Harry Pursey
Encyclopedia
Commander Harry Pursey was a British politician and naval officer, who began his career as a boy seaman and served as a Member of Parliament
for twenty-five years.
He was born in Sidmouth
, and educated at the Royal Hospital School
(a school for naval orphan
s) and the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. He joined the Royal Navy in 1907, as a boy seaman
with HMS Impregnable.
During the First World War he served with the Dover Patrol
and with the Grand Fleet; he took part in the Battle of Jutland
aboard Revenge
. In 1917 he was promoted to the rank of gunner and saw service in the Aegean aboard Forward
; that October, he was second-in-command of a landing party from the Forward which successfully evacuated a Royal Naval Air Service
station on Lesbos Island
, for which he was commissioned and received a mention in dispatches.
After the war he was posted to the Black Sea and around Turkey, and saw action in Somaliland
and Mesopotamia. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1920. In 1926 he was posted to Benbow
. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in February 1928, and transferred to Vernon
in April. In May 1929 he was appointed to Eagle
and in March 1931 to Hood
. He retired in 1936.
During the Spanish Civil War
, he worked as a journalist in Spain.
He married first in 1921, then secondly in 1944 and was granted a decree nisi
of divorce in 1956. He married again in September 1954, in New Jersey, to Baroness Huszar, a Hungarian. In 1954 his second wife was arrested in Montreal
, for possessing counterfeit
United States money, and acquitted after trial. He later won a lawsuit against her solicitor, who had argued that although he had conducted her defence without entering Canada, he was a licensed Canadian solicitor as well as an English one and thus not required to comply with English regulations. His wife was again, however, arrested in 1955, this time for the possession of narcotics; she was convicted, and they were divorced in 1959.
He was elected as the Labour
member of parliament for Kingston upon Hull East
in the 1945 general election
. In the 1951 general election
, he held the seat with a majority of 11,500 votes, rising to 12,700 votes in 1955
, 16,300 votes in 1964
, and 23,000 in 1966
. He announced in 1967 that he would resign at the next election, and was succeeded by John Prescott
in the 1970 election
.
He had a great interest in "below-decks" naval history, and spent his later years working on a history of the Invergordon Mutiny
, though it does not appear to have been published. His obituary in The Times described him as "the first naval officer promoted from the lower deck" to enter Parliament.
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for twenty-five years.
He was born in Sidmouth
Sidmouth
Sidmouth is a small town on the English Channel coast in Devon, South West England. The town lies at the mouth of the River Sid in the East Devon district, south east of Exeter. It has a population of about 15,000, of whom 40% are over 65....
, and educated at the Royal Hospital School
Royal Hospital School
The Royal Hospital School, , is a British co-educational independent boarding school with naval traditions. It admits pupils from age 11 to 18 through Common Entrance or the school's own exam...
(a school for naval orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
s) and the Royal Naval College in Greenwich. He joined the Royal Navy in 1907, as a boy seaman
Boy Seaman
A boy seaman is a boy who serves as seaman and/or is trained for such service.-Royal Navy:In the British naval forces, where there was a need to recruit enough hands to man the vast fleet of the British Empire, extensive regulations existed concerning the selection and status of boys enlisted to...
with HMS Impregnable.
During the First World War he served with the Dover Patrol
Dover Patrol
The Dover Patrol was a Royal Navy command of the First World War, notable for its involvement in the Zeebrugge Raid on 22 April 1918. The Dover Patrol formed a discrete unit of the Royal Navy based at Dover and Dunkirk for the duration of the First World War...
and with the Grand Fleet; he took part in the Battle of Jutland
Battle of Jutland
The Battle of Jutland was a naval battle between the British Royal Navy's Grand Fleet and the Imperial German Navy's High Seas Fleet during the First World War. The battle was fought on 31 May and 1 June 1916 in the North Sea near Jutland, Denmark. It was the largest naval battle and the only...
aboard Revenge
HMS Revenge (06)
HMS Revenge was the lead ship of the Revenge class of battleships of the Royal Navy, the ninth to bear the name. She was launched during World War I in 1915. Though the class is often referred to as the Royal Sovereign class, official documents of 1914–1918 refer to the class as the Revenge class...
. In 1917 he was promoted to the rank of gunner and saw service in the Aegean aboard Forward
HMS Forward (1904)
HMS Forward was one of two Forward-class scout cruiser which served with the Royal Navy. She was built in the yards of Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company, Govan. She was laid down in October 1903, launched on 27 August 1904 and completed in September 1905...
