Richard Scurrah Wainwright (11 April 1918 – 16 January 2003) was a British politician of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

. He was the MP for

Colne Valley The Colne Valley is a steep sided valley on the east flank of the Pennine Hills in the English county of West Yorkshire. It takes its name from the River Colne which rises above the town of Marsden and flows eastward towards Huddersfield. ...

from 1966 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1987.

Early life and education

Wainwright was born in

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

. He was educated at

Shrewsbury School Shrewsbury School is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school in Shrewsbury. Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by royal charter, to replace the town's Saxon collegiate foundations which were disestablished in the sixteenth century, Shrewsb ...

He then won an open scholarship to

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. The college was founded in 1326 as University Hall, making it the second-oldest surviving college of the Unive ...

(BA

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, 1938). While studying for his degree he developed his interest in the Liberal Party, as a member of the

Cambridge University Liberal Club Cambridge University Liberal Association (CULA) is the student branch of the Liberal Democrats for students at the University of Cambridge. It is the successor to the Cambridge Student Liberal Democrats, which in turn was formed from the merge ...

Early career

After leaving university he became a Merchant Banker, but later left the profession to focus on his political aspirations. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he registered as a

conscientious objector A conscientious objector is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of conscience or religion. The term has also been extended to objecting to working for the military–indu ...

and joined the

Friends' Ambulance Unit The Friends' Ambulance Unit (FAU) was a volunteer ambulance service, founded by individual members of the British Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), in line with their Peace Testimony. The FAU operated from 1914 to 1919, 1939 to 1946 and ...

, a

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to the Religious Society of Friends, a historically Protestant Christian set of denominations. Members refer to each other as Friends after in the Bible, and originally, others referred to them as Quakers ...

organisation, serving in

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

in 1944, and

Antwerp Antwerp (; ; ) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of Antwerp Province, and the third-largest city in Belgium by area at , after ...

the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in 1944–46.

Parliamentary career

Wainwright stood as the Liberal Party candidate for the constituency of

Pudsey Pudsey is a market town in the City of Leeds borough in West Yorkshire, England. It is located midway between Bradford city centre and Leeds city centre. Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, it has a population of 25,393. History T ...

in the general election of 1950 and again in

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

, but was unsuccessful on both occasions. In 1956 he became the Liberal candidate for

. Standing there as a Liberal in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, the 1963 by-election, and

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

, he increased his vote each time until he finally gained the seat in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

. At the following election in 1970 he was defeated by the Labour Party's David Clark but regained the seat at the February 1974 election. He retained his seat until his retirement at the 1987 general election. In 1953, Wainwright was elected to the executive of the Liberal Party and served as its Chairman between 1970 and 1972. His particular areas of interest were employment, trade and public finance. From 1961 he concentrated his work at Liberal headquarters on local government. He was a central spokesman for the Liberal Party on finance and represented his party on the Finance Bill Committee in 1968, trade and industry, the economy (1966–1970, 1979–1985) and employment (1985–1987). He was the chairman of the Liberal Party Research Department (1968–1970). After 1974 Wainwright focused on the financial management of the party.

Outside Parliament

After 1987, although retired as an MP, Wainwright continued to be politically active, working for the

Electoral Reform Society The Electoral Reform Society (ERS) is an Advocacy group, independent advocacy organisation in the United Kingdom which promotes electoral reform. It seeks to replace first-past-the-post voting with proportional representation, advocating the si ...

, as well as being a founding member of the executive committee of

Charter 88 Charter 88 was a British pressure group that advocated constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution. It began as a special edition of the ''New Statesman'' magazine in 1988 and it took its name fr ...

. Between 1986 and 1997 he was also Deputy Chairman of the Wider Share Ownership Council. When the Liberal Party merged with the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Form ...

to become the Liberal Democrats, Wainwright became a member working as President of the Yorkshire Federation of Liberal Democrats (1989–1997). Wainwright was a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

lay preacher. Between 1948 and 1958, he served on the Leeds Group B Hospital Management Committee and was Chairman of the Arthington Hospital and Thorp Arch Hospital Committees. He served on the Committee for the Leeds, Skyrac and Morley Savings Bank Board of Managers and the Leeds Library Committee. Further roles included Treasurer of the Leeds Invalid Children's Aid Society and the Bethany House Free Church Probation Home. Between 1959 and 1984, he was a member of the Joseph Rowntree Social Services Trust Limited (now the

Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust {{Use British English, date=January 2018 The four Rowntree Trusts are funded from the legacies of the Quaker chocolate entrepreneurs and social reformers Joseph Rowntree and Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree. The trusts are based in the Rowntrees' home c ...

). He was also made a Fellow of the Huddersfield Polytechnic (later the

University of Huddersfield The University of Huddersfield is a public research university located in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England. It has been a University since 1992, but has its origins in a series of institutions dating back to the 19th century. It has made te ...

) in 1988.

Personal life

His wife Joyce (née Hollis; died 4 February 2011), whom he married in 1948, was an active member of the Yorkshire Women's Liberal Federation, fulfilling roles as both Chairman and President, and Chairman of the Colne Valley Women's Liberal Council (1959–1987). She was also a member of the Executive of the national

Women's Liberal Federation The Women's Liberal Federation was an organisation that was part of the Liberal Party in the United Kingdom. History The Women's Liberal Federation (WLF) was formed on the initiative of Sophia Fry, who in 1886 called a meeting at her house of f ...

. The couple had four children, two of whom entered public life: their son

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

is a former Northern Editor of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' newspaper, and their daughter Hilary is a radical academic and editor of '' Red Pepper'' magazine. Wainwright died in Leeds on 16 January 2003, aged 84. The former offices of

Greg Mulholland Gregory Thomas Mulholland (born 31 August 1970) is a British Liberal Democrats (UK), Liberal Democrat politician who was the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), MP for Leeds North West (UK Parliament constituency), Leeds North West. He was f ...

, who was Liberal Democrat MP for

Leeds North West Leeds North West is a constituency in the City of Leeds which has been represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2024 by Katie White, of the Labour Party. History The constituency was created in 1950, as Leeds North-We ...

from 2005 to 2017, were named 'Richard Wainwright House' in his honour.

References

External links

Account of the Friend's Ambulance Unit covering the period of Richard Wainwright's service in North-West Europe.

recounts his father and family choosing to give refuge to a displaced Ugandan Asian family in 1972 (Guardian, 15 August 2005)
Papers of Richard Wainwright at LSE Archives
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wainwright, Richard 1918 births 2003 deaths Alumni of Clare College, Cambridge British conscientious objectors English Methodists Chairs of the Liberal Party (UK) Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People associated with the Friends' Ambulance Unit People educated at Shrewsbury School UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 Politicians from Leeds