Robert Bernays
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Hamilton Bernays (6 May 1902 – 23 January 1945) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom.
He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Bristol North at the 1931 general election, defeating the Labour MP Walter Ayles. When the Liberal Party left Ramsay MacDonald's National Government in November 1933, Bernays remained on the government benches, with the National Liberal Party MPs. He was re-elected at the 1935 general election as a Liberal, and joined the National Liberals in 1936.
When Neville Chamberlain succeeded Stanley Baldwin as Prime Minister in May 1937, Bernays was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the National Government. He moved in 1939 to become Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport, and held that post until he left government when Winston Churchill took over as Prime Minister in May 1940.
He was also a very close friend of the writer and National Labour M.P. Harold Nicolson - and appears frequently in the later's diaries. This has lead to suggestions that they were actually involved in a discreet homosexual relationship.
When Bernays died in a plane crash in January 1945, no by-election was called, and the Bristol North seat remained vacant until the 1945 general election, when it was won by the Labour candidate William Coldrick.
[edit] References
- Craig, F. W. S. [1969] (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, 3rd edition, Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
- This page incorporates information from Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Walter Ayles |
Member of Parliament for Bristol North 1931–1945 |
Succeeded by William Coldrick |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by Robert Hudson |
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health 1937–1939 |
Succeeded by Florence Horsbrugh |
| Preceded by Austin Hudson |
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Transport 1939–1940 |
Succeeded by Frederick Montague |
 |
This article about a Liberal Member of the Parliament of the United Kingdom is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
