Sir Herbert Geraint Williams, 1st Baronet, (2 December 1884 – 25 July 1954) was a British politician and 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...

 Member of 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,...

 (MP).

Herbert Williams was born in Hooton

Hooton, Cheshire

Hooton is a village in the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England in the south of the Wirral Peninsula near Ellesmere Port.- History :...

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

 in 1884. He was educated at Liverpool University with degrees in science and engineering. In 1911 he became secretary and manager of the Machine Tools Trade Association. He served on Wimbledon Borough Council

Municipal Borough of Wimbledon

Wimbledon was a local government district in north-east Surrey from 1866 to 1965 covering the town of Wimbledon and its surrounding area. It was part of the London postal district and Metropolitan Police District....

.

Williams contested the Combined English Universities

Combined English Universities (UK Parliament constituency)

Combined English Universities was a university constituency represented in the United Kingdom Parliament . It was formed by enfranchising and combining all the English Universities, except for Cambridge, Oxford and London, which were already separately represented.-Boundaries:This University...

 in 1918 and Wednesbury

Wednesbury (UK Parliament constituency)

Wednesbury was a borough constituency in England's Black Country which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 until it was abolished for the February 1974 general election....

 in 1922 and 1923 without success.
From 1924 to 1929, Williams was MP for Reading

Reading (UK Parliament constituency)

Reading was a parliamentary borough, and later a borough constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It comprised the town of Reading in the county of Berkshire....

 and served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade

Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in the United Kingdom was a member of Parliament assigned to assist the Board of Trade and its President with administration and liaison with Parliament. It replaced the Vice-President of the Board of Trade....

. He was a member of the first Court of the University of Reading

University of Reading

The University of Reading is a university in the English town of Reading, Berkshire. The University was established in 1892 as University College, Reading and received its Royal Charter in 1926. It is based on several campuses in, and around, the town of Reading.The University has a long tradition...

 following its receipt of a Royal Charter

Royal Charter

A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...

 in 1926.

Williams was returned to Parliament in Croydon South

Croydon South (historic UK Parliament constituency)

-Politics and history of the constituency:The seat was created in 1918 and the first MP was Ian Malcolm who had been the MP for all of Croydon. H.T. Muggeridge, father of Malcolm Muggeridge, fought the seat for Labour four times from 1918, later becoming MP for Romford...

 in a by-election in February 1932. He was comfortably re-elected in 1935 and served through the war. He was vocal in arguing against the Beveridge Report

William Beveridge

William Henry Beveridge, 1st Baron Beveridge KCB was a British economist and social reformer. He is best known for his 1942 report Social Insurance and Allied Services which served as the basis for the post-World War II welfare state put in place by the Labour government elected in 1945.Lord...

 in Parliament, despite it being proposed by his Croydon Conservative colleague, Henry Willink

Henry Willink

Sir Henry Urmston Willink, 1st Baronet PC, MC, KC , was a British politician and public servant.He is best known for his service in the Conservative Party as Minister of Health from 1943-1945 in the wartime Coalition Government of the United Kingdom...

 MP. He was an alderman

Alderman

An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

 of London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

 1940-45.

Having been made a Baronet

Baronet

A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

, Sir Herbert lost his seat in the 1945 General Election to Labour's

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...

 David Rees-Williams

David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore

David Rees Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore, PC, TD was a Welsh politician.Rees-Williams was born in Bridgend, Wales. He qualified as a solicitor in 1929 and married and had three children...

. In February 1950, the Croydon seats were rearranged and the Conservatives won all three seats. Sir Herbert was returned in the new Croydon East

Croydon East (UK Parliament constituency)

Croydon East was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.- Politics and history :...

 seat and was re-elected in 1951. He died in 1954 and a by-election was held in his seat in September.

Herbert Williams wrote books on parliamentary matters, including The Member of Parliament and his Constituency.

Sir Herbert's daughter, Rosemary, married Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

 property millionaire Sir Ian Mactaggart, Bt. Their daughter, Fiona Mactaggart

Fiona Mactaggart

Fiona Margaret Mactaggart is a British Labour Party politician, who has been the Member of Parliament for Slough since 1997.-Early life:...

, is Labour MP for Slough

Slough

Slough is a borough and unitary authority within the ceremonial county of Royal Berkshire, England. The town straddles the A4 Bath Road and the Great Western Main Line, west of central London...

.