Prime Minister Winston Churchill Spouse Lilian Williams (m. 1917) Preceded by Sir Donald Somervell Role British Politician | Name James Ede | |
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Succeeded by Harry Crookshank, 1st Viscount Crookshank | ||
James Chuter Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede, (11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965) was a British teacher, trade unionist and Labour politician. He served as Home Secretary under Prime Minister Clement Attlee from 1945 to 1951, becoming the longest-serving Home Secretary of the 20th century.
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Early life
Chuter Ede was born in Epsom, Surrey, the son of James Ede, a shopkeeper of Unitarian religious convictions, and his wife Agnes Mary (née Chuter). He was educated at Epsom National School, Dorking High School, Battersea P. T. Centre, Battersea, and Christ's College, Cambridge, and worked as a teacher (1905–1914). During the First World War he served in the East Surrey Regiment and Royal Engineers, reaching the rank of Acting Regimental Sergeant Major. After the war he was active within the National Union of Teachers.
Political career
He was a member between 1920 and 1927 of Epsom Urban District Council and Surrey County Council and was charter mayor of Epsom and Ewell in 1937.
After fighting Epsom in 1918, he was first elected to the House of Commons as Member of Parliament (MP) for Mitcham, at a by-election in March 1923. However, he lost the seat in December at the 1923 general election. He returned to Parliament at the 1929 general election, for the Tyneside seat of South Shields, but was defeated again at the 1931 election. He was re-elected at the 1935 general election, and held the seat until his retirement from the Commons at the 1964 general election.
In the wartime coalition he held junior ministerial office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education. He was Home Secretary in the 1945 Labour government of Clement Attlee, concurrently, and Leader of the House of Commons in 1951. He was closely involved in the drafting of the Butler Education Act and the Criminal Justice Act 1948, and established the Lynskey tribunal under Sir George Lynskey in 1948 to investigate allegation of corruption among ministers and civil servants. In 1964 he left the Commons and was created a life peer as Baron Chuter-Ede, of Epsom in the County of Surrey.
Family
Chuter Ede married Lilian Mary, daughter of Richard Williams, in 1917. She died in 1948. Lord Chuter-Ede survived her by 17 years and died at Ewell, Surrey, in November 1965, aged 83. Chuter Ede Education Centre in South Shields is named after him. It was formerly a comprehensive school.