| The Right Honourable The Lord Marks CBE |
|
|---|---|
| Member of Parliament for North Cornwall |
|
| Preceded by | New Constituency |
| Succeeded by | Alfred Martyn Williams |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 9 June 1858 Eltham, Kent |
| Died | 24 September 1938 (aged 80) Poole, Dorset |
| Nationality | English |
| Political party | Liberal/Labour |
| Spouse(s) | Margaret Maynard |
| Alma mater | King's College London |
| Occupation | Civil engineer |
George Croydon Marks, 1st Baron Marks (9 June 1858 - 24 September 1938), known as Sir George Marks between 1911 and 1929, was an English engineer, patent agent and Liberal (later Labour) politician.[1]
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Marks was born in Eltham in Kent, the eldest of eight children of William Marks and Amelia Adelaide Croydon,[2] where only four survived childhood. One of the first Whitworth Scholars,[3] he was educated at a private day-school in Eltham and at the Royal Arsenal School; his father William Marks had worked at the Royal Arsenal in Woolwich. He completed his education at King's College London.[3]
Noted by many as a disciple of Brunel, he joined Sir Richard Tangye's company, whose works were closely associated with funicular lifts. Marks was appointed head of the lift department, in which role he was in charge of the installation of the Saltburn Cliff Lift.[3] 1880, he set up a private practice in Birmingham and married Margaret Maynard;[3] they never had any children. In 1887 he formed a partnership with Dugald Clerk, forming the international intellectual property firm Marks & Clerk,[4] which now operates in 18 countries worldwide.[5] The firm became big enough to move its headquarters to London in 1893, with branches in Birmingham and Manchester. Developing a number of cliff railways and steep-incline tramcar systems, commissions included the design of the new Gothic pavilion at the Royal Pier, Aberystwyth.
Marks continued his engineering practise alongside his patent interests. This included a partnership from 1890 with Sir George Newnes, which also concentrated on cliff railways, including an early stage development of Babbacombe Cliff Railway.[3] In 1911 he set up an office in New York in conjunction with Thomas Edison.[3]
Marks was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and an Associate Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers.[6]
In 1906, Marks was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for the North-Eastern or Launceston Division of Cornwall in the Liberal landslide general election victory.[7] He received a knighthood in 1911, served at the Ministry of Munitions during the First World War, and was awarded the CBE for work as a commissioner for the dilution of labour. He held his Parliamentary seat until it was abolished at the 1918 general election, when he was returned for the new Northern Division of Cornwall. He held that seat until his defeat at the 1924 general election.[8]
In 1929, he left the Liberals and joined Ramsay Macdonald's Labour Party. His almost immediate reward came when he was raised to the peerage as Baron Marks, of Woolwich in the County of Kent,[9] becoming one of the first two Labour peers to be created.[10]
Marks continued his engineering and business activities and died at his home in Poole, Dorset in September 1938, aged 80. As he had no children, his peerage died with him.
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by John Fletcher Moulton |
Member of Parliament for Launceston 1906–1918 |
Constituency abolished |
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for North Cornwall 1918–1924 |
Succeeded by Alfred Martyn Williams |
| Peerage of the United Kingdom | ||
| New creation | Baron Marks 1929–1938 |
Extinct |