Sir Henry Norman Rae (20 January 1860 – 31 December 1928)[1] was anEnglishwool merchant andLiberal Party politician.
Rae was the son of aCongregational Minister, theReverend James Rae[2] fromHarrogate inNorth Yorkshire. He was educated atBatley Grammar School[3] and later attendedSilcoates, a Congregationalist School nearWakefield where his father was aschool governor and also spent some time at a boarding school, Highbury House atSt Leonards-on-Sea.[4] In 1883 he married Emily Cass fromMirfield. His wife died in 1927. They had one son and one daughter.[5]
Rae went into the wool business and set up as a merchant in that trade[3] at Harrogate.[6] He was the principal in the firm of Pickles and Rae, wool combers and top makers inBradford.[7]
From 1904 until 1913, Rae represented thePateley Bridge division on theWest Riding County Council.[8]
Through this association with the area, Rae first stood forParliament in theDecember 1910 general election contesting the constituency ofRipon for the Liberals. Although he cut the majority of the sittingUnionistMPEdward Wood (later Lord Halifax), he was not elected.[9]
In 1918 Rae was adopted as the Coalition Liberal candidate for theShipley Division in theWest Riding of Yorkshire. As the official Coalition candidate he stood as a supporter of theCoalition government ofPrime MinisterDavid Lloyd George. As the government candidate, he was not opposed by Lloyd George's Conservative partners in the Coalition and was awarded theCoalition coupon. In a straight fight with aLabour opponent,Tom Snowden, who later became Labour MP forAccrington, Rae won with a majority of 11,010 votes.[10]
Rae was re-elected as MP for Shipley at the1922 general election as aNational Liberal, i.e. a continuing supporter of Lloyd George but this time in a much tighter contest. He was still not opposed by theTories but he did face a strong Labour challenge from William Mackinder and also from anAsquithian Independent Liberal, Mr A Davy. Rae's majority over Labour was reduced to 1,041 votes.[10]
Rae wasknighted in 1922[11] but chose not to contest any further Parliamentary elections. At the1923 general election William Mackinder gained Shipley for Labour.[12]
Rae donated large sums of money to various good causes. He gave £12,000 for university scholarships to a number of schools in theWest Riding of Yorkshire - including some monies set aside for female students - and donated large sums to his old school Batley Grammar.[13] He also gave £10,000 for a private hospital atShipley for the care of people of limited financial means. He made gifts of land amounting to 200 acres (0.81 km2) and valued at around £250,000 to the local council to createNorthcliffe Park.[3] He also gave the council £12,500 in 1919 for the purchase of 114 acres (0.46 km2) of land including 42 acres (170,000 m2) of woodland to serve as a combination of parks, playing fields and allotments for local residents.[14] In addition, in association with Mr J E Sharman (1869 inHalifax, West Yorkshire to John Sharman and Jane Ann Earl - 26 Nov 1928 inRossett Manor), he purchased for the publicOakwell Hall, anElizabethan Manor House atBirstall nearLeeds with connections toCharlotte Brontë.[15]
Rae had a history of heart trouble and on 31 December 1928 inBatley, while he was taking tea with a lady to whom he recently become engaged to be married, he collapsed and died[3] at the age of 68 years.[1]
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| Preceded by | Member of Parliament forShipley 1918 –1923 | Succeeded by |
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