Colonel Francis Alfred Lucas (7 June 1850 – 11 December 1918) was a British company director and Conservative Party politician who lived in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

. He sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, 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 ...

from 1900 until his defeat in 1906. He died whilst a prospective candidate in the 1918 election and he was replaced by his wife, Alice Theresa Lucas.

Early life

Lucas was the son of Sampson Lucas, of Gloucester Square, London. He was educated privately and then at

University College London University College London (Trade name, branded as UCL) is a Public university, public research university in London, England. It is a Member institutions of the University of London, member institution of the Federal university, federal Uni ...

, after which he went into business, becoming a partner in Lucas, Nicholls and Company, a merchants firm with operations in London,

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

and

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

. He was a director of both Allied Insurance and Allied Marine Insurance. He was also an actively involved in the

Volunteer Force The Volunteer Force was a citizen army of part-time rifle, artillery and engineer corps, created as a Social movement, popular movement throughout the British Empire in 1859. Originally highly autonomous, the units of volunteers became increa ...

, serving for 35 years as a member of the

Artists Rifles The 21 Special Air Service Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), historically known as The Artists Rifles, is a regiment of the British Army Reserve. Its name is abbreviated to 21 SAS(R). Raised in London in 1859 as a volunteer light infantry unit, ...

, mostly as an officer. He then became Commander of the Harwich Voluntary Infantry Brigade from 1900 to 1906. He was also a governor of

Christ's Hospital Christ's Hospital is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging boarding school for pupils aged 11–18) with a royal charter, located to the south of Horsham in West Sussex. T ...

and of

Guy's Hospital Guy's Hospital is an NHS hospital founded by philanthropist Thomas Guy in 1721, located in the borough of Southwark in central London. It is part of Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust and one of the institutions that comprise the Kin ...

, and a Justice of the Peace for

, where his country residence ''Easton Park'' was located near Wickham Market.

Political career

He unsuccessfully contested the Louth division of Lincolnshire at the 1895 general election, and at the 1900 general election he was elected as MP for Lowestoft, with a majority of over 20% of the votes.Craig, ''1885–1918'', page 392 However, at the 1906 election, he was defeated by the Liberal candidate Edward Beauchamp, who won the seat with a 14% majority. Noting the scale of Liberal gains in the election, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' noted the Lowestoft result as evidence that "apparently, no Unionist seat is now secure". After his defeat in 1906, Lucas did not stand again in Lowestoft. He unsuccessfully contested the Kennington division of Lambeth at both the January 1910 and December 1910 elections,Craig, ''1885–1918'', page 30 and at the 1918 general election he stood again in Kennington. However he died on 11 December 1918, aged 68, after he had already been formally nominated, which caused the election to be delayed in Kennington until his wife, Alice Theresa Lucas could be nominated. Alice was nearly elected and she would have been the only woman MP from the 1918 election. His death, at his London residence in Stornoway House, Cleveland Row,

St James's St James's is a district of Westminster, and a central district in the City of Westminster, London, forming part of the West End of London, West End. The area was once part of the northwestern gardens and parks of St. James's Palace and much of ...

, was due to

heart failure Heart failure (HF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF), is a syndrome caused by an impairment in the heart's ability to Cardiac cycle, fill with and pump blood. Although symptoms vary based on which side of the heart is affected, HF ...

brought about by

influenza Influenza, commonly known as the flu, is an infectious disease caused by influenza viruses. Symptoms range from mild to severe and often include fever, runny nose, sore throat, muscle pain, headache, coughing, and fatigue. These sympto ...

Family

In 1887 Lucas married

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

who was a hospital administrator. She was the younger daughter of Viscount David de Stern, a German-born banker, cofounder of the

merchant bank A merchant bank is historically a bank dealing in commercial loans and investment. In modern British usage, it is the same as an investment bank. Merchant banks were the first modern banks and evolved from medieval merchants who traded in comm ...

Stern Brothers (London) and a member of the Stern banking family.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lucas, Francis A 1850 births 1918 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1900–1906 Alumni of University College London Deaths from the Spanish flu pandemic in England People from Suffolk Coastal (district) Stern family (banking) 19th-century English businesspeople Territorial Force officers Artists' Rifles officers 19th-century British Army personnel Jewish British politicians