Alfred Suenson-Taylor, 1st Baron Grantchester

Alfred Suenson-Taylor

Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor, 1st Baron Grantchester (14 August 1893 – 2 July 1976), was a British banker and Liberal politician.

Born Alfred Jesse Taylor, he was the son of Alfred George Taylor of Stowford, Surrey. He was educated at Epsom College and King's College, Cambridge and served at Gallipoli and in France during the First World War, reaching the rank of Major. [1]

Political career

He first stood for parliament as the Liberal Party candidate for the Unionist seat of Isle of Thanet at the 1922 General Election. It was not a successful campaign;

1922 General Election: Isle of Thanet[2] Electorate 38,500
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Hon. Esmond Cecil Harmsworth 16,116 61.2 +3.3
Liberal Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor 10,226 38.8 -3.3
Majority 22.4 +6.6
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing

He then stood for parliament as the Liberal Party candidate for the Unionist seat of Aldershot at the 1923 General Election;

1923 General Election: Aldershot[3] Electorate 25,932
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Viscount Wolmer 9,131
Liberal Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor 6,315
Majority
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing

He then stood for parliament as the Liberal Party candidate for the Unionist seat of Derbyshire South at the 1924 General Election. It was not a successful campaign;

1924 General Election: Derbyshire South[4] Electorate 45,359
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist James Augustus Grant 16,448
Labour Alfred Goodere 15,033
Liberal Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor 5,647
Majority
Turnout
Unionist hold Swing

He then stood for parliament as the Liberal Party candidate for the Unionist seat of Isle of Thanet at the 1929 General Election, having stood here seven years earlier;

General Election 1929: Isle of Thanet[5] Electorate 58,330
Party Candidate Votes % ±
Unionist Harold Harington Balfour 22,595 52.9
Liberal Alfred Jesse Suenson-Taylor 15,648 36.6
Labour E J Plaisted 4,490 10.5
Majority 6,947 16.3
Turnout 73.3
Unionist hold Swing

He was later President of the London Liberal Party. In 1953, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Grantchester, of Knightsbridge in the City of Westminster. Grantchester served as Chairman of the London and Manchester Assurance Company from 1953 to 1961, as Joint Honorary Treasurer of the Liberal Party Organisation from 1953 to 1962 and as President of the Society for Individual Freedom. He also initiated the unofficial meetings of the EFTA parliamentarians at Strasbourg and was a Delegate to the Assemblies of the Council of Europe and the Western European Union.

Lord Grantchester married Mara Henrietta (Mamie), daughter of Albert Suenson of Copenhagen in Denmark, in 1920, and assumed the surname of Suenson in addition to that of Taylor. He died in July 1976, aged 82, and was succeeded in the barony by his son Kenneth. Lady Grantchester died the same year.

References

  1. ↑ Who's Who, 1938, p. 3271
  2. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  3. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  4. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow 1949
  5. ↑ British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
Peerage of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
New Creation		 Baron Grantchester
1953–1976 		Succeeded by
Kenneth Bent Suenson-Taylor
Party political offices
Preceded by
Baron Moynihan
Wulff Henry Grey		 Treasurer of the Liberal Party
1953–1962
With: Wulff Henry Grey (1953–1958)
Philip Fothergill (1955–1959)
Heather Harvey (1959 – 1962)
Patrick Lort-Phillips (1959 – 1960)
J. C. McLaughlin (1961 – 1962)		 Succeeded by
Ronald Gardner-Thorpe
Andrew Murray
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/22/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.