Lyon Blease

Prof. Walter Lyon Blease (1884 – 12 April 1963), was a British Liberal Party politician, barrister and academic.

Background

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

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

He was Liberal candidate for the Chorley Division of Lancashire at the January 1910 General Election.

General Election January 1910[2] Electorate 14,347
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. In 1939 he was adopted as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for the East Toxteth Division of Liverpool.[3] 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;

General Election 1945[4] Electorate 52,484
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.

General Election 1950[5] Electorate 65,001
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

Wikisource logo Works by or about Lyon Blease at Wikisource

References

  1. ↑ ‘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
  2. ↑ British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, Craig, F.W.S.
  3. ↑ The Liberal Magazine, Volume 47
  4. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig
  5. ↑ British parliamentary election results 1950-1973, Craig, F.W.S.
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