Frank Raffety
Frank Walter Raffety OBE (1875 – September 8, 1946) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician.
He was the son of Charles Walter Raffety, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe.[1] In 1898 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and practised on the Northern Circuit.[2]
He developed an interest in politics, and became honorary secretary of the Social and Political Education League. The organisation was established to provide political education to the general public, and in particular to promote moderation over revolution.[2][3] He was also an active member of the Eighty Club, an educational group within the Liberal Party.[2][4]
He was selected as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for Stamford for a general election expected to take place in 1915.[5]
He unsuccessfully contested the Lewisham West by-election in September 1921;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Philip Dawson | 9,427 | 38.9 | ||
Anti-Waste League | W. G. Windham | 8,580 | 35.4 | ||
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 6,211 | 25.6 | ||
Majority | 847 | 3.5 | |||
Turnout | 24,218 | 59.2 | |||
Unionist hold | Swing |
In March of the following year he was elected to the London County Council, as a (Liberal-backed) Progressive Party councillor for Islington West;[6]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Progressive | Henry Mills | 5,903 | 33.6 | ||
Progressive | Frank Walter Raffety | 5,746 | 32.7 | ||
Labour | P. H. Black | 3,013 | 17.2 | ||
Labour | G. Davison | 2,894 | 16.5 | ||
Majority | 2,733 | 15.5 | |||
Progressive hold | Swing | ||||
Progressive hold | Swing |
At the general election in November 1922 he failed to win Bristol West;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | George A. Gibbs | 18,124 | 62.0 | ||
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 11,100 | 38.0 | ||
Majority | 7,024 | 24.0 | |||
Unionist hold | Swing |
A further general election was held in 1923, and Raffety was elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 13,694 | 51.6 | ||
Unionist | Charles Talbot Foxcroft | 12,830 | 48.4 | ||
Majority | 864 | 3.2 | |||
Turnout | 79.1 | ||||
Liberal gain from Unionist | Swing |
His membership of the Commons was brief, as he was defeated when a further general election was called in 1924;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Charles Talbot Foxcroft | 16,067 | 55.8 | +7.4 | |
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 8,800 | 30.6 | -21.0 | |
Labour | Walter Barton Scobell | 3,914 | 13.6 | +13.6 | |
Majority | 7,267 | 25.2 | 28.4 | ||
Turnout | 84.5 | +5.4 | |||
Unionist gain from Liberal | Swing | +14.2 |
He again stood as a Liberal candidate at Cheltenham in 1929;
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Unionist | Sir Walter Reuben Preston | 15,279 | |||
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 8,533 | |||
Labour | William Ramsey Piggott | 4,920 | |||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Unionist hold | Swing |
and East Dorset in 1935, but failed to be elected;[2]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Conservative | Gordon Ralph Hall Caine | 25,520 | |||
Liberal | Frank Walter Raffety | 11,349 | |||
Labour | Edward Joseph Stocker | 10,823 | |||
Majority | |||||
Turnout | |||||
Conservative hold | Swing |
Raffety remained active in Liberal party politics, as a speaker. He became the Chairman of the Industrial Co-Partnership Association. In 1943 he was granted the freedom of the borough of High Wycombe, of which he had been honorary recorder since 1905.[2] In 1945 he was made an Officer of the Order of British Empire.[2]
He died at his home in Bramley, Surrey in August 1946, aged 71.[2]
References
- ^ School Records: http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/Wycombiensian/1939%20September.pdf
- ^ a b c d e f g Obituary: Mr F W Raffety, The Times, September 11, 1946, p.7
- ^ Deborah Wormell, Sir John Seeley and the Uses of History, Cambridge, 1980
- ^ "Eighty Club". Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations. University of Birmingham. 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
- ^ Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire Mar 1914
- ^ LCC Elections, The Times, March 3, 1922, p.12
- ^ London Municipal Notes - Volumes 18-23, London Municipal Society
External links
- Members of London County Council
- Members of the Middle Temple
- 1875 births
- 1946 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Liberal Party (UK) MPs
- Officers of the Order of the British Empire
- People educated at the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe
- UK MPs 1923–24
- Politics of Bath, Somerset
- Progressive Party (London) politicians
- Liberal MP (UK) stubs