last of the Midland radicals Sir , Liberal MP for East 1929 – 45

Geoffrey Mander (1882–1962) was the last in the line of Black Country nonconformist radical politicians; as his onituary put it, ‘he was supremely a man of causes’. He held his parliamentary seat in Wolverhampton East for the Liberal Party against all comers from 1929 until 1945. His cousin, Nicholas Mander, recounts his career as a Liberal MP, industrialist, art collector and Geoffrey Mander philanthropist. (1882–1962)

26 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 last of the Midland radicals Sir Geoffrey Mander, Liberal MP for Wolverhampton East 1929 – 45

ir Geoffr ey Le ­Wolverhampton a durable clus- From a endowments, a test case which Mesurier Mander ter of businesses as manufactur- was heard by Lord Chancel- (1882–1962) 1 was a ers of chemicals, gas, japanware noncon- lor Eldon and was to lead to an Midland industrial- and (mostly successfully) var- act of parliament by 1844. In ist, an art collector nish, and printing ink. By formist 1817, Charles Mander rode to Sand impassioned parliamentar- 1827 they already operated ‘one London to petition the Home ian, the Liberal specialist on for- of the largest chemical elabora- and radi- Secretary, Sidmouth, for the eign policy between the wars. tories in the kingdom’, trading cal back- reprieve of two innocent sol- From a nonconformist and radi- from China and the East Indies diers condemned to death for cal background, he held a strong to the Americas. As the busi- ground, stealing a shilling coin. It was patrician sense of public service ness prospered with the Indus- a romantic incident which and philanthropy. As a politician trial Revolution, they became Mander appealed to the imagination he spoke up as an anti-appeaser established as the varnish of contemporaries and became and a crusader for the League of kings of the Empire, and were held a the inspiration of a forgotten Nations between the wars. He given the means and leisure to strong Methodist novel by Samuel made a reputation as an oppo- become active and progressive Warren.3 It led, with the help of sitionist, for his determined use philanthropists. patrician Samuel Romilly in Parliament of parliamentary questions; a In the early nineteenth cen- (the Manders’ first counsel in gadfly who never spared to wing tury, they campaigned against sense of their litigation), to the repeal into the attack whenever sloppy the slave trade, lobbied for the of the Blood Money Act (1818), thinking and deceit threatened reform of the criminal code, public ‘one of the worst acts ever to to obscure the issues of the day. and set up a union mill to pro- service disgrace the Statute Book’. The He represented Wolverhampton vide cheap flour and bread in family founded chapels, foun- East from May 1929 until the the difficult aftermath of the and philan- tains, free libraries and schools, 1945 Labour landslide. Napoleonic Wars. Four Man- and became progressive may- Geoffrey Mander came ders at the same time were thropy. ors, filling nearly every public from a strong Liberal tradition. Town Commissioners in Geor- office in the county. Geoffrey’s The were in gian Wolverhampton. They younger brother, the Holly- the vanguard of the Industrial pursued a twenty-two-year wood actor and novelist Miles Revolution in the .2 chancery suit for the protection Mander (who married an From 1773 they established in of nonconformist chapels and Indian princess), summarised

Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 27 last of the midland radicals

