Ernest Henry Lamb, 1st Baron Rochester,CMG (4 September 1876 – 13 January 1955) was a BritishLiberal andNational Labour politician who served asPaymaster General from 1931 to 1935 in theNational Government ofRamsay MacDonald.[1]
The eldest son of Benjamin Lamb ofYorkshire, Ernest was educated atDulwich College andWycliffe College before training as anelectrical engineer. He specialised in the new technology oftelephony, travelling extensively in Europe in this twenties.[1] He returned to England and formed the New System Private Telephone Company, and was also chairman of the family firm of transport contractors, Lamb Sons and Company.[1]
He entered public life when he was elected to the common council of theCity of London, later becoming a deputyalderman andlieutenant of the city. He subsequently became a member of thePort of London Authority and chairman of the Chatham and District Water Board.[1]
He then turned to national politics and was elected to parliament forRochester in 1906 as aLiberal. He lost his seat in theJanuary 1910 general election, but regained the seat in theDecember 1910 general election. He continued to hold this seat until the constituency was abolished in 1918.[1]
Lamb was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George (CMG) in 1907,[2] and wasknighted in 1914.[3]
Lamb joined theLabour Party in 1929.[4] On 23 January 1931, he was raised to the peerage asBaron Rochester, ofRochester in theCounty of Kent.[5] He was a supporter ofRamsay MacDonald after the latter formed theNational Government in August 1931 and his subsequent expulsion from the Labour Party, and became a member of theNational Labour Organisation, founded the same year by supporters of MacDonald. In November 1931 MacDonald appointed himPaymaster General in the National Government. He continued to hold this post until 1935, and during the same period also represented theMinistry of Labour in theHouse of Lords.
After 1935, he took little further part in politics, devoting himself to religious and philanthropic activities. AMethodist, Rochester had acted aslay preacher since the nineteenth century. in 1941 he was elected vice president of the Methodist Conference. He served for many years on the board of the National Children's Home and Orphanage, was secretary of the Wesleyan Temperance and Social Welfare Department and vice president of theBritish and Foreign Bible Society.[1]
He married Rosa Dorothea Hurst, daughter of William John Hurst of Drumaness,County Down, in 1913, and they had six children.[1] He died at his home inCroydon,Surrey, in January 1955, aged 78, and was succeeded in the barony by his eldest sonFoster Charles Lowry Lamb.[1]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forRochester 1906–January 1910 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forRochester December 1910–1918 | constituency abolished |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Paymaster General 1931–1935 | Succeeded by |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Rochester 1931–1955 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
