Willoughby Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson

Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson, KBE, PC (9 April 1859 – 31 May 1943), was a British Liberal Party politician. He was Member of Parliament for St. Pancras North from 1906 to 1918. He was an influential proponent of establishing a League of Nations after the First World War.[1]

Sir Willoughby Dickinson

Background

Dickinson was the son of Sebastian Stewart Dickinson, Member of Parliament for Stroud. He was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] He married Elizabeth, daughter of General Sir Richard John Meade,[3] in 1891. They had three children, one of whom was Frances Joan Dickinson, Baroness Northchurch. On 18 January 1930 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Dickinson, of Painswick in the County of Gloucester.[4] Lord Dickinson died in May 1943, aged 84, and was succeeded in the barony by his grandson Richard, his only son the Hon. Richard Sebastian Willoughby Dickinson having predeceased him. Willoughby Dickinson's sister, Frances May, an anaesthetist, was the first wife of surgeon Sir James Berry.[5]

Political career
Dickinson in 1906

He served as vice-chairman of the recently formed London County Council from 1892 to 1896 and then its chairman from March 1900 to March 1901.[6] From 1896 until 1918, he was chair of the London Liberal Federation.[7] He was an assiduous supporter of women's suffrage, promoting a number of measures in Parliament to get the vote for women.[8][9][10][11] Dickinson was made a Privy Counsellor in 1914. He did not stand for parliament again.[12] He was later secretary-general of the World Alliance for International Friendship, and from 1931 chairman of its International Council.[13] In 1930, he joined the Labour Party, but the following year he was part of the National Labour Organisation split.[7]

Electoral record
General election 1900: St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Edward Robert Pacy Moon 3,056 56.6 +4.9
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 2,345 43.4 −4.4
Majority 711 13.2 +9.3
Turnout 5,401 71.2 −4.4
Registered electors 7,582
Conservative hold Swing +4.7
General election 1906: St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 4,094 60.8 +17.4
Conservative Edward Robert Pacy Moon 2,643 39.2 −17.4
Majority 1,451 21.6 n/a
Turnout 6,737 84.0 +12.8
Registered electors 8,021
Liberal gain from Conservative Swing +17.4
General election January 1910 St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 4,970 58.0 −2.8
Conservative H A Pakenham 3,603 42.0 +2.8
Majority 1,367 16.0 −5.6
Turnout 8,573 85.9 +1.9
Registered electors 9,977
Liberal hold Swing −2.8
General election December 1910 St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 4,407 57.7 −0.3
Conservative Arthur Moon 3,230 42.3 +0.3
Majority 1,177 15.4 −0.6
Turnout 7,637 76.5 −9.4
Registered electors 9,977
Liberal hold Swing −0.3
General election 1918: St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
C Unionist John William Lorden 7,260 41.4 −0.9
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 5,596 32.0 −25.7
Labour John Gilbert Dale 4,651 26.6 n/a
Majority 1,664 9.4 n/a
Turnout 33,747 51.9 −24.6
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +12.4
C indicates candidate endorsed by the coalition government.
General election 1922: St Pancras North
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist John William Lorden 9,156 37.7 −3.7
Labour John Gilbert Dale 8,165 33.6 +7.0
Liberal Willoughby Dickinson 6,979 28.7 −3.3
Majority 991 4.1 −5.3
Turnout 66.0 +14.1
Unionist hold Swing −5.3


Arms
Coat of arms of Willoughby Dickinson, 1st Baron Dickinson
Crest
Issuant from clouds a dexter cubit arm erect the hand holding an olive branch fructed all Proper.
Escutcheon
Or a bend cottised between two lions passant Gules.
Supporters
Dexter a falcon Proper collared and lined Or sinister a dove holding in the beak an olive branch both Proper.
Motto
Seek Agreement[14]

References
  1. Kaiga, Sakiko (2021). Britain and the Intellectual Origins of the League of Nations, 1914–1919. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-48917-1.
  2. "Dickinson, Willoughby Hyett (DKN877WH)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
  3. Lundy, Darryl. "p. 7400 § 73997 - Person Page 7400". The Peerage.
  4. "No. 33572". The London Gazette. 21 January 1930. p. 425.
  5. "Berry, Sir James (1860–1946)". livesonline.rcseng.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 July 2021.
  6. "London County Council". The Times. 14 March 1900. p. 3.
  7. Cline, Catherine Ann (1963). Recruits to Labour. Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press. p. 157.
  8. "Womens Enfranchisement Bill 1 (1907)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 15 February 1907. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  9. "Womens Enfranchisement Bill 1 (1908)". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons. 28 February 1908. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  10. from March 1907 to the Representation of the People Bill of 1913. During World War I the Speakers Conference on electoral reform included two influential Liberal suffragists, Sir John Simon and W. H. Dickinson, who helped ensure that it recommended granting the vote to women.
  11. Summary of 1912 Conciliation Bill debate; Dickinson quoted as, I regard this question of the women's franchise as part of the movement of civilisation.
  12. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918–1973, FWS Craig
  13. Mentioned in Nobel Peace Prize speech 1930, by Nathan Söderblom.
  14. Debrett's Peerage. 2019. p. 2360.
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