Ernest Simon, 1st Baron Simon of Wythenshawe

Simon was born in Didsbury, Manchester, as the eldest son of Henry Gustav Simon and Emily Stoehr.[1] He was educated at Rugby School and studied mechanical sciences at Pembroke College, Cambridge.[2]

In 1912 he married Shena Dorothy Potter (1883–1972), a noted social reformer. They had three children: Roger, a solicitor and journalist; Brian, an educationalist and historian; and a daughter Antonia (Tony) who died in childhood.[1] His nephew is C. G. H. Simon.

After leaving Cambridge on the death of his father, he entered the family's engineering business, Simon Carves, manufacturers of flour milling machinery and coke ovens. He successfully expanded the company into building grain silos, and with the wealth generated by the business pursued outside interests, including politics.[1]

Wythenshawe Hall and Park

The hall and surrounding park were donated to the City of Manchester by Lord and Lady Simon of Wythenshawe in 1926...

...as commemorated with a blue plaque.

Simon served as a member of Manchester City Council from 1912 to 1925, and as Lord Mayor of Manchester in 1921–1922, the youngest person at the time to have held the office.[1] He is chiefly remembered for the slum clearances and housing projects he initiated in the city. He purchased Wythenshawe Hall and park from Robert Henry Grenville Tatton in 1926 and donated them to the city; the estate farmland became one on Britain's largest housing estates, Wythenshawe.[3][4]

Simon sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Manchester Withington from 1923 to 1924 and from 1929 to 1931. Appointed a Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in August 1931, to remain in office he contested Penryn and Falmouth (he had previously decided not to contest the Withington seat again) in October 1931, however he was unsuccessful. He was knighted in 1932.[5] After the Second World War he again stood for parliament, as an independent candidate for the Combined English Universities seat during the 1946 by-election. He was unsuccessful and later that year joined the Labour Party. In 1947 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Simon of Wythenshawe, of Didsbury in the City of Manchester,[6] and he was appointed chairman of the BBC Board of Governors, a post which he held until 1952.[7]

He was close friends with Sidney and Beatrice Webb, and he contributed £1000 towards their establishment of the New Statesman political newspaper in 1913.[8] He also had long association with the Victoria University of Manchester; except for a short period, he was a member of the court and council from 1915 until his death, and he served as chairman of the Council between 1941 and 1957.[1][7]

Simon died on 3 October 1960 in Withington, Manchester, after suffering a stroke whilst on holiday. His eldest son Roger succeeded to the barony.[1]

• Simon, E. D.; Fitzgerald, Marion (1922). A City Council from Within. London: Longmans.
• Simon, E. D. (1926). A City Council from Within. London: Longmans.
• Simon, E. D. (1933). The Anti-Slum Campaign. London: Longmans.
• Simon, E. D.; Inman, John (1935). The Rebuilding of Manchester. London: Longmans.
• Simon, E. D.; Hubback, Eva (1935). Training for Citizenship. London: Oxford University Press.
• Simon, E. D. (1945). Rebuilding Britain: A Twenty Year Plan. London: Victor Gollancz.
• Simon, E. D. (1953). The BBC from Within. London: Victor Gollancz.

• Stocks, Mary (1963). Ernest Simon of Manchester. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ernest Simon
• Faculty of Humanities, Manchester. Brendon Jones, biographical article
• Simon Report of 1944 on Placing and Management of Building Contracts,1944 and on Distribution of Building Materials and Components, 1948