Sir Walter Reuben Preston (20 September 1875 – 6 July 1946) was a Conservative Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, serving as MP for the

Mile End Mile End is an area in London, England and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in East London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is east of Charing Cross. Situated on the part of the London-to-Colchester road ...

from 1918 to 1923, and

Cheltenham Cheltenham () is a historic spa town and borough adjacent to the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort following the discovery of mineral springs in 1716, and claims to be the mo ...

from 1928 to his resignation in 1937.

Early life and education

Preston was son of Reuben Thomas Preston, of Hayes Court, Kent. The Preston family had co-founded the engineering company J. Stone & Co. He was educated at

Bedford School Bedford School is a 7–18 Single-sex education, boys Public school (United Kingdom), public school in the county town of Bedford in England. Founded in 1552, it is the oldest of four independent schools in Bedford run by the Harpur Trust. Bed ...

Politics

At the 1918 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the

constituency in the East End of London. He lost the seat at the 1923 general election to the Labour Party candidate

John Scurr John Scurr (born John Rennie; 6 April 1876 – 10 July 1932) was an English Labour Party politician and trade union official who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mile End from 1923 to 1931. Scurr was born in Brisbane, Australia, the s ...

. He returned to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

at a by-election in September 1928 for the

constituency, and held the seat until he resigned from the House of Commons in 1937. He was made a

Knight Bachelor The title of Knight Bachelor is the basic rank granted to a man who has been knighted by the monarch but not inducted as a member of one of the organised Order of chivalry, orders of chivalry; it is a part of the Orders, decorations, and medals ...

Engineering work

Involved in the family business, Walter Reuben Preston was an

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

, with 35

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

s, some of which were obtained jointly with well-known locomotive engineers such as

Richard Deeley Richard Mountford Deeley (24 October 1855 – 19 June 1944) was an English engineer, chiefly noted for his five years as Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the Midland Railway. Richard Deeley is recorded as being born in Derby His father ha ...

Personal life

On 18 April 1900, Preston married Ella Margaret (born 7 September 1877, died 28 January 1963), daughter of Huson Morris, of

Hayes, Kent Hayes is a suburban area of southeast London, England and part of the London Borough of Bromley. It is located south-east of Charing Cross, to the north of Keston and Coney Hall, west of Bromley Common, south of Bromley town centre, and eas ...

. They had three sons, Kenneth Huson Preston, Bryan Wentworth Preston, and Francis Richard Walter Preston, all three devoted yachtsmen, the eldest and youngest at the Olympics. They lived at 77, St James's Court, Buckingham Gate, London S.W.1., and at

Tetbury Tetbury is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish inside the Cotswold (district), Cotswold district in Gloucestershire, England. It lies on the site of an ancient hill fort, on which an Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxon monastery was found ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

. There are memorial inscriptions to both at Holy Trinity Church,

Long Newnton Long Newnton is a small village and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England (historically in Wiltshire), lying on the B4014 road between Malmesbury (2 km NW) and Tetbury (5 km S). It is near the SW end of the Cotswolds. The population ...

, near Tetbury, Gloucestershire.

References

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External links

* 1875 births 1946 deaths Knights Bachelor People educated at Bedford School Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Politics of Cheltenham {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1870s-stub