Walter Perkins (politician)
Encyclopedia
Sir Walter Robert Dempster Perkins, also known as Robert Perkins, (3 June 1903 – 8 December 1988) was a Conservative Party
politician in England
.
He was elected as Member of Parliament
(MP) for Stroud
in Gloucestershire
at a by-election in May 1931, following the resignation
of the Conservative MP Sir Frank Nelson
. He was re-elected at the general election in October 1931
and again in 1935
.
However, he was defeated at the 1945 general election
by the Labour Party
candidate, Ben Parkin
. At the 1950 general election
he and Parkin both contested the new Stroud and Thornbury
constituency, and Perkins took the seat with a majority of only 28 votes. The two men fought the seat again in 1951
, when Perkins held the seat with a more comfortable majority of 1,582.
Perkins retired from the House of Commons at the 1955 general election
, having been knight
ed in February 1954.
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...
politician 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...
.
He was elected 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 Stroud
Stroud (UK Parliament constituency)
Stroud is a county 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....
in Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn, and the entire Forest of Dean....
at a by-election in May 1931, following the resignation
Resignation from the British House of Commons
Members of Parliament sitting in the House of Commons in the United Kingdom are technically forbidden to resign. To circumvent this prohibition, a legal fiction is used...
of the Conservative MP Sir Frank Nelson
Frank Nelson (politician)
Sir Frank Nelson KCMG was a British civil servant and Conservative Party politician.He was educated at Bedford School and Neuenheim College, Heidelberg. After leaving school he travelled to India as an assistant with Symons, Barlow and Co, rising to be a senior partner. During the First World War...
. He was re-elected at the general election in October 1931
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...
and again in 1935
United Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
.
However, he was defeated at 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...
by 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...
candidate, Ben Parkin
Ben Parkin
Benjamin Theaker Parkin was a British teacher and politician who served as Member of Parliament for Stroud and for Paddington North...
. At 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...
he and Parkin both contested the new Stroud and Thornbury
Stroud and Thornbury (UK Parliament constituency)
Stroud and Thornbury was a county 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....
constituency, and Perkins took the seat with a majority of only 28 votes. The two men fought the seat again in 1951
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...
, when Perkins held the seat with a more comfortable majority of 1,582.
Perkins retired from the House of Commons at the 1955 general election
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...
, having been knight
Knight
A knight was a member of a class of lower nobility in the High Middle Ages.By the Late Middle Ages, the rank had become associated with the ideals of chivalry, a code of conduct for the perfect courtly Christian warrior....
ed in February 1954.