the background, writing ‘to 1895, he was offered the Mid- measures at odds with his back- [his] son in confidence’ (1934): Worcester seat in parliament. ground and private interests.6 William Woodings of the Mid- The Manders have nobly vin- land Liberal Federation wrote Like most members of the fam- dicated themselves. At the time to him: ‘Your name would be ily, he became a magistrate, in of writing, they have produced well known and you have almost his case at the age of twenty- one baronet, one Member a local connection … The con- four, and in due course Chair- of Parliament, High Sheriffs, stituency is Liberal in tendency man of the Bench, serving for Deputy Lieutenants and several and is not difficult to work.’ He fifty years. By the time of the of the lesser municipal digni- was still committed to munici- Kingswinford by-election in taries such as Mayors, Magis- pal affairs, however, and did not 1905, the press was describing trates and Councillors. In fact, live long enough to contest the him as ‘a Liberal member of a we are quite obviously worthy seat. He was a successful Mayor distinguished local Conserva- people … Your Canadian great- of Wolverhampton at the turn of tive family’. He supported the grandfather was in the Ottawa the century, but died in office in Labour candidate for West Wol- Parliament, your grandfather, 1901, following an operation on verhampton in the 1906 elec- Theodore, was one of the his kitchen table. He was aged tion against a family friend, Sir most prominent Liberals of his just forty-seven. Alfred Hickman. As he wrote day, your Uncle Geoffrey is at Geoffrey was sixteen and later: ‘My action caused great present a Liberal Member, and still at Harrow at the time of his indignation in Conservative cir- I am hoping to be in the House father’s death. His mother Flora cles in the neighbourhood and I shortly myself.4 died soon after, in 1905, leav- found myself cut in the hunting ing him to assume the responsi- field by some of them.’ His sec- Geoffrey Mander was the eld- bilities of his father’s estate early. ond wife Rosalie described how, est son of Theodore Mander He was a prickly, cross-grained like many radicals who refused (1853–1900), a Gladstonian Lib- youth, described by the pater- to conform to the conventions eral and strict Congregation- familias, his father’s cousin, the of the ‘county’ pattern, he was alist. Theodore married Flora staunch Tory Sir Charles Tertius looked upon askance by many Paint, a Canadian from Nova Mander, as ‘an impossible young families. This attitude only Scotia of Guernsey extraction cub … It is time we brought changed after the Second World (from whose forebears Geof- him up with a round turn … he War, ‘both because party bit- frey derived his second name), is very self opinionated, has no terness in general had died out whose father was himself, as judgment or tact & is much too and because Geoffrey Mander’s Miles states, MP for Richmond big for his boots, & has been ever sincerity and his devotion to the county in the Dominion Parlia- since his father died.’ causes in which he believed won ment in the 1880s. Theodore was He went up to Trinity, Cam- respect all round’: a man of refined tastes and sym- bridge, where he followed fam- pathies, a collection of whose ily tradition by reading Natural A tolerant ‘man of goodwill’ diaries and letters was published Sciences. At Cambridge, he soon himself, who never spoke or in 1993 as A Very Private Herit- continued in the mould of pub- acted out of malice or spite, he age.5 He is remembered today lic service, now with a radical was glad of this development as the builder of slant. He joined the Union and and appreciated being invited Manor (1887–93), a half-tim- the University Liberal League, to social functions in the neigh- bered aesthetic house of exqui- and ‘a thing called the Cam- bourhood – more perhaps than site craftsmanship and detailing, bridge University Association he enjoyed attending them. with outstanding William Mor- for promoting Social Settle- ris furnishings and Pre-Rapha- ments. I have not the remotest ‘The Man- He cut his teeth as a Liberal elite collections. idea what it’s about, but I hope member of the Wolverhampton Theodore in own his day was it’s not socialism.’ He founded a ders have Borough Council (1911–20). He known as a Liberal and a phi- dining and debating club called nobly vin- shocked the councillors, show- lanthropist. As a young man, ‘The Dabblers’. As Stephen Pon- ing a foretaste of later interests, he was active in public life in der writes: dicated when he proposed a minimum the arts and education and was wage of 23s. for all municipal one of the founding benefactors From an early age he had a themselves employees. of Mansfield College, Oxford, strong sense of social responsi- He was High Sheriff of Staf- which was the first nonconform- bility and interest in public life … we are fordshire in 1921. He again cre- ist college in the university. He … He was typical of a particular quite obvi- ated a stir when he proposed a described Henry Fowler, first sort of English radical, a man woman as his successor, Lady Viscount Wolverhampton, as of wealth and position who ously wor- Joan Legge, daughter of Lord ‘his political mentor’, chairing devoted himself to public serv- Dartmouth. The Privy Council his election committee. In June ice, supporting and proposing thy people.’ wrote to her father to inquire

