Henry Strauss, 1st Baron Conesford

Henry George Strauss, 1st Baron Conesford, QC (24 June 1892 – 28 August 1974) was a British lawyer and a Conservative politician.

The Lord Conesford QC
Lord Conesford
Member of Parliament for Norwich South
In office 23 February 1950 – 26 May 1955
Preceded by	New constituency
Succeeded by	Geoffrey Rippon
Member of Parliament for Combined English Universities with Kenneth Lindsay
In office 18 March 1946 – 23 February 1950
Preceded by	Eleanor Rathbone and Kenneth Lindsay
Succeeded by	Constituency abolished
Member of Parliament for Norwich with Geoffrey Shakespeare
In office 14 November 1935 – 5 July 1945
Preceded by	George Hartland and Geoffrey Shakespeare
Succeeded by	John Paton and Lady Noel-Buxton
Personal details
Born	24 June 1892 Kensington, London, England
Died	28 August 1974 (aged 82)
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Anne Sadelbia Mary ​ (m. 1927)​
Education	Rugby School
Alma mater	Christ Church, Oxford

Background and education

He was born at 19 Pembridge Gardens, Kensington, London, on 24 June 1892. He was the only son of Alphonse Henry Strauss, general merchant, and his wife, Hedwig Aschrott. He was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1919.[1][2] He briefly served during World War I, but was discharged because of health problems and continued working in Whitehall.[3]

Political career

Strauss sat as Member of Parliament for Norwich between 1935 and 1945,[1][4] for the Combined English Universities between 1946 and 1950[1][5] and for Norwich South between 1950 and 1955.[1][4] He was Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) to the Attorney General, Sir Donald Somervell, between 1936 and 1942 and a government member as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Works between March and December 1942 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Town and Country Planning between 1942 and 1945,[1] when he resigned from the government in protest at Churchill's treatment of Poland at the Yalta agreement.[6] He was once again a government member as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade under Churchill between 1951 and 1955.[1] The latter year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Conesford, of Chelsea in the County of London.[7]

In 1946 he published the book Trade Unions and the Law connected with treatment of Poland by Yalta agreements. From 1964 - 1970 he was the Chairman of the Association of Independent Unionist Peers. He also was the President of the Architectural club.[3]

Lord Conesford became a King's Counsel in 1964 and a Bencher of the Inner Temple in 1969.[1] He was also a member of the governors of Norwich High School for Girls and a vice-president of the Girls' Day School Trust.[8] He was well known for his speeches in which he complained about the improper usages of the English language, especially in the United States, as can be seen in a Time magazine article from 1957.[9]

Personal life

Lord Conesford married Anne Sadelbia Mary, daughter of Bowyer Nichols, in 1927. He died in August 1974, aged 82, when the barony became extinct.[1]

References

1. "Person Page". thepeerage.com.
2. "Strauss, Henry George, Baron Conesford (1892–1974), lawyer and politician". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. 2004. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31730. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
3. Rubinstein, W.; Jolles, Michael A. (27 January 2011). The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History. Springer. ISBN 9780230304666 – via Google Books.
4. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Northampton North to Nuneaton". Archived from the original on 7 April 2017. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
5. "leighrayment.com House of Commons: Clonmel to Cork County West". Archived from the original on 20 December 2009. Retrieved 27 August 2010.
6. pp.374-383 Olson and Cloud 2003
7. "No. 40481". The London Gazette. 17 May 1955. p. 2877.
8. Institute of Education Archives. "Records of the Girls' Day School Trust and predecessors (GDST)- Honorary Members - Vice-Presidents - GDS/2/3/3 Baron Conesford". Institute of Education. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
9. http://time.com/time/archive/printout/0,23657,809137,00.html

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Henry Strauss