Samuel Pattinson (17 December 1870 – 15 November 1942) was a British businessman and
Liberal politician.
Early life and family
Samuel Pattinson was born on 17 December 1870 in
Ruskington
Ruskington is a village and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, located approximately north of Sleaford on the north–south B1188 road and slightly north of the A153 road. The villa ...
, the son of a contractor and businessman, William Pattinson (d. 1906), and his wife Anne (1833–1916). His father ran the building company Messrs. Pattinson and Son alongside serving as chairman of Ruskington
Urban District Council
In England and Wales, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local government responsibilities with a county council. ...
.
[''Dod's Parliamentary Companion''. 1923. p. 350] Pattinson was educated at Abingdon House School,
and
Carre's Grammar School
Carre's Grammar School is a selective secondary school for boys in Sleaford, a market town in Lincolnshire, England.
Founded on 1 September 1604 by an indenture of Robert Carre, the school was funded by rents from farmland and run by a group ...
in
Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...
with his brother
Robert
The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...
(d. 1954), an active politician who chaired
Kesteven County Council
Kesteven County Council was the county council of Kesteven, one of the three Parts of Lincolnshire in eastern England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 31 March 1974. The county council was based at the County Offices ...
between 1934 and his death. Their eldest brother, John (d. 1939), was involved in the family business, supervising contracts in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
and the south of England, before moving back to Lincolnshire; he represented
Heckington
Heckington is a village and civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated between Sleaford and Swineshead, Lincolnshire, Swineshead Bridge, and south of the A17 road (England), A17 road. Heckington, with 1 ...
and Sleaford on the County Council, became a justice of the peace and served as vice-chairman of the Sleaford Bench.
Pattinson married Betsy Sharpley Bainbridge on 14 April 1897. She was the second daughter of a draper, George Bainbridge
JP, of Portland House on South Park, Lincoln, and his first wife Annie, daughter of Edward Penniston
JP of Doncaster.
Following his father-in-law's death in 1916,
Pattinson carried on the business with several other men and later became a director.
Career
The Pattinson family ran a successful builder's merchants in
Sleaford
Sleaford is a market town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. On the edge of the The Fens, Fenlands, it is north-east of Grantham, west of Boston, Lincolnshire, Boston, and sou ...
, Lincolnshire, of which Samuel was a director. He was also a director of Bainbridge's Ltd in Lincoln, his wife's father's company.
Politics
Local politics
Pattinson was an
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...
of
Kesteven
The Parts of Kesteven ( or ) are a traditional division of Lincolnshire, England. This division had long had a separate county administration (quarter sessions), along with the two other Parts of Lincolnshire, Lindsey and Holland.
Etymology
T ...
County Council on which he served as Chairman of the Finance Committee. He was also Justice of the Peace for the County.
Parliamentary politics
He first contested a Parliamentary seat at the
1918 general election when he stood as Liberal candidate in
Horncastle
Horncastle is a market town and civil parish in the East Lindsey district in Lincolnshire, England. It is east of Lincoln. Its population was 6,815 at the 2011 census and estimated at 7,123 in 2019. A section of the ancient Roman walls rema ...
. As a supporter of
H H Asquith
Herbert Henry Asquith, 1st Earl of Oxford and Asquith (12 September 1852 – 15 February 1928) was a British statesman and Liberal Party (UK), Liberal politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1908 to 1916. He was the last ...
he was not given the
government coupon which was granted to
Coalition Unionist
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 soon after British victory in the ...
William Weigall. Pattinson tried again at Horncastle at the
by-election of 1920 which was called when Weigall was appointed
Governor of South Australia
The governor of South Australia is the representative in South Australia of the monarch, currently King Charles III. The governor performs the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level as does the governor-general of Aust ...
but he lost by 1,413 votes to the Coalition Conservative,
Stafford Vere Hotchkin
Colonel Stafford Vere Hotchkin (1876 – 8 August 1953) was an English landowner, soldier, High Sheriff of Rutland and briefly a Conservative Member of Parliament.
He was the only son of Thomas John Stafford Hotchkin of The Manor House, Woodha ...
.
Pattinson was eventually elected to 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 ...
at the
1922 general election, beating the Conservative candidate by 1,639. He held the seat at the
1923 general election with a majority of 1,819 but he could not retain it in
1924
Events
January
* January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after.
* January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...
losing to Conservative candidate
Henry Cobden Haslam, a science researcher from
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...
, by 1,169 votes
Bonar Law
Despite his Liberal affiliations, Pattison was obviously an admirer of
Tory
A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The To ...
leader
Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law (; 16 September 1858 – 30 October 1923) was a British statesman and politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1922 to May 1923.
Law was born in the British colony of New Brunswick (now a Canadi ...
. In December 1922 he informed his constituents in Horncastle that Bonar Law was ‘the finest leader the House of Commons had seen for a very long time.
e.held the House of Commons in the hollow of his hand". Pattinson said although he differed in political viewpoint from Bonar Law, he admired him greatly and believed he honestly wished to do his best for the country.
[ R J Q Adams, ''Bonar Law''; John Murray, 1999 p341] By this time of course Bonar Law was
prime minister
A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...
having replaced
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. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...
when his Liberal-Conservative coalition fell after the
Carlton Club meeting
The Carlton Club meeting, on 19 October 1922, was a formal meeting of Members of Parliament who belonged to the Conservative Party, called to discuss whether the party should remain in government in coalition with a section of the Liberal Part ...
of 19 October 1922. As an Asquithian Liberal, it is unlikely Pattinson had much regard for Lloyd George and his view of Bonar Law might have been coloured by this. By December 1922, the general election was over, so Pattison had no need to flatter Bonar Law to his constituents to try and earn Conservative votes.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pattinson, Samuel
1870 births
1942 deaths
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1922–1923
UK MPs 1923–1924
Members of Lincolnshire County Council
People from Ruskington
People educated at Carre's Grammar School
Members of Kesteven County Council
Liberal Party (UK) councillors
English justices of the peace