28 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 last of the midland radicals whether she had the necessary Along with and rousing shocking laughter. to speak out against the dictators. property qualifications, and she No good a Chamberlain using He tabled the International Eco- was not appointed. But he did Churchill, the iron hand from Birming- nomic Sanctions (Enabling) Bill secure the selection of the first ham. Sharp as a game-cock and of 17 May 1933, which made him woman to serve on the grand Eden and as perky, Mr Mander dashes in ‘one of the first to call attention jury, Mrs Kempthorne, the wife for some more of the fight. to the German danger publicly of the Bishop of Lichfield. Sinclair, in Parliament and at the same Mander was active in the Mander His special interests in Parlia- time make definite proposals Liberal Party organisation from ment were industrial relations, for dealing with it’; supporters the early 1920s, as a member of became a on which he spoke with author- included Sir Austen Chamber- the Executive Committee of ity and sympathy as a manufac- lain. The Peace Bill of 23 May the National Liberal Federation vehement, turer through the Depression, 1935 (and subsequently) incor- and a frequent speaker at party and foreign affairs. Between porated machinery embodied assemblies. He stood unsuc- articulate the wars he became the Liberal in the Covenant of the League cessfully as a Liberal candidate critic of expert on international rela- of Nations for the settlement of for the Midland constituencies tions, peace and disarmament, international disputes. of Leominster in 1920 and then Neville and the most ardent defender of Along with Churchill, Eden Cannock and Stourbridge, and the system and Sinclair, Mander became then in 1929 he finally realised Cham- of collective security; ‘the most a vehement, articulate critic his early ambition by entering persistent speaker and ques- of ’s pol- Parliament as Liberal MP for berlain’s tioner on foreign affairs in the icy of . He later East Wolverhampton, policy of 1930s and altogether a zealot for said that it would remain ‘one He made a reputation as a the League’.7 He was one of the of the regrets of my life that parliamentarian by his skilful appease- first to foresee the consequences I did not make some sort of use of ‘awkward’ parliamentary of not taking a firm stand against speech … when Mr Chamber- questions. The journalist Percy ment. the Japanese invasion of Man- lain announced his intention Cater recorded his memories of: churia in 1931. Into a House of flying to Munich … If the of Commons debate mainly Debate had been kept up, the … the pinkly pugnacious Mr devoted to currency, commerce, spell would have been broken Mander waving above the industry and tariffs, typically … Others would have followed battle of question-time like he intruded Manchuria and put and the dangers inherent in the banner of some cause forward the League position: what was happening would have or another, accompanied by been exposed.’9 His polemic was orchestral splurges of derisive It is a test question. We have set forth in his book, We were laughter or ‘Sit down’ … one to decide whether war is to not all Wrong (1941), arguing of the hornets or gadflies who be permitted … We have that many people and parties animate the political scene, the whole of the League plus foresaw the disaster to which infuriating the stung and keep- America on the one side and errors of policy in dealing with ing the unstung in a lively state Japan on the other. [I hope ‘the Nazi menace’ in the 1930s of tension. Baldwin once said, the Council for the League would inevitably lead: in one of those shrewd epi- would] use all the moral force grams which come from him they possibly can … and if that Municheers should never again as easily as blowing the smoke were not enough use financial be allowed to control our des- from his pipe, that Mr Man- and economic pressure and, if tinies. It is too ghastly to think der would ‘tread honestly and that will not do, use pressure of the same unimaginative, conscientiously on every corn in the way of a blockade in isolationist, naïve, complacent from China to Peru.’ preventing goods from going attitude, however well meant, Mr Mander … is not pomp- into or coming out of Japan being adopted after the war. ous. A mild and benevolent … We have to take a bold and Absolute national sovereignty eye darts from sandy brows in courageous view and, without has outlived its usefulness in a face which is conspicuously using any physical force – that the world in which we now equable and good humoured. will not be necessary – mobi- live, just as has the Divine He is a good, if not a great man. lise all the different methods of Right of Kings internally. Old He is a sort of pocket edition economic, financial and moral loyalties, deep-rooted, historic of noble indignation. See him pressure which are available to and admirable, remain – It is pouncing up to ask a question. force Japan to realise that war our responsibility as it is in our There you see fire, purpose, an is not going to be permitted to power in the great adventure inextinguishable soul. break out again …8 we must lead: cannot No good a Baldwin bobbing afford to be little, she must be up and answering Mr Mander As war again threatened again in what she is – or nothing.10 briefly and completely, ‘No, sir,’ the 1930s, he was one of the first

Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 29 last of the midland radicals

When Mander spoke up in the House of Commons in support of sanctions against Italy after the invasion of Abyssinia, Mus- solini fired off a personal dia- tribe against him in his paper, the Popolo d’Italia. In 1938, in a climate of international tension, Il Duce took reprisals against the Milan branch of ‘Fratelli Man- der’ and asked customers to boy- cott their goods. He was far sighted in many of his peace campaigns. He was one of a handful of MPs who inveighed against Hitler’s terri- torial ambitions in the Ukraine in 1935. As war broke out in 1939, he pleaded the Jewish cause, telling Parliament in July that government immigration policy was leaving Jews with no escape from Germany ‘other than by illegal immigration into Pales- tine’. In April 1941, he wrote in the Jewish Standard: ‘The cause of the Jews throughout the world is the cause for which Great Brit- ain and her allies are fighting.’ During the war, when the Liberals were asked to join the government coalition under Churchill, Mander became Parliamentary Private Secre- tary (1942–45) to their leader, Sir Archibald Sinclair (later Lord Thurso), the Minister for Air.11 He lost his seat in the Labour landslide of the 1945 general election and was knighted in the same year (KB). His was a great loss to Parliament. Thurso regretted the ‘massacre’ of so many ‘able, experienced and popular’ candidates such as he.12 There was a rumour for a time of his being given a peerage, and the press proposed he be gazet- ted with the equivocal title ‘Lord Meander’, in commemora- tion of his tireless crusades and pertinacious questions, seamless diatribes and string of private member’s bills in the House. In 1948 Mander joined the Labour Party, arguing in his 1950 pamphlet, To Liberals, that it had become the logical suc- cessor of the Liberal tradition. In due course he became a Labour member of the County Council.

30 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 last of the midland radicals

