James Melville (politician)
Encyclopedia
Sir James Benjamin Melville KC (20 April 1885 - 1 May 1931)
James Melville was born at Le Havre
, France
, son of William Melville
, from County Kerry
, Ireland
, who was stationed there on Intelligence
work. He worked as a successful barrister
and Labour Party
politician in the United Kingdom
.
He was elected at the 1929 general election
as Member of Parliament
(MP) for Gateshead
, a Labour Party safe seat
where he won over 50% of the votes. However, he died in office in 1931, aged 46. He was Buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in north west London. At the resulting Gateshead by-election
on 8 June, Herbert Evans
held the seat for Labour, but died in office on 7 October, the day when Parliament
was dissolved for the 1931 general election
.
As barrister in 1911 he had successfully defended the anarchists Yourka Dubof and Jacob Peters
who were involved in the Houndsditch
murder case and Sidney Street siege who so embarrassed Winston Churchill
. According to Donald Rumbelow's The Siege of Sidney Street Peters was guilty but the prosecution's case was a shambles. Peters later returned to Russia
to play a leading part in the Bolshevik
revolution; he became deputy director of the Cheka
and worked with Lenin and Dzerzhinsky
.
All this was somewhat curious considering the number of anarchists that his father, William Melville, had apprehended, and his father's key emergent role in counter-intelligence
.
Sir James also, albeit unsuccessfully, acted in appeal against the obscenity
decision re: Radclyffe Hall
's The Well of Loneliness
. When he took silk he was the youngest KC in England
, a record he held for many years.
He fought in World War I
as an officer in the Army Service Corps, including in Gallipoli
and Macedonia
from the first day to the last, was mentioned in despatches, and ended the war as a Major
at GHQ
Staff. Shortly after the Armistice
he was gazetted out of the Army
at 50% disability.
Married to Sara Tugander, Andrew Bonar Law's former private secretary. They were said to be the 'real founders' of the Labour Party
in the 'difficult area' of South Kensington
, despite his having first started as a Liberal
.
In Ramsay MacDonald
's Second Labour Government
, he was Solicitor General for England and Wales
from 1929 to 1930.
James Melville was born at Le Havre
Le Havre
Le Havre is a city in the Seine-Maritime department of the Haute-Normandie region in France. It is situated in north-western France, on the right bank of the mouth of the river Seine on the English Channel. Le Havre is the most populous commune in the Haute-Normandie region, although the total...
, France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, son of William Melville
William Melville
William Melville was an Irish law enforcement officer and the first chief of the British Secret Service, forerunner of MI5.-Birth:...
, from County Kerry
County Kerry
Kerry means the "people of Ciar" which was the name of the pre-Gaelic tribe who lived in part of the present county. The legendary founder of the tribe was Ciar, son of Fergus mac Róich. In Old Irish "Ciar" meant black or dark brown, and the word continues in use in modern Irish as an adjective...
, Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, who was stationed there on Intelligence
Secret service
A secret service describes a government agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For instance, a country may establish a secret service which has some...
work. He worked as a successful barrister
Barrister
A barrister is a member of one of the two classes of lawyer found in many common law jurisdictions with split legal professions. Barristers specialise in courtroom advocacy, drafting legal pleadings and giving expert legal opinions...
and 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...
politician in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
He was elected at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
as 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) for Gateshead
Gateshead (UK Parliament constituency)
Gateshead 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. A previous Gateshead constituency existed from 1832 to 1950....
, a Labour Party safe seat
Safe seat
A safe seat is a seat in a legislative body which is regarded as fully secured, either by a certain political party, the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both...
where he won over 50% of the votes. However, he died in office in 1931, aged 46. He was Buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in north west London. At the resulting Gateshead by-election
Gateshead by-election, 1931
The Gateshead by-election, 1931 was a parliamentary by-election held on 8 June 1931 for the British House of Commons constituency of Gateshead.- Previous MP :...
on 8 June, Herbert Evans
Herbert Evans (politician)
Herbert Evans was a Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.He contested the 1929 general election in the Conservative safe seat of Maldon in Essex, where the Conservative vote fell but the gains were made by the Liberal candidate.He was elected as Member of Parliament for Gateshead at a...
held the seat for Labour, but died in office on 7 October, the day when Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
was dissolved for the 1931 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1931
The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...
.
