Lyon Blease
Prof. Walter Lyon Blease (1884 – 12 April 1963), was a British Liberal Party politician, barrister and academic.
Background
[edit]He was born in Liverpool, the son of Walter and Mary Cecilia Blease. He was educated at Parkfield School, Liverpool; Shrewsbury School and Liverpool University. He was awarded the Studentship at Bar Final Examination, 1906. He married, in 1918, Harriott Davies. They had three daughters.[1]
He served with hospital units in Serbia 1915 and in Russia and Romania 1916–18. He was Assistant Editor of The New East, Tokyo in 1918.
Academic career
[edit]He was Lecturer in the Law and Custom of the Constitution at Liverpool University in 1910. He was Queen Victoria Professor of Law, at Liverpool University from 1919–49.
Political career
[edit]He was Liberal candidate for the Chorley Division of Lancashire at the January 1910 General Election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Lord Balcarres | 7,735 | 58.3 | ||
| Liberal | Walter Lyon Blease | 5,523 | 41.7 | ||
| Majority | 2,212 | 16.6 | |||
| Turnout | 13,258 | 92.4 | |||
| Conservative hold | Swing | ||||
In 1936 he was appointed a governor of the British Film Institute.[3] In 1939 he was adopted as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for the East Toxteth Division of Liverpool.[4] The constituency had been safe for the Conservatives during the 1930s, even without a Labour candidate to split the anti-Tory vote. By 1939 there was again no Labour candidate selected. A general election was anticipated to take place in the autumn of 1939, but, due to the outbreak of war, the election did not take place until the 1945 general election. By then, a Labour candidate had emerged;
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn | 18,145 | 49.3 | −10.9 | |
| Labour | Lt. Victor Harold Edgar Baker | 12,376 | 33.6 | n/a | |
| Liberal | Prof. Walter Lyon Blease | 6,286 | 17.1 | −22.7 | |
| Majority | 5,769 | 15.7 | −4.7 | ||
| Turnout | 36,807 | 70.1 | +4.9 | ||
| Conservative hold | Swing | n/a | |||
He was Liberal candidate for the new Garston Division of Liverpool at the 1950 General Election.
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Conservative | Henry Victor Alpin MacKinnon Raikes | 31,750 | 57.6 | N/A | |
| Labour | Edgar Hewitt | 17,477 | 31.6 | N/A | |
| Liberal | Prof. Walter Lyon Blease | 5,966 | 10.8 | N/A | |
| Majority | 14,303 | 25.9 | N/A | ||
| Turnout | 55,163 | 84.9 | N/A | ||
| Conservative win (new seat) | |||||
He was Chairman of the Executive Council for Liverpool under the National Health Service Act 1946 from 1952–60. He was a Member of the Management Committee of the Executive Councils Association (England) from 1960 until his death.
He was Chairman of the Liverpool Philharmonic Society from 1950–51.
See also
[edit]
Works by or about Lyon Blease at Wikisource
References
[edit]- ^ ‘BLEASE, W. Lyon’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 28 Nov 2013
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, Craig, F.W.S.
- ^ "New Governors for B.F.I". Sight and Sound. 5 (19): 63. Autumn 1936.
- ^ The Liberal Magazine, Volume 47
- ^ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
- ^ British parliamentary election results 1950-1973, Craig, F.W.S.
