Charles Frederick White (Jr)
Encyclopedia
Charles Frederick White was a Labour Party
politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Western Division of Derbyshire
firstly from 1944-1945 as an Independent Labour candidate and subsequently from 1945 to 1950 as the official Labour Party
candidate. He was the son of Charles Frederick White
, who had represented the same constituency for the Liberal Party
from 1918 to 1923.
in Derbyshire
in 1891, the only son of Charles Frederick White
and Alice Charlesworth, and had five sisters. In 1915 he married Alice Moore.
His father
has been politically active on behalf of the Liberals
and had successfully broken the dynastic Conservative
stranglehold on the Western Division of Derbyshire parliamentary seat
by the Cavendish family
from 1918 to his death in 1923 when the constituency returned to the Conservative
fold.
At the onset of the First World War
, he joined the 6th Notts and Derbyshire Battalion of the Territorial Force
, a reserve formation of the British Army, in October 1914, gaining promotion to Corporal in November of the same year, and to Sergeant in March 1915, serving in the UK until his discharge from active service in 1917.
Following the war, White again worked as his father's election agent in his successful defence of the West Derbyshire
seat in 1922 and during the 1923 campaign for the same seat, which was ended by his father's death.
In 1930, White resigned from the Labour party, and joined Oswald Moseley's New Party for three months soon after it was established, thinking it would be a radical left-wing organisation. In common with many other early supporters, he left as soon as the fascist character of the movement became clear, but this was to become a point of contention during his later political career.
White subsequently rejoined the official Labour party, continuing his municipal activities in the meantime, and he was selected as the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for West Derbyshire in 1937.
for the West Derbyshire
constituency, coming second to the Conservative
candidate, Henry Philip Hunloke
.
candidate William Cavendish in the by-election for the West Derbyshire
constituency caused by the resignation of the Conservative incumbent. In an acrimonious campaign White pressed for social change, securing the support of local Labour activists, and won with a remarkable swing, polling over four thousand votes more than the second-placed Conservative candidate. Once in Parliament he took the official Labour party whip
.
and stood as the party's candidate in that year's general election
. He again won, but by a drastically reduced majority of just 156 votes over his Conservative
opponent, William Aitken. White served as the constituency MP until the 1950 general election
when he stood down, and the seat reverted to a Conservative MP, Edward Wakefield
.
During his time in Parliament, White's limited contributions to debate focused mostly on agricultural and labour issues together with electoral reform. Whilst serving as an MP, White also became Chair of Derbyshire County Council in 1946, a post he held for the next decade.
in the New Year's Honours list of 1951 in recognition of his political and public works.
In 1956, a secondary school in Matlock was named the Charles White Secondary Modern in recognition of both father & son's contributions to the local area. The school was later merged with another to form the extant Highfields school.
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
politician in the United Kingdom. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for the Western Division of Derbyshire
West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...
firstly from 1944-1945 as an Independent Labour candidate and subsequently from 1945 to 1950 as the official Labour Party
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
candidate. He was the son of Charles Frederick White
Charles Frederick White
Charles Frederick White was an English boot and shoemaker and Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for the Western Division of Derbyshire from 1918 to 1923.-Family and education:...
, who had represented the same constituency for the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
from 1918 to 1923.
Family and education
White was born in BonsallBonsall, Derbyshire
Bonsall is a village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales on the edge of the Peak District.-Geography:Bonsall is about from Matlock and about from Derby...
in Derbyshire
Derbyshire
Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...
in 1891, the only son of Charles Frederick White
Charles Frederick White
Charles Frederick White was an English boot and shoemaker and Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for the Western Division of Derbyshire from 1918 to 1923.-Family and education:...
and Alice Charlesworth, and had five sisters. In 1915 he married Alice Moore.
His father
Charles Frederick White
Charles Frederick White was an English boot and shoemaker and Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for the Western Division of Derbyshire from 1918 to 1923.-Family and education:...
has been politically active on behalf of the Liberals
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and had successfully broken the dynastic Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
stranglehold on the Western Division of Derbyshire parliamentary seat
West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...
by the Cavendish family
Duke of Devonshire
Duke of Devonshire is a title in the peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the richest and most influential aristocratic families in England since the 16th century, and have been rivalled in political influence perhaps only...
from 1918 to his death in 1923 when the constituency returned to the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
fold.