To many members of a fam- week. The historic agreement, quick thinking and always ily whose traditions stretched the first of its kind in Britain, was exquisitely dressed; she was also to radical Whiggery, this was brokered and signed by Ernest ‘the last of the militant atheists’. beyond the pale. But he did say Bevin, general secretary of the Her husband, Frank, who took privately that, if he had not lost Transport and General Work- Schools on the desk beside her, his seat, he would have remained ers’ Union, in September 1932.15 was taken by ‘the exceptionally a Liberal, and most likely have ‘Bevin was very proud of sign- pretty young girl whose arrival been appointed Chief Whip of ing that agreement’, said Mander was always heralded by the tap the Liberals in parliament. later: ‘He used often to refer to of elegant shoes’. Geoffrey Mander the politi- it when were both in the House Like Geoffrey, Rosalie also cian was not quite forgotten by of Commons.’ The press wrote: entered politics, as a prospective an older generation. The first ‘In the history of industrial wel- Liberal candidate for Reading, question asked me fare, Manders may claim a high when the party was enjoying its when I followed Cousin Geof- place’, where welfare had been late 1920s revival. She was nearly frey to Trinity, Cambridge was ‘part and parcel of the outlook twenty years younger than he, ‘How are you related to that of Manders as employers almost of course, and was secretary to b***er, Geoffrey?’13 My own since the company’s foundation the Liberal MP, Edgar Gran- memories are of a fusty, Edward- in [1773]’. Mander was reported ville. Before the time came for ian patriarch, small in stature, summarising: her to face the electors, she mar- with a watch chain, who called ried Mander in the crypt of the in after church with his politi- My ancestors were very reli- House of Commons. She was cal friends like Clem Attlee. gious people. They always used eyed with suspicion as a blue- Apart from his public service in to open the day’s work with stocking in the wider family, and politics, his Liberalism is vividly prayers and lead hymn-sing- soon became known to them exemplified in his career as an ing at the end of the day. Those – who tended to pious disap- industrialist and an art patron. religious principles which col- proval of divorce and remained The family company, Mander oured their dealings with the wary of radical politics – as ‘The Brothers, was known between then small number of work- Secretary’. the wars as a model company. people were the forerunners of Rosalie never lost her interest Geoffrey Mander, as the eldest welfare principles as we know in progressive politics. However, of his generation, was chairman, them today. In the history of she went on to pursue her liter- while his cousin, Charles Arthur industrial welfare Manders ary interests as a highly regarded (the second baronet), was man- may lay claim to a great deal of biographer, lecturer and scholar, aging director. Sir Charles was pioneering work. particularly of the Shelley/God- ‘wet’ as a Tory, active in local win circle and the ‘Pre-Rap- government and Midland affairs, As an art patron and conserva- haeladies’. With her knowledge and deeply interested in every- tionist Mander’s contributions to and encouragement, Mander thing that touched the human have been his began in the 1930s to develop side of industry.14 In parliament most secure legacy. His taste was and extend the collections at Geoffrey had pushed through decisive in creating the ensem- Wightwick and they became the Joint Industrial Councils and ble we see today, improving and pioneers and authorities in the Work Councils Bills. Together deepening not only the collec- overdue reassessment of Victo- they implemented typically tions, but also the garden. rian art. They were among the progressive initiatives in indus- Mander first married, in1906 , first collectors to take a serious trial welfare, to foster peace Florence Caverhill, a Canadian interest in the art and literary in industry. These included a like his mother. His second manuscripts associated with this joint works’ council providing marriage in 1930 was to Rosa- late Romantic flowering, com- a workable system of joint con- lie Glynn Grylls (1905–88).16 ing to know the survivors and sultation (1920), a welfare club She was an early female gradu- successors of the circle of art- (1920), profit-sharing schemes ate of Oxford, elegant, intel- ists, designers and writers them- for employees, holiday schemes, lectual and talented. Elizabeth selves. They fostered links with suggestion schemes (1925), Longford was one of the last the romantic Utopian socialism works pensions (1928), a house to remember this exceptional preached by , magazine, staff pensions (1935), ‘Cornish’ girl at Lady Margaret (Left) Geoffrey and many of the radical politi- Mander at and a ‘contributory co-partner- Hall reading Modern Greats, Wightwick with cians and thinkers of the day ship scheme’ setting aside shares ‘brown eyed, dark haired, with Anthea, John visited what became a Midland for employees, with provisions teeth really like pearls … who and Rosalie (at political fortress. In 1947, Man- to pay for shares by instalments. went on from strength to typewriter), c. der intervened to save William Most notably, Manders was strength’. She described her as 1948; Wightwick Morris’s Red House, at Bexley Manor; Wightwick the first company in the coun- amusing and amused, full of – postcard from in , offering to present it to try to introduce the forty-hour anecdotes, a vivacious speaker, Geoffrey, 1932. the for the nation

Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07 31 last of the midland radicals if a body such as the Trades’ ‘There was with an endless stream of ques- 6 Wightwick Manor, National Trust Union Congress could be per- tions in the House of Com- guide (1993). mons, to the irritation of his 7 R. A. C. Parker, Chamberlain and suaded to take it as their head- never a Appeasement (1993), pp. 40, 52, 54. 17 quarters building. opponents and the admiration 8 259 HC Debs, cols. 1189, 45, 60, 201– In December 1937 the future more self- of his friends. 02; Parker, pp. 40–41. of Mander’s own house at In all the developments 9 Geoffrey Mander, We were not all Wightwick, with its collec- less poli- leading up to the establish- Wrong (1941), pp. 87–89. tion, was finally secured when ment of the United Nations 10 Ibid., p. 118. tician … 11 Archibald Sinclair (1890–1970), first he presented it to the National and throughout the years that Viscount Thurso (1951). Trust, with an endowment of Perhaps he followed, his staunchness 12 G. J. de Groot, Liberal Crusader: The 20,000 Manders shares. He was and energy in the struggle for Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair (1993), encouraged by the Trevelyans should not peace never flagged. It was the p. 227. (‘of another Liberal and eccen- greatest of pities that he was 13 The answer, like a four-move chess be thought problem, is that I am his first and tric family’, wrote Rosalie, who without a seat in either House second cousin, twice removed. gave their house Wallington to of as a pol- during the post-war years. But 14 He was president of the local Con- the Trust shortly afterwards) whether in his own Midlands servative Party association for many and Professor W. G. Constable.18 itician at or in the national and interna- years, but resigned in 1946 when tional politics he continued to he came out publicly in agreement Rosalie Mander wrote: ‘He with Labour Party housing policy. never regretted it, for he liked all, for all find ways of rendering service He was involved with a number of to think that the public should that counted. ‘liberal’ causes; for example, as vice enjoy what had been his pri- his love of chairman of the National Savings vate property.’19 He delighted the House Committee, working closely with Nicholas Mander is first cousin twice the Liberal peers, Lords Mottistone in showing visitors round the and Kindersley. house, and insisted on keeping of Com- removed of Geoffrey Mander. He 15 The agreement is quoted verbatim no quarters barred from pub- was co-founder of Mander Port- in The History of . lic view, his dressing room and mons and man Woodward, a group of tutorial See also Mander Brothers Ltd., An bathroom included. schools in London. He has recently Account of the Internal Organisation of the politi- published Varnished Leaves, a the Business of Mander Brothers, Ltd., Mander had installed a squash Wolverhampton, In its relationship to biography of the Mander Family of court in 1928 and continued cal life. the Employee (Approved by the Joint to play tennis until just shortly Wolverhampton 1750–1950. He lives Works Committee), 1925, revised 1934, before he died, aged nearly He was at Manor in the , 1939. eighty, in 1962. Lord Longford a romantic Tudor house open to the 16 See obituaries in (4 Nov. supremely public with Arts and Crafts associa- 1988); The Daily Telegraph (in part by (then Frank Pakenham) wrote Elizabeth Longford, 4 Nov. 1988); tions. He is an FSA and the fourth in his Times obituary that he was a man of and Martin Drury (National Trust an ‘issue man’: Mander baronet. Magazine, Summer 1989). causes.’ 17 The National Trust turned down There was never a more selfless 1 The fullest account is a booklet life, the offer, as they doubted a tenant prepared by his widow mainly for could be found in such a rum area politician … Perhaps he should sale at Wightwick: R. G. G. Man- (see Jane Marsh, William Morris and not be thought of as a politi- der, Geoffrey le Mesurier Mander (1882– Red House, 2006, and the National cian at all, for all his love of the 1962), Donor of the House (Oxford, Trust archives in Swindon). House of Commons and the n.d.). He left an autobiographical 18 Director of the Courtauld Institute, political life. He was supremely fragment (1924–57) in the National London, and Slade Professor of Fine Liberal Association archives at Bris- Art at Cambridge. Another kindred a man of causes. Abyssinia, tol University Library (DM668). spirit in the League of Nations, Czechoslovakia, anti-Fas- 2 For an account, see Geoffrey Man- connected (distantly) by marriage cism, Collective Security – he der (ed.), The History of Mander through the Turnbull family, was preached them indefatigably Brothers (1955) and the author’s own Roger, ninth Lord Stamford; the and inflexibly, though with Varnished Leaves: A Biography of tenth Earl presented Dunham Mas- the Mander family of Wolverhampton sey to the National Trust in 1976. unfailing good humour, and (2004) – with bibliography. 19 M. Waterson (ed.) The Country what he preached he practised. 3 Now and Then (1848). House Remembered (1985). He was the most modest 4 , To my Son – in Con- of men and would have dis- fidence (Faber, 1934). Lionel (‘Miles’) claimed the slightest compari- and his brother Alan both mar- ried daughters of the Maharajah of son with Lord Cecil; yet even Cooch Behar (see Sunitee Devee, Lord Cecil did not embody Maharani of Cooch Behar, The more completely the idealism Autobiography of an Indian Princess See page 2 for more details of the League of Nations and all (1921), pp. 43, 203–04). of Varnished Leaves, the 5 Patricia Pegg (ed.), A Very Private it stood for. His horror of the biography of the Mander family Heritage: The Family Papers of Sam- whole policy of appeasement of Wolverhampton, 1750–1950, uel Theodore Mander of Wolverhamp- written by Charles Nicholas culminating in Munich led ton, 1853–1900 (Malvern, Images Mander. him to harry the government ­Publishing, 1996).

32 Journal of Liberal History 53 Winter 2006–07