appointments

In later life Comyns Carr served as chairman of the

Foreign Compensation Commission Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United S ...

(1950–1958) and was a president of the Institute of Industrial Administration and of the Association of Approved Societies. He was also

President of the Liberal Party This is a list of people who served as President of the British Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. The Liberal Party merged into the Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrats in 1988. The post was established in 1877 as President of the National Li ...

in 1958–59. Comyns-Carr was also one of the British prosecutors at the Tokyo Trials.

Death

He died in Hampstead on 20 April 1965, aged 82. A memorial service was held for him in the chapel of Gray's Inn on 24 May 1965.''The Times'', 25 May 1965.

Ancestry

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Comyns Carr, Arthur 1882 births 1965 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1923–1924 British Army personnel of World War I Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK) Members of Gray's Inn Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford People educated at Winchester College Prosecutors of the International Military Tribunal for the Far East Knights Bachelor 20th-century King's Counsel