Registration agent and soldier
White worked as a registration agent for his father during his unsuccessful campaign as a Liberal candidate for West Derbyshire in the 1910 General Election.At the onset of the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, he joined the 6th Notts and Derbyshire Battalion of the Territorial Force
Territorial Force
The Territorial Force was the volunteer reserve component of the British Army from 1908 to 1920, when it became the Territorial Army.-Origins:...
, a reserve formation of the British Army, in October 1914, gaining promotion to Corporal in November of the same year, and to Sergeant in March 1915, serving in the UK until his discharge from active service in 1917.
Following the war, White again worked as his father's election agent in his successful defence of the West Derbyshire
West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...
seat in 1922 and during the 1923 campaign for the same seat, which was ended by his father's death.
Local politics
White inherited his father’s political activism, but developed a more socialist political outlook. White's first political post was as a member of the County Council in 1928. In the following year he became a member of the Matlock Urban District Council, and he joined the Labour Party for the first time.In 1930, White resigned from the Labour party, and joined Oswald Moseley's New Party for three months soon after it was established, thinking it would be a radical left-wing organisation. In common with many other early supporters, he left as soon as the fascist character of the movement became clear, but this was to become a point of contention during his later political career.
White subsequently rejoined the official Labour party, continuing his municipal activities in the meantime, and he was selected as the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for West Derbyshire in 1937.
1938
In 1938, White stood unsuccessfully as the Labour candidate in a parliamentary by-electionBy-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
for the West Derbyshire
West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...
constituency, coming second to the Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate, Henry Philip Hunloke
Henry Philip Hunloke
Henry Philip Hunloke TD was a British Conservative politician.Hunloke was born in Marylebone, the son of Philip Hunloke. On his mothers side, he was descended from William IV....
.
1944
In 1944, despite being the official Labour prospective parliamentary candidate at the time the by-election was announced, White broke the convention that existed between the major parties in the UK during the Second World War that by-elections were unopposed and stood as an Independent Labour candidate against the ConservativeConservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate William Cavendish in the by-election for the West Derbyshire
West Derbyshire (UK Parliament constituency)
West Derbyshire was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. From 1885 until it was replaced by the Derbyshire Dales constituency in the 2010 General Election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post voting system.It...
constituency caused by the resignation of the Conservative incumbent. In an acrimonious campaign White pressed for social change, securing the support of local Labour activists, and won with a remarkable swing, polling over four thousand votes more than the second-placed Conservative candidate. Once in Parliament he took the official Labour party whip
Whip (politics)
A whip is an official in a political party whose primary purpose is to ensure party discipline in a legislature. Whips are a party's "enforcers", who typically offer inducements and threaten punishments for party members to ensure that they vote according to the official party policy...
.
1945-1950
By 1945, White had been reconciled with the official Labour partyLabour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and stood as the party's candidate in that year's general election
United Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
. He again won, but by a drastically reduced majority of just 156 votes over his Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
opponent, William Aitken. White served as the constituency MP until the 1950 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1950
The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...
when he stood down, and the seat reverted to a Conservative MP, Edward Wakefield
Edward Wakefield
Sir Edward Birkbeck Wakefield, 1st Baronet CIE was a British civil servant and Conservative Party politician....
.
During his time in Parliament, White's limited contributions to debate focused mostly on agricultural and labour issues together with electoral reform. Whilst serving as an MP, White also became Chair of Derbyshire County Council in 1946, a post he held for the next decade.
Post 1950
Following his departure from Parliament, White remained active in local and regional politics. As well as being chair of the County Council, in 1951 he was a member of the East Midlands Transport Users Consultative Committee, and was the first chair of the Peak District National Park BoardRecognition
White was awarded a CBECBE
CBE and C.B.E. are abbreviations for "Commander of the Order of the British Empire", a grade in the Order of the British Empire.Other uses include:* Chemical and Biochemical Engineering...
in the New Year's Honours list of 1951 in recognition of his political and public works.
In 1956, a secondary school in Matlock was named the Charles White Secondary Modern in recognition of both father & son's contributions to the local area. The school was later merged with another to form the extant Highfields school.