Charles Summersby

Charles Harold Summersby (1882 – 13 August 1961) was a British draper and Liberal National politician.

Family and education

Summersby was the son of the Reverend B J Summersby, a Congregational minister from Oxfordshire. He was educated locally until the age of fourteen when he left school and moved to London to serve a four year apprenticeship in the drapery business. ^[1] He and his wife had two sons and a daughter. ^[2]

Career

After his apprenticeship Summersby became a buyer for the Derry & Toms department store in Kensington and in 1912 started his own business. By 1931 he was the owner of large shop in Muswell Hill. ^[1]

Politics

Local politics

Summersby was elected to Hornsey Borough Council in 1921 ^[1] and was Mayor of Hornsey from 1930-1931 ^[3] He was also later a member of Middlesex County Council for Harringay. He won a by-election there on 28 January 1936 standing as a Municipal Reform Party candidate by 485 votes to the 327 gained by his Labour opponent Samuel Campbell. There was only a small turnout because the date coincided with the funeral of King George V who had died on 20 January. ^[4] Summersby also served as Justice of the Peace. ^[5]

Parliament

Summersby was selected to fight Shoreditch at the 1931 general election as a Liberal National and defeated the sitting Labour MP, Ernest Thurtle. ^[6] While in the House of Commons Summersby served as a member of the Parliamentary Air Committee. ^[7] He did not seek re-election at the 1935 general election and was replaced as National Liberal candidate by Mr Somerset Stopford Brooke ^[8], a stock broker, and former Liberal candidate for Guildford in 1929, who was the son of the Liberal MP for Bow and Bromley from 1906-1910. ^[9] Summersby must have known that without the effect of the crisis of 1931 which had helped propel him into Parliament, his seat would be highly vulnerable to Labour ^[10] and Stopford Brooke, could not hold the seat against Ernest Thurtle’s renewed challenge. ^[9]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} The Times House of Commons 1931; Politico’s Publishing 2003, p 26
2. ^ Who was Who, OUP 2007
3. ^ Who was Who, OUP 2007
4. ^ The Times, 30 January 1936
5. ^ Who was Who, OUP 2007
6. ^ The Times House of Commons 1931; Politico’s Publishing 2003, p 26
7. ^ http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1935/1935%20-2-%200099.html
8. ^ The Times, 23 October 1935, p16
9. ^ ^{a b} The Times House of Commons 1935; Politico’s Publishing 2003, p42
10. ^ Tom Stannage, Baldwin Thwarts the Opposition: The British General Election of 1935; Routledge, 1980 p223

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Summersby

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Ernest Thurtle	Member of Parliament for Shoreditch 1931 – 1935	Succeeded by Ernest Thurtle

Persondata
Name	Summersby, Charles Harold
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1882
Place of birth
Date of death	13 August 1961
Place of death