Frank Walter Raffety

Frank Walter Raffety OBE (1875 – 8 September 1946) was a British barrister and Liberal Party politician.

He was the son of Charles Walter Raffety, of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire and attended the Royal Grammar School, High Wycombe.[1] In 1898 he was called to the bar at the Middle Temple, and practised on the Northern Circuit.[2]

He developed an interest in politics, and became honorary secretary of the Social and Political Education League. The organisation was established to provide political education to the general public, and in particular to promote moderation over revolution.[2][3] He was also an active member of the Eighty Club, an educational group within the Liberal Party.[2][4]

He was selected as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for Stamford for a general election expected to take place in 1915.[5]

He unsuccessfully contested the Lewisham West by-election in September 1921;

Lewisham West by-election, 1921
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Philip Dawson 9,427 38.9 n/a
Anti-Waste League Walter George Windham 8,580 35.4 n/a
Liberal Frank Raffety 6,211 25.6 n/a
Majority 847 3.5 n/a
Turnout 24,218 59.2 n/a
Unionist hold Swing n/a

In March of the following year he was elected to the London County Council, as a (Liberal-backed) Progressive Party councillor for Islington West;[6]

1922 London County Council election: Islington West[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Progressive Henry Mills 5,903 33.6
Progressive Frank Raffety 5,746 32.7
Labour P.H. Black 3,013 17.2
Labour G. Davison 2,894 16.5
Majority 2,733 15.5
Progressive hold Swing

At the general election in November 1922 he failed to win Bristol West;

General election 1922: Bristol West
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist George Gibbs 18,124 62.0 n/a
Liberal Frank Raffety 11,100 38.0 n/a
Majority 7,024 24.0 n/a
Unionist hold Swing n/a

A further general election was held in 1923, and Raffety was elected Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Bath;

General election 1923: Bath
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Frank Raffety 13,694 51.6 +19.6
Unionist Charles Foxcroft 12,830 48.4 -1.8
Majority 864 3.2 21.4
Turnout 79.1 -3.3
Liberal gain from Unionist Swing +10.7

His membership of the Commons was brief, as he was defeated when a further general election was called in 1924;

General election 1924: Bath
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Charles Foxcroft 16,067 55.8 +7.4
Liberal Frank Raffety 8,800 30.6 -21.0
Labour Walter Barton Scobell 3,914 13.6 +13.6
Majority 7,267 25.2 28.4
Turnout 84.5 +5.4
Unionist gain from Liberal Swing +14.2

He again stood as a Liberal candidate at Cheltenham in 1929;

General election 1929: Cheltenham
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Walter Preston 15,279 53.2 +3.7
Liberal Frank Raffety 8,533 29.7 -2.0
Labour William Ramsey Piggott 4,920 17.1 -1.7
Majority 6,746 23.5 +5.7
Turnout 79.8 -0.5
Unionist hold Swing +2.8

and East Dorset in 1935, but failed to be elected;[2]

General election 1935: Dorset East
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Gordon Hall Caine 25,520 53.5 +9.0
Liberal Frank Raffety 11,349 23.8 -16.6
Labour Edward Joseph Stocker 10,823 22.7 +14.6
Majority 14,171 29.7 +25.6
Turnout 47,692 74.4
Conservative hold Swing +12.8

Raffety remained active in Liberal party politics, as a speaker. He became the Chairman of the Industrial Co-Partnership Association. In 1943 he was granted the freedom of the borough of High Wycombe, of which he had been honorary recorder since 1905.[2] In 1945 he was made an Officer of the Order of British Empire.[2]

He died at his home in Bramley, Surrey in August 1946, aged 71.[2]

References

  1. ↑ School Records: http://www.rgs.tonyhare.co.uk/Wycombiensian/1939%20September.pdf
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Obituary: Mr F W Raffety, The Times, 11 September 1946, p.7
  3. ↑ Deborah Wormell, Sir John Seeley and the Uses of History, Cambridge, 1980
  4. ↑ "Eighty Club". Database of Archives of Non-Governmental Organisations. University of Birmingham. 2007. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  5. ↑ Grantham Journal, Lincolnshire Mar 1914
  6. ↑ LCC Elections, The Times, 3 March 1922, p.12
  7. ↑ London Municipal Notes - Volumes 18-23, London Municipal Society
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