Henry Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe

(Redirected from Henry Betterton)

Henry Bucknall Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe, GBE, PC (15 August 1872 – 18 November 1949), known as Sir Henry Betterton, Bt, between 1929 and 1935, was a British barrister and Conservative politician. He served as Minister of Labour under Ramsay MacDonald between 1931 and 1934.

The Lord Rushcliffe
Minister of Labour
In office
25 August 1931 – 29 June 1934
MonarchGeorge V
Prime MinisterRamsay MacDonald
Preceded byMargaret Bondfield
Succeeded byHon. Oliver Stanley
Personal details
Born15 August 1872
Died18 November 1949 (aged 77)
NationalityBritish
Political partyConservative
Spouse(s)(1) Violet Gilliat (d. 1947)
(2) Inez Lubbock (d. 1955)
Alma materChrist Church, Oxford

Background and education

edit

Betterton was the son of Henry Inman Betterton, of Woodville, Leicestershire, and Agnes, daughter of Samuel Bucknall. He was educated at Rugby and Christ Church, Oxford, and was called to the Bar, Inner Temple, in 1896.[1] He practiced for some years at the Chancery Bar.

Political career

edit
 
Henry Betterton 1929

Betterton was elected Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe in Nottingham in 1918.[1][2] He served under Stanley Baldwin as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour between 1923 and 1924 and again between 1924 and 1929.[1] When the National Government was formed in 1931 he was sworn of the Privy Council[3] and made Minister of Labour under Ramsay MacDonald,[4] a post he held until 1934,[1] when he left the House of Commons after appointment as the chair of the Unemployment Assistance Board.[5]

Betterton was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1918[6] and a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1920.[7] He was made a Baronet, of Blackfordby in the County of Leicester,[8] in 1929 and raised to the peerage as Baron Rushcliffe, of Blackfordby in the County of Leicester, in 1935.[9] In 1941 he was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.[10]

He chaired the Nurses Salaries Committee which was established in October 1941.[11]

Family

edit

Lord Rushcliffe was twice married. He married firstly Violet, daughter of J. G. Gilliat, in 1912. They had two daughters. After her death in October 1947 he married secondly Inez Alfreda, daughter of Alfred Lubbock and widow of Sir Harold Edward Snagge, in 1948. Rushcliffe died in November 1949, aged 77, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct. His second wife died in May 1955.[1]

Arms

edit
Coat of arms of Henry Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe
 
 
Notes
Granted livery badge: A cinquefoil slipped ermine between two ears of wheat in saltire proper enfiled by a circlet Or.
Crest
Between the attires of a stag Or a pheon Sable.
Escutcheon
Argent three pheons Sable on a chief Gules a portcullis chained Or between two cinquefoils ermine.
Motto
Constantia Et Labore[12]

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e "Henry Bucknall Betterton, 1st and last Baron Rushcliffe". Thepeerage.com. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  2. ^ "House of Commons: Rochester to Ryedale". Leighrayment.com. Archived from the original on 19 December 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. ^ "No. 33770". The London Gazette. 10 November 1931. p. 7239.
  4. ^ "No. 33748". The London Gazette. 28 August 1931. p. 5617.
  5. ^ "No. 34067". The London Gazette. 6 July 1934. p. 4334.
  6. ^ "No. 30460". The London Gazette. 4 January 1918. p. 374.
  7. ^ "No. 31840". The London Gazette. 26 March 1920. p. 3761.
  8. ^ "No. 33523". The London Gazette. 6 August 1929. p. 5144.
  9. ^ "No. 34128". The London Gazette. 29 January 1935. p. 693.
  10. ^ "Issue 35184 page 3286". The London Gazette. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
  11. ^ Abel-Smith, Brian (1960). A History of the Nursing Profession. London: Heinemann. p. 167.
  12. ^ "Grant of Arms: Sir Henry Bucknall Betterton Bt 1929". Heraldry Online. Retrieved 11 August 2019.
edit
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Rushcliffe
19181934
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour
1923–1924
Succeeded by
Preceded by Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Labour
1924–1929
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Labour
1931–1934
Succeeded by
Baronetage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baronet
(of Blackfordby)
1929–1949
Extinct
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Rushcliffe
1935–1949
Extinct