Ernest Thurtle (11 November 188422 August 1954) was an American-born British Labour politician.

Biography

Thurtle worked as an accountant and salesman. He saw service in the army in World War I and was badly wounded at the Battle of Cambrai. In 1912 he married

Dorothy Lansbury Dorothy Thurtle (; 15 November 1890 – 28 February 1973) was a British women's right activist, a campaigner for contraceptive and abortion rights, and a Labour Party politician. Early life She was the sixth child of the eight daughters and four ...

, the daughter of George Lansbury, leader of the Labour Party in the 1930s. Thurtle contested South West Bethnal Green and

Shoreditch Shoreditch is a district in the East End of London in England, and forms the southern part of the London Borough of Hackney. Neighbouring parts of Tower Hamlets are also perceived as part of the area. In the 16th century, Shoreditch was an impor ...

without success and was Member of Parliament (MP) for

, London from 1923 to 1931 and from 1935 to 50, then Shoreditch and Finsbury from 1950 until his death. Thurtle's greatest achievement in Parliament was to bring about the abolition of the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for cowardice or desertion in the British Army. With over 300 British soldiers shot by firing squad after brief trials during World War I, Thurtle first introduced the measure for abolition in 1924, which became Labour Party policy in 1925 and eventually approved by the House of Commons by the Labour government in 1930. Supporters of the measure included T. E. Lawrence, also known as Lawrence of Arabia, but the abolition was first rejected by the House of Lords, which was encouraged in their resistance by various retired generals, including Lord Allenby. The House of Commons insisted, and the measure was enacted. The argument that it would reduce the determination of the soldiers was countered by the fact that Australia had always made it clear when it joined the war effort that none of its men would be executed for these crimes. No Australians were shot for cowardice or desertion, but it was clear that their troops had been as effective as any others in the war. Thurtle continued to be involved in ex-servicemen's associations. At the Labour Party conference in 1923, Thurtle supported two republican motions. The first stated "that the Royal Family is no longer a necessary party of the British constitution" and the second was "that the hereditary principle in the British Constitution be abolished". Kingsley Martin,''The Crown and the Establishment''. London, Hutchinson. 1962 (p.53–54) Thurtle was a

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the Minister of Pensions in 1924, a Labour

whip A whip is a tool or weapon designed to strike humans or other animals to exert control through pain compliance or fear of pain. They can also be used without inflicting pain, for audiovisual cues, such as in equestrianism. They are generally e ...

from 1930 to 1931 and a junior minister at the Ministry of Information from 1941 to 1945. He was also a journalist and author. Thurtle was General Secretary of the Rationalist Press Association 1932-40 and, in 1941, its Chairman.Whyte, Adam Gowans (1949). ''The Story of the R.P.A. 1899-1949''. London: Watts & Co. p. 93

References

External links

*
Shot at Dawn
* E Thurtle: ''Times winged chariot'' Chaterson, London, 1945 {{DEFAULTSORT:Thurtle, Ernest 1884 births 1954 deaths American emigrants to England English republicans English socialists Hackney Members of Parliament Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945 People from Port Jervis, New York People from New York (state) UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955