Ronald Arthur Chamberlain (19 April 1901 – 12 May 1987) was a

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music lecturer, housing consultant and Labour politician.

Education and early career

Chamberlain was educated at Owen's School,

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

, and

Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Gonville and Caius College, commonly known as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348 by Edmund Gonville, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and ...

, where he gained a lower second in Part I of the Historical Tripos in 1922 and received both

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

and

Bachelor of Music A Bachelor of Music (BMus; sometimes conferred as Bachelor of Musical Arts) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. The degree may be awarded for performance, music ed ...

(MusB) degrees the following year. Having been awarded a

John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarship John Stewart of Rannoch Scholarships are scholarship awards made at the University of Cambridge in Hebrew, Latin and Greek and Sacred Music. The awards were established by the will of John Stewart of Rannoch, who died on 19 July 1884. Where candi ...

, he went on to become an Associate of the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is one of the oldest music schools in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the firs ...

(ARAM) in 1925."Trinity College of Music: Special Elocution Examiner"
''The News'' (Hobart). 21 November 1925. p. 2. Accomplished on the organ, he was a Fellow of the

Royal College of Organists The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, with members worldwide. Its role is to promote and advance organ playing and choral music, and it offers music education, training and de ...

(FRCO) from 1920 and a resident organist at

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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 ...

. Upon coming down from Cambridge, Chamberlain was appointed a lecturer at Chester Training College, and he was also an overseas examiner on behalf of

Trinity College of Music Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance is a music, dance, and musical theatre conservatoire based in South East London. It was formed in 2005 as a merger of two older institutions – Trinity College of Music and Laban Dance Centre. Trini ...

in both music and elocution, working in countries such as

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and

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. Throughout the 1920s and early 1930s he gave frequent public recitals on piano and organ, including a performance at the Anglican Pro-Cathedral in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

that was reportedly the first organ recital in the city for twelve years. In a review of a performance he gave at the Aeolian Hall, ''

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 ...

'' described Chamberlain as a "competent pianist" who "would be something more than that if he would develop a more personal style." In the 1930s, Chamberlain underwent a change of career, emerging first as the secretary of the National Federation of Housing Societies and then, later, as the chief executive officer to the Miners' Welfare Commission.

Political career

In parliament

Chamberlain joined the Labour Party soon after the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

.Chamberlain, Ronald, "Parting with the Labour Party". ''The Times''. 16 January 1971. p. 16. At the 1945 general election, he was the party's candidate for the south London suburban constituency of Norwood. The constituency had been held comfortably by the

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

since its creation in 1885, but a landslide in favour of Labour saw Chamberlain elected Member of Parliament, overturning a Conservative majority of 12,456 to win the seat by 2,023 votes. He was appointed parliamentary private secretary to the Minister of Town and Country Planning,

Lewis Silkin Lewis Silkin, 1st Baron Silkin CH (14 November 1889 – 11 May 1972), was a British Labour Party politician. Career Lewis Silkin was born on 14 November 1889 to Abraham and Fanny Silkin, who were Litvak Jews from what was then the Lithuanian ...

. Chamberlain was regarded as a "maverick" member on the left wing fringe of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He was disciplined after voting against the signing of the

North Atlantic Treaty The North Atlantic Treaty, also known as the Washington Treaty, forms the legal basis of, and is implemented by, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The treaty was signed in Washington, D.C., on 4 April 1949. Background The treat ...

in 1949. He also controversially accepted an invitation to visit

Francoist Spain Francoist Spain (), also known as the Francoist dictatorship (), or Nationalist Spain () was the period of Spanish history between 1936 and 1975, when Francisco Franco ruled Spain after the Spanish Civil War with the title . After his death i ...

, returning with favourable reports on the régime. He narrowly avoided de-selection prior to the 1950 general election. When the election was held he was unseated, with the Conservatives regaining the seat.

Later years

In April 1947 Chamberlain was elected to

Middlesex County Council Middlesex County Council was the principal local government body in the administrative county of Middlesex from 1889 to 1965. The county council was created by the Local Government Act 1888, which also removed the most populous part of the cou ...

to fill a casual vacancy in the representation of Hendon West. He held the seat until 1952, when he stepped down. In 1951, he stood for election to the party's National Executive Committee as a

Bevanite Bevanism was a movement on the left wing of the Labour Party in the late 1950s led by Aneurin Bevan which also included Richard Crossman, Michael Foot and Barbara Castle. Bevanism was opposed by the Gaitskellites, moderate social democrats wit ...

candidate, without success – although, in a letter to ''The Times'' written earlier that year, he claimed he was not a Bevanite nor a sectarian supporter of the Attlee administration, but representative of a "third way" approach that sought, above else, an independent British foreign policy that would "provide a bridge between the ideologies of the

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and the

U.S.S.R. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until it dissolved in 1991. During its existence, it was the largest country by are ...

"Chamberlain, Ronald. "Labour Policy". ''The Times''. 14 June 1951, p. 7. In 1971 he resigned from the Labour Party over its support for trade unions, whose only purpose he claimed was the "continual forcing up of wage rates, regardless of their less fortunate brothers and sisters and equally regardless of the public interest."

References

External links

* 1901 births 1987 deaths UK MPs 1945–1950 Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People educated at Dame Alice Owen's School Alumni of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge Members of Middlesex County Council {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub