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Harry Gilpin

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edmund Henry Gilpin (4 February 1876 – 24 July 1950), known as Harry Gilpin, was a British politician and company director.

Life

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Gilpin's Quaker parents were Margaret (born Binns) and Edmund Octavius Gilpin. His family had several notable members. His elder sister, Eva Gilpin, was an educationalist who founded a novel school. He was given a Quaker education at Ackworth School where there was learning tracts and the art classes concentrated on the means of production.[1]

In 1891 he went to work in the warehouse of Joseph Baker. He was rapidly promoted in the company, becoming a director in 1913.[2] He served with Red Cross during the First World War,[2] resigning from the Quakers because he supported the war.[3]

In 1920, Gilpin led the merger of the company to form Baker Perkins Ltd.[3] He also became active in the Liberal Party, standing unsuccessfully for the party in Finsbury at the 1922 general election.[3] Although he never stood for Parliament again, he remained politically active, taking part in the Liberal Industrial Inquiry, and later serving on a committee of the Board of Trade.[2]

From 1943 until 1946, Gilpin was the Chairman of the Liberal Party, a period which included the party's poor result at the 1945 general election.[2] Gilpin was knighted in 1949, and died the following year.[3]

References

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  1. ^ Matthew, H. C. G.; Harrison, B., eds. (23 September 2004), "The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography", The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp. ref:odnb/71922, doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/71922, retrieved 18 February 2023
  2. ^ a b c d Rubber Journal, Vol. 119 (1950), p. 173
  3. ^ a b c d The letters of Arnold Stephenson Rowntree to Mary Katherine Rowntree, 1910–1918, p. 134