; that October, he was second-in-command of a landing party from the Forward which successfully evacuated a Royal Naval Air Service
Royal Naval Air Service
The Royal Naval Air Service or RNAS was the air arm of the Royal Navy until near the end of the First World War, when it merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps to form a new service , the Royal Air Force...
station on Lesbos Island
Lesbos Island
Lesbos is a Greek island located in the northeastern Aegean Sea. It has an area of with 320 kilometres of coastline, making it the third largest Greek island. It is separated from Turkey by the narrow Mytilini Strait....
, for which he was commissioned and received a mention in dispatches.
After the war he was posted to the Black Sea and around Turkey, and saw action in Somaliland
Somaliland
Somaliland is an unrecognised self-declared sovereign state that is internationally recognised as an autonomous region of Somalia. The government of Somaliland regards itself as the successor state to the British Somaliland protectorate, which was independent for a few days in 1960 as the State of...
and Mesopotamia. He was promoted to Lieutenant in 1920. In 1926 he was posted to Benbow
HMS Benbow (1913)
HMS Benbow was an Iron Duke-class battleship of the Royal Navy, the third ship of the class and the third ship to be named in honour of Admiral John Benbow....
. He was promoted to Lieutenant-Commander in February 1928, and transferred to Vernon
HMS Vernon (shore establishment)
HMS Vernon was a shore establishment or 'stone frigate' of the Royal Navy. Vernon was established on 26 April 1876 as the Royal Navy's Torpedo Branch and operated until 1 April 1996, when the various elements comprising the establishment were split up and moved to different commands.-Foundation...
in April. In May 1929 he was appointed to Eagle
HMS Eagle (1918)
HMS Eagle was an early aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy. Ordered by Chile as the Almirante Cochrane, she was laid down before World War I. In early 1918 she was purchased by Britain for conversion to an aircraft carrier; this work was finished in 1924...
and in March 1931 to Hood
HMS Hood (51)
HMS Hood was the last battlecruiser built for the Royal Navy. One of four s ordered in mid-1916, her design—although drastically revised after the Battle of Jutland and improved while she was under construction—still had serious limitations. For this reason she was the only ship of her class to be...
. He retired in 1936.
During the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
, he worked as a journalist in Spain.
He married first in 1921, then secondly in 1944 and was granted a decree nisi
Decree nisi
A decree nisi is a court order that does not have any force until such time that a particular condition is met, such as a subsequent petition to the court or the passage of a specified period of time....
of divorce in 1956. He married again in September 1954, in New Jersey, to Baroness Huszar, a Hungarian. In 1954 his second wife was arrested in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, for possessing counterfeit
Counterfeit
To counterfeit means to illegally imitate something. Counterfeit products are often produced with the intent to take advantage of the superior value of the imitated product...
United States money, and acquitted after trial. He later won a lawsuit against her solicitor, who had argued that although he had conducted her defence without entering Canada, he was a licensed Canadian solicitor as well as an English one and thus not required to comply with English regulations. His wife was again, however, arrested in 1955, this time for the possession of narcotics; she was convicted, and they were divorced in 1959.
He was elected as the Labour
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...
member of parliament for Kingston upon Hull East
Kingston upon Hull East (UK Parliament constituency)
Kingston upon Hull East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Boundaries :...
in the 1945 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...
. In the 1951 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1951
The 1951 United Kingdom general election was held eighteen months after the 1950 general election, which the Labour Party had won with a slim majority of just five seats...
, he held the seat with a majority of 11,500 votes, rising to 12,700 votes in 1955
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
, 16,300 votes in 1964
United Kingdom general election, 1964
The United Kingdom general election of 1964 was held on 15 October 1964, more than five years after the preceding election, and thirteen years after the Conservative Party had retaken power...
, and 23,000 in 1966
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
. He announced in 1967 that he would resign at the next election, and was succeeded by John Prescott
John Prescott
John Leslie Prescott, Baron Prescott is a British politician who was Deputy Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007. Born in Prestatyn, Wales, he represented Hull East as the Labour Member of Parliament from 1970 to 2010...
in the 1970 election
United Kingdom general election, 1970
The United Kingdom general election of 1970 was held on 18 June 1970, and resulted in a surprise victory for the Conservative Party under leader Edward Heath, who defeated the Labour Party under Harold Wilson. The election also saw the Liberal Party and its new leader Jeremy Thorpe lose half their...
.
He had a great interest in "below-decks" naval history, and spent his later years working on a history of the Invergordon Mutiny
Invergordon Mutiny
The Invergordon Mutiny was an industrial action by around 1,000 sailors in the British Atlantic Fleet, that took place on 15–16 September 1931...
, though it does not appear to have been published. His obituary in The Times described him as "the first naval officer promoted from the lower deck" to enter Parliament.