Richard Winfrey

Sir Richard Winfrey (5 August 1858 – 18 April 1944) was a British Liberal politician, newspaper publisher and campaigner for agricultural rights. He served as Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk, 1906–1923, and for Gainsborough, 1923–1924.

Richard Winfrey MP, circa 1906

Biography

Winfrey was born at Long Sutton in Lincolnshire on 5 August 1858. He married Annie Lucy Pattinson of Ruskington, Lincolnshire, in 1897. His wife's brothers, Samuel Pattinson (1870–1942) and Sir Robert Pattinson (1872–1954), were later both Liberal MPs; Samuel for Horncastle from 1922 to 1924 and Robert for Grantham from 1922 to 1923.[1] In religion Winfrey was a Congregationalist.[2]

He died on 18 April 1944 in Castor House, Castor, Peterborough.

Publishing

In 1887, Richard Winfrey purchased the Spalding Guardian, a local newspaper that was to provide the basis for the Winfrey family's newspaper interests. His next purchase was the Lynn News; he also started the North Cambs Echo and bought the Peterborough Advertiser.

During World War II Winfrey's newspaper interests began to be passed over to his son, Richard Pattinson Winfrey (1902–1985) who had himself unsuccessfully stood in the Holland with Boston by-election in 1924.[3] In 1947, under the direction of Pat Winfrey, the family's newspaper titles were consolidated to form the East Midland Allied Press, later the EMAP media group.[4]

Politics

Winfrey first contested South West Norfolk as a Liberal at the general election of 1895

General election 1895 South West Norfolk[5] Electorate 9,119
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Thomas Leigh Hare 3,968 51.3
Liberal Richard Winfrey 3,762 48.7
Majority 206 2.6
Turnout 7,730 84.8
Conservative hold Swing

and tried again in 1900.

General election 1900 South West Norfolk[5] Electorate 8,740
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Thomas Leigh Hare 3,702 50.4 -0.9
Liberal Richard Winfrey 3,636 49.6 +0.9
Majority 66 0.8 -1.8
Turnout 7,338 84.0 -0.8
Conservative hold Swing -0.9

He was elected Liberal MP for South West Norfolk at the 1906 Liberal landslide election

General election 1906 South West Norfolk[5] Electorate 8,936
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Richard Winfrey 4,416 55.7 +6.1
Conservative Sir Thomas Leigh Hare 3,513 44.3 -6.1
Majority 903 10.4 12.2
Turnout 7,929 88.7 +4.7
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +6.1

and he held the seat

General election January 1910 South West Norfolk[5] Electorate 9,045
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Richard Winfrey 4,239 51.5 -4.2
Conservative Sir Thomas Leigh Hare 4,000 48.5 +4.2
Majority 239 3.0 -8.4
Turnout 8,239 91.1 +2.4
Liberal hold Swing -4.2
General election December 1910 South West Norfolk[5] Electorate 9,045
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Richard Winfrey 4,176 52.7 +1.2
Conservative Albert Edward Stanley Clarke 3,745 47.3 -1.2
Majority 431 5.4 +2.4
Turnout 7,921 87.6 -3.5
Liberal hold Swing +1.2

with the help of the Coalition Government coupon

General election 1918 South West Norfolk[6] Electorate
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal
  1. Sir Richard Winfrey
 unopposed n/a n/a
Liberal hold Swing n/a
General election 1922: South West Norfolk[6] Electorate 32,305
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Sir Richard Winfrey 10,432 54.7 n/a
Labour William Benjamin Taylor 8,655 45.3 n/a
Majority 1,777 9.4 n/a
Turnout 19,087 59.1 n/a
Liberal hold Swing n/a

until 1923. He also represented Gainsborough from 1923 to 1924.

General election 1923 Electorate 27,294
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Sir Richard Winfrey 9,694 47.1
Unionist John Elsdale Molson 7,841 38.1
Labour James Read 3,039 14.8
Majority 1,853 9.0
Turnout 20,574 75.4
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing
General election 1924 Electorate 27,619
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Harry Crookshank 10,281 47.1 +9.0
Labour F. J. Knowles 5,958 27.3 +12.5
Liberal Sir Richard Winfrey 5,590 25.6 -21.5
Majority 4,323 19.8 28.8
Turnout 21,829 79.0 +3.6
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +10.0

His first career had been as a chemist, and he steered the Poisons and Pharmacy Act 1908 through Parliament.

Office

Between 1906 and 1910, Winfrey served as Parliamentary Secretary to Earl Carrington and Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Agriculture from 1916 to 1918.

In August 1914 as Mayor of Peterborough he was one of the last to read the Riot Act after anti-German disturbances.[7]

Winfrey was knighted in the 1914 New Year's Honours. He also served as a Justice of the Peace. He was Chairman of the Lincolnshire and Norfolk Small Holdings Association, Ltd[8] and sometime Chairman of the National Educational Association.[9] At its foundation in 1906 he was Treasurer of the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers & Small Holders Union which in 1920 became the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers.

References
  1. Northamptonshire Past and Present, Northamptonshire Record Society, 1992, p. 317.
  2. Stephen Koss, Nonconformity in Modern British Politics; Archon Books, 1975, p. 135.
  3. The Times, 23 September 1985.
  4. EMAP plc - Company History.
  5. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig).
  6. Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  7. Part 2: 'Fen men to the marrow' who have served us down through the years - Peterborough Today
  8. Who was Who, OUP 2007.
  9. The Liberal Year Book, National Liberal Federation, Liberal Central Association (Great Britain); Liberal Publication Dept., 1933, p. 21.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Sir Thomas Leigh Hare		 Member of Parliament for South West Norfolk
1906–1923		 Succeeded by
Alan McLean
Preceded by
John Elsdale Molson		 Member of Parliament for Gainsborough
1923–1924		 Succeeded by
Harry Crookshank
Political offices
Preceded by
The Duke of Marlborough
The Viscount Goschen		 Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the
Board of Agriculture and Fisheries
1918–1919
With: The Lord Clinton		 Succeeded by
Sir Arthur Griffith-Boscawen
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