Herbert Charles Woodcock

Colonel Herbert Charles Woodcock (2 June 1871 – 18 January 1950)[1][2] was a British businessman and Conservative Party politician.[3]

Woodcock

The son of Charles Woodcock of Smethwick and his wife Annie née Robertson of Bristol, he entered business and local politics in the latter city. He was an alderman on Bristol City Council for many years and a member of the Bristol Stock Exchange from 1898.[3] He was a director of a number of public companies including the Metropolitan Cinema Investment Corporation Limited and the British Benzol and Coal Distillation Limited.[4][5]

Woodcock held a commission in the Volunteer Force[6] and its successor the Territorial Force,[7] and in 1911 became commanding officer of the 6th Battalion, The Gloucestershire Regiment.[8] With the outbreak of war in 1914 he mobilised with the battalion, serving on the Western Front and in Italy.[3][9]

Woodcock was elected at the 1922 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Thornbury division of Gloucestershire,[3][10] defeating the sitting Liberal MP Athelstan Rendall by a majority only 104 votes (0.3% of the total).[11] However, he lost the seat to Rendall at the next election, in 1923.[11]

Woodcock returned to Parliament a year later, when he was elected at the 1924 general election as MP for the Everton division of Liverpool.[3][12] He held that seat until the 1929 general election,[2] which he did not contest.[13]

He was appointed in November 1922 as a Deputy Lieutenant of Gloucestershire.[14] He was master of the court of the Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights, a Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur and a Commander of the Order of St John of Jerusalem.[3][15] He also served as vice-president of the Royal Life Saving Society.[3]

He died at his home in Clifton, Bristol in January 1950, aged 78.[16]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "T" (part 1)
2. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "E" (part 2)
3. "WOODCOCK, Col Herbert Charles". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. December 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
4. "Metropolitan Cinema Investment Corporation Limited". The Times. 25 June 1928. p. 22.
5. "British Benzol & Coal Distillation, Limited". The Times. 9 July 1928. p. 24.
6. "No. 27232". The London Gazette. 25 September 1900. p. 5897.
7. "No. 28175". The London Gazette. 8 September 1908. p. 6533.
8. "No. 28482". The London Gazette. 4 April 1911. p. 2706.
9. Baker, Chris. "The Gloucestershire Regiment in 1914–1918". The Long, Long Trail . The British Army in the Great War. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
10. "No. 32775". The London Gazette. 8 December 1922. p. 8705.
11. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
12. "No. 32996". The London Gazette. 25 November 1922. p. 8539.
13. Craig, page 175
14. "Court Circular". The Times. London. 11 November 1922. p. 13, col A. Retrieved 7 February 2011. (subscription required)
15. "Order of St. John of Jerusalem. Promotions And Appointments". The Times. 4 January 1933. p. 13.
16. "Deaths". The Times. 20 January 1950. p. 1.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Herbert Charles Woodcock
• Portraits of Herbert Charles Woodcock at the National Portrait Gallery, London