Harry Selley: Difference between revisions
m Robot - Moving category UK MPs 1935–1945 to Category:UK MPs 1935–45 per CFD at Wikipedia:Categories for discussion/Log/2013 September 18. |
m Robot - Speedily moving category Members of the United Kingdom Parliament for English constituencies to Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies per CFDS. |
||
| Line 114: | Line 114: | ||
[[Category:UK MPs 1931–35]] |
[[Category:UK MPs 1931–35]] |
||
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–45]] |
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–45]] |
||
[[Category:Members of the United Kingdom |
[[Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies]] |
||
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs]] |
[[Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs]] |
||
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]] |
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]] |
||
Revision as of 17:49, 27 August 2014
Sir Harry Ralph Selley (9 December 1871 – 24 February 1960)[1] was a British master builder[2] and Conservative Party politician. He served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Battersea South in London from 1931 to 1945.
Career
Selley was born in Topsham, Devon, and became a builder's apprentice. He rose to run his own business, and estimated that he had been responsible for the building of more than 25,000 houses in London and its suburbs.[2]
In 1925 Selley was elected to the London County Council as a member of the majority Municipal Reform Party, representing South Battersea.[3] He was appointed chairman of the council's Housing Committee and of the Hospitals Planning and Development Sub-Committee.[2] He was re-elected to the council in 1928, 1931 and 1934.[4][5][6] In the latter year the Municipal Reformers, who were allied to the parliamentary Conservative Party, lost control to the Labour Party. He retired from the council at the 1937 elections.
Selley first stood for Parliament at the Battersea South by-election in February 1929, when he lost by 2.1% of the votes to the Labour Party candidate, William Bennett.[7] He contested the seat again at the general election in May 1929, cutting Bennett's majority to only 1.1%,[7] and at the 1931 general election he defeated Bennett with a majority 36.2%.[7][8] He was re-elected in 1935,[7][9] and held the seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1945 general election.[10] He was knighted in 1944.[11]
In May 1945, aged 73, he won a bet with housing minister George Hicks by building a four-course wall of 200 bricks in the Commons Courtyard at the Houses of Parliament in less than an hour, whilst wearing a bowler hat.[12] His intention was to demonstrate his belief that the Ministry of Works's target for bricklayers to lay between 200 and 300 bricks per day was inadequate, and after completing the wall he pronounced that 800 was a more reasonable target.[12] An editorial in The Times praised the achievement as "one to warm the heart with admiration".[13] He was national president of Federation of Master Builders from 1945 to at least 1951, when he celebrated his 80th birthday by laying the 80th brick in a wall built in his honour at the Connaught Rooms.[14]
Family
Selley was married in 1896 to Eleanor Kate Westcott, daughter of Thomas Westcott. They had a son and a daughter, and after her death in 1935 he got married again, in 1939, to Margaret Avelyn (Sheila), the widow of Joseph Hendrick.[2] After his death in 1960, at the age of 88, his estate was valued at £63,204.[15]
References
- ^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 1)
- ^ a b c d "Obituaries: Sir Harry Selley, Master Builder". The Times. 25 February 1960. p. 21.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "LCC Elections". The Times. 6 March 1925. p. 16.
- ^ "L.C.C. Election. Full Results of Polling". The Times. 10 March 1928. p. 17.
- ^ "L.C.C. Election". The Times. 7 March 1931. p. 8.
- ^ "L.C.C. Election". The Times. 10 March 1934. p. 8.
- ^ a b c d Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 4. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- ^ "No. 33769". The London Gazette. 6 November 1931.
- ^ "No. 34223". The London Gazette. 26 November 1935.
- ^ "Retiring M.P.s At Farewell Dinner". The Times. 14 June 1945. p. 8.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "No. 36393". The London Gazette. 22 February 1944.
- ^ a b "M.P. Lays 200 Bricks In 58 Minutes". The Times. 19 May 1945. p. 2.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "The Man to Back". The Times. 23 May 1945. p. 5.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Birthday Celebrated By Bricklaying Sir Harry Selley's Long Career In Building". The Times. 11 December 1951. p. 2.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help) - ^ "Latest Wills". The Times. 12 May 1960. p. 9.
{{cite news}}:|access-date=requires|url=(help)
External links