Hubert Beaumont (Labour politician)

Captain Hubert Beaumont (1883 – 2 December 1948) was a Co-operative official and politician who became a Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) and served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons.

Captain Hubert Beaumont
Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons First Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means
In office 16 August 1945 – 26 October 1948
Speaker	Douglas Clifton Brown
Preceded by	Charles Williams
Succeeded by	Frank Bowles
Member of Parliament for Batley and Morley
In office 9 March 1939 – 2 December 1948
Preceded by	Willie Brooke
Succeeded by	Alfred Broughton
Personal details
Born	1883 Birmingham
Died	2 December 1948 Manor House Hospital, Golders Green, London Borough of Barnet
Political party	Labour
Military service
Branch/service	British Army
Rank	Captain
Battles/wars	First World War

Working life

Beaumont was born in Birmingham and went to Saltley College School. He began work for the Co-op, and through their sponsorship he went to Ruskin College at Oxford University and the Central Labour College. During the First World War he became a Captain in the Army. He later worked for the League of Nations Union and produced two educational films for them.

Political career

From 1914 to 1925, Beaumont was a member of Derbyshire County Council. He began fighting Parliamentary seats at Aldershot in the 1924 general election, and Harrow in the 1929 general election. In the 1931 general election he was chosen for the Labour-held seat of Peckham where the sitting MP John Beckett had split from the Labour Party. With the vote split among three competing "Labour" candidates, however, Beaumont came fourth with only 1,350 votes.

Beaumont was elected to Yiewsley and West Drayton Urban District Council in 1934. In March 1939, he was elected as the Member of Parliament from Batley and Morley in a by-election, succeeding the late Willie Brooke.

Parliament

Although remaining a backbencher, his knowledge of agriculture gained from working for the Co-op did win for Beaumont an appointment to the Luxmoore Commission on Agricultural Education in 1943. He served Tom Williams (Labour junior Minister for Agriculture in the Coalition government) as his Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1940.

After re-election in the 1945 general election, Beaumont was appointed as Deputy Chairman of Ways and Means (the second Deputy Speaker).[1] While presiding over a debate in the House on 21 September 1948 Beaumont was taken seriously ill and he was forced to resign as Deputy Speaker;[2] he died in a London hospital just over two months later.[3]

References

1. "Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy-Chairman". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 413. House of Commons. 16 August 1945. col. 69.
2. "Deputy-Chairman of Ways and Means (Resignation)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 457. House of Commons. 26 October 1948. col. 2–3.
3. "Death of a Member". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). 458. House of Commons. 2 December 1948. col. 2145.

• M. Stenton and S. Lees, "Who's Who of British MPs", Vol. IV (Harvester Press, 1981)
• Obituary from "The Times", 3 December 1948

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Hubert Beaumont