James Chuter Ede

The Right Honourable The Lord Chuter-Ede CH PC JP DL
Leader of the House of Commons
In office 16 March 1951 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Herbert Morrison
Succeeded by	Harry Crookshank
Home Secretary
In office 3 August 1945 – 26 October 1951
Prime Minister	Clement Attlee
Preceded by	Sir Donald Somervell
Succeeded by	Sir David Maxwell Fyfe
Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education
In office 15 May 1940 – 13 August 1944
President	Herwald Ramsbotham Rab Butler
Preceded by	Kenneth Lindsay
Succeeded by	Office Abolished
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education
In office 13 August 1944 – 23 May 1945
Minister	Rab Butler
Preceded by	Office Created
Succeeded by	Thelma Cazalet-Keir
Member of Parliament for South Shields
In office 14 November 1935 – 15 October 1964
Preceded by	Harcourt Johnstone
Succeeded by	Arthur Blenkinsop
In office 30 May 1929 – 27 October 1931
Preceded by	Edward Harney
Succeeded by	Harcourt Johnstone
Member of Parliament for Mitcham
In office 3 March 1923 – 6 December 1923
Preceded by	Thomas Worsfold
Succeeded by	Richard James Meller
Personal details
Born	(1882-09-11)11 September 1882 Epsom, Surrey
Died	(1965-11-11)11 November 1965 (aged 83) Ewell, Surrey
Nationality	British
Political party	Labour
Spouse	Lilian Williams (d. 1948)
Alma mater	Christ's College, Cambridge

James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede, CH, PC, JP, DL (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965) was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becoming the longest-serving Home Secretary of the 20th century.

Early life

Chuter Ede was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son of James Ede, a shopkeeper of Unitarian religious convictions, and his wife Agnes Mary (née Chuter). He was educated at Epsom National School, Dorking High School for Boys, Battersea Pupil Teachers' Centre, and Christ's College, Cambridge, where he studied natural sciences. He then worked as a teacher, becoming an assistant master at a council elementary school in Mortlake (1905–1914). During the First World War he served in the East Surrey Regiment and Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of Acting Regimental Sergeant Major. After the war he was active within the National Union of Teachers.

Political career

He was a member between 1920 and 1927 of Epsom Urban District Council and Surrey County Council and was charter mayor of Epsom and Ewell in 1937.

After fighting Epsom in 1918, he was first elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham, at a by-election in March 1923. However, he lost the seat in December at the 1923 general election. He returned to Parliament at the 1929 general election, for the Tyneside seat of South Shields, but was defeated again at the 1931 election. He was re-elected at the 1935 general election, and held the seat until his retirement from the Commons at the 1964 general election.

In the wartime coalition he held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education. He was Home Secretary in the 1945 Labour government of Clement Attlee, and concurrently Leader of the House of Commons in 1951. He was closely involved in the drafting of the Butler Education Act and the Criminal Justice Act 1948, and established the Lynskey tribunal under Sir George Lynskey in 1948 to investigate allegation of corruption among ministers and civil servants. In 1964 he left the Commons and was created a life peer as Baron Chuter-Ede, of Epsom in the County of Surrey.

Family

Chuter Ede married Lilian Mary, daughter of Richard Williams, in 1917. She died in 1948. Lord Chuter-Ede survived her by 17 years and died at Ewell, Surrey, in November 1965, aged 83. Chuter Ede Education Centre in South Shields is named after him. It was formerly a comprehensive school.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by James Chuter Ede