As barrister in 1911 he had successfully defended the anarchists Yourka Dubof and Jacob Peters
Yakov Peters
Jēkabs Peterss or Yakov Khristoforovich Peters was a Latvian Communist revolutionary, Soviet politician, chekist, and terrorist. Together with Feliks Dzerzhinsky, he was one of the founders and chiefs of the VChK...
who were involved in the Houndsditch
Houndsditch
Houndsditch is a street in the City of London that connects Bishopsgate in the north west to Aldgate in the south east. The modern street runs through a part of the Portsoken Ward and Bishopsgate Ward Without...
murder case and Sidney Street siege who so embarrassed Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
. According to Donald Rumbelow's The Siege of Sidney Street Peters was guilty but the prosecution's case was a shambles. Peters later returned to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
to play a leading part in the Bolshevik
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....
revolution; he became deputy director of the Cheka
Cheka
Cheka was the first of a succession of Soviet state security organizations. It was created by a decree issued on December 20, 1917, by Vladimir Lenin and subsequently led by aristocrat-turned-communist Felix Dzerzhinsky...
and worked with Lenin and Dzerzhinsky
Dzerzhinsky
Dzerzhinsky , Dzerzhinskaya , or Dzerzhinskoye may refer to:*Felix Dzerzhinsky , Communist revolutionary, founder of the Cheka*Ivan Dzerzhinsky , Russian composer...
.
All this was somewhat curious considering the number of anarchists that his father, William Melville, had apprehended, and his father's key emergent role in counter-intelligence
Counter-intelligence
Counterintelligence or counter-intelligence refers to efforts made by intelligence organizations to prevent hostile or enemy intelligence organizations from successfully gathering and collecting intelligence against them. National intelligence programs, and, by extension, the overall defenses of...
.
Sir James also, albeit unsuccessfully, acted in appeal against the obscenity
Obscenity
An obscenity is any statement or act which strongly offends the prevalent morality of the time, is a profanity, or is otherwise taboo, indecent, abhorrent, or disgusting, or is especially inauspicious...
decision re: Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall
Radclyffe Hall was an English poet and author, best known for the lesbian classic The Well of Loneliness.- Life :...
's The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness
The Well of Loneliness is a 1928 lesbian novel by the British author Radclyffe Hall. It follows the life of Stephen Gordon, an Englishwoman from an upper-class family whose "sexual inversion" is apparent from an early age...
. When he took silk he was the youngest KC in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, a record he held for many years.
He fought in World War I
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...
as an officer in the Army Service Corps, including in Gallipoli
Gallipoli
The Gallipoli peninsula is located in Turkish Thrace , the European part of Turkey, with the Aegean Sea to the west and the Dardanelles straits to the east. Gallipoli derives its name from the Greek "Καλλίπολις" , meaning "Beautiful City"...
and Macedonia
Macedonia (region)
Macedonia is a geographical and historical region of the Balkan peninsula in southeastern Europe. Its boundaries have changed considerably over time, but nowadays the region is considered to include parts of five Balkan countries: Greece, the Republic of Macedonia, Bulgaria, Albania, Serbia, as...
from the first day to the last, was mentioned in despatches, and ended the war as a Major
Major
Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...
at GHQ
GHQ
GHQ from General Headquarters, may refer to:*a high level military command center, see headquarters**GHQ India - headquarters of the British India Army...
Staff. Shortly after the Armistice
Armistice
An armistice is a situation in a war where the warring parties agree to stop fighting. It is not necessarily the end of a war, but may be just a cessation of hostilities while an attempt is made to negotiate a lasting peace...
he was gazetted out of the Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
at 50% disability.
The Law Journal, May 9, 1931
His ill health in the last years and his early death were the belated toll exacted by his service in during the war in which he fought with the same placid courage which distinguished him in peace.'
Married to Sara Tugander, Andrew Bonar Law's former private secretary. They were said to be the 'real founders' of the 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...
in the 'difficult area' of South Kensington
South Kensington
South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....
, despite his having first started as a Liberal
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...
.
In Ramsay MacDonald
Ramsay MacDonald
James Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
's Second Labour Government
Labour Government 1929-1931
The Second Labour Government was formed by Ramsay MacDonald on his second appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 5 June 1929. As the name suggests it was the second occasion on which the Labour Party had formed a government; the First Labour Government held office during 1924.The...
, he was Solicitor General for England and Wales
Solicitor General for England and Wales
Her Majesty's Solicitor General for England and Wales, often known as the Solicitor General, is one of the Law Officers of the Crown, and the deputy of the Attorney General, whose duty is to advise the Crown and Cabinet on the law...
from 1929 to 1930.