Eric Macfadyen
Encyclopedia
Sir Eric Macfadyen was an English
colonial administrator, rubber
planter
, businessman and developer of tropical agriculture
. He was also Liberal
Member of Parliament for Devizes
in Wiltshire
from 1923-1924.
the son of the Reverend John Macfadyen, a Congregationalist minister and his wife Elizabeth (née Anderson) who came from Greenock
. Macfadyen attended Lynams Preparatory School
, also called the Dragon School
in Oxford
from where he won a scholarship
to go to Clifton College
, Bristol
. He later attended Wadham College, Oxford
where he was president of the Union
in 1902. In 1920, Macfadyen married Violet Lucy Stanley, daughter of E. H. S. Champneys, of Sellindge
, Kent
. They had three sons and three daughters.
in the 59th Company, the Imperial Yeomanry
to serve in the Second Boer War
in 1900–01. He was seriously wounded in an accident which left him with a damaged left eyelid, after which he always wore a monocle
. As a result of his injuries he was invalided out of the army with the Queen's South Africa Medal
and three clasps. During the First World War, he enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery
and served in France in 1917–18, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. In World War Two he served in the 21st Battalion of the Home Guard and achieved the rank of Captain.
, and the award of an MA degree, Macfadyen entered the Malayan civil service
and served for three years from 1902-1905.
between 1911-1916 and again from 1919-1920. In 1931 and 1941 he served as President of the Association of British Malaya.
and the modernisation and efficiency of plantation management. Macfadyen was a member of the governing body of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad
, which later became a constituent college of the University of the West Indies
, becoming its chairman in 1937. He was knighted in 1943 for services to tropical agriculture. He also served as Chairman of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases
, Putney Heath from 1946-1958 and was particularly connected to its work to combat malaria
.
and other aspects of the creation of open, landscaped town planning. He was sometime Vice-Chairman and later Chairman of First Garden City Ltd, the company formed in 1903 to acquire the land for the building of Letchworth
in Hertfordshire
. He was active in the work of the Town and Country Planning Association
, holding a number of offices in the Association including Hon. Treasurer (1950) and Chairman of the Council (1951-1956).
newspaper as a Liberal
of the old school. He was Liberal candidate for Devizes at the 1923 general election
winning the seat from the sitting Conservative
MP, William Cory Heward Bell, albeit by the narrow majority of 628 votes. He defended the seat at the 1924 general election
but was swept away by the Conservative revival which was particularly strong in the rural constituencies. At the 1924 election, the Liberal Party lost all its agricultural seats in England and was reduced, overall, to just 40 Parliamentary seats. Macfadyen tried to regain his seat at the 1929 general election
, this time in a three-cornered contest with the Tories and Labour
but trailed the Conservative winner by 1,251 votes. He did not stand for Parliament again.
He also served as a Justice of the Peace
.
near Tonbridge
in Kent on 13 July 1966 aged 87 years.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
colonial administrator, rubber
Rubber
Natural rubber, also called India rubber or caoutchouc, is an elastomer that was originally derived from latex, a milky colloid produced by some plants. The plants would be ‘tapped’, that is, an incision made into the bark of the tree and the sticky, milk colored latex sap collected and refined...
planter
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
, businessman and developer of tropical agriculture
Tropical agriculture
Worldwide more human beings gain their livelihood from agriculture than any other endeavor; the majority are self-employed subsistence farmers living in the tropics...
. He was also Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Member of Parliament for Devizes
Devizes (UK Parliament constituency)
Devizes is a parliamentary constituency in Wiltshire, England, which is now represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and before 1707 in the House of Commons of England....
in Wiltshire
Wiltshire
Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
from 1923-1924.
Family and education
Eric Macfadyen was born in Whalley Range, ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
the son of the Reverend John Macfadyen, a Congregationalist minister and his wife Elizabeth (née Anderson) who came from Greenock
Greenock
Greenock is a town and administrative centre in the Inverclyde council area in United Kingdom, and a former burgh within the historic county of Renfrewshire, located in the west central Lowlands of Scotland...
. Macfadyen attended Lynams Preparatory School
Preparatory school (UK)
In English language usage in the former British Empire, the present-day Commonwealth, a preparatory school is an independent school preparing children up to the age of eleven or thirteen for entry into fee-paying, secondary independent schools, some of which are known as public schools...
, also called the Dragon School
Dragon School
The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils...
in Oxford
Oxford
The city of Oxford is the county town of Oxfordshire, England. The city, made prominent by its medieval university, has a population of just under 165,000, with 153,900 living within the district boundary. It lies about 50 miles north-west of London. The rivers Cherwell and Thames run through...
from where he won a scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
to go to Clifton College
Clifton College
Clifton College is a co-educational independent school in Clifton, Bristol, England, founded in 1862. In its early years it was notable for emphasising science in the curriculum, and for being less concerned with social elitism, e.g. by admitting day-boys on equal terms and providing a dedicated...
, Bristol
Bristol
Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...
. He later attended Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College, Oxford
Wadham College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, located at the southern end of Parks Road in central Oxford. It was founded by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, wealthy Somerset landowners, during the reign of King James I...
where he was president of the Union
Oxford Union
The Oxford Union Society, commonly referred to simply as the Oxford Union, is a debating society in the city of Oxford, Britain, whose membership is drawn primarily but not exclusively from the University of Oxford...
in 1902. In 1920, Macfadyen married Violet Lucy Stanley, daughter of E. H. S. Champneys, of Sellindge
Sellindge
Sellindge is a civil parish and village on the A20 road between Ashford and Folkestone in Kent, South East England. Sellindge is part of North Downs West Ward of Shepway District Council but part of the Elham ward of Kent County Council....
, Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. They had three sons and three daughters.
Soldier
Macfadyen interrupted his university studies to volunteer as a trooperTrooper (rank)
Trooper from the French "troupier" is the equivalent rank to private in a regiment with a cavalry tradition in the British Army and many other Commonwealth armies, including those of Australia, Canada, South Africa and New Zealand. Today, most cavalry units operate in the armoured role, equipped...
in the 59th Company, the Imperial Yeomanry
Imperial Yeomanry
The Imperial Yeomanry was a British volunteer cavalry regiment that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Officially created on 24 December 1899, the regiment was based on members of standing Yeomanry regiments, but also contained a large contingent of mid-upper class English volunteers. In...
to serve in the Second Boer War
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War was fought from 11 October 1899 until 31 May 1902 between the British Empire and the Afrikaans-speaking Dutch settlers of two independent Boer republics, the South African Republic and the Orange Free State...
in 1900–01. He was seriously wounded in an accident which left him with a damaged left eyelid, after which he always wore a monocle
Monocle
A monocle is a type of corrective lens used to correct or enhance the vision in only one eye. It consists of a circular lens, generally with a wire ring around the circumference that can be attached to a string. The other end of the string is then connected to the wearer's clothing to avoid losing...
. As a result of his injuries he was invalided out of the army with the Queen's South Africa Medal
Queen's South Africa Medal
The Queen's South Africa Medal was awarded to military personnel who served in the Boer War in South Africa between 11 October 1899 and 31 May 1902. Units from the British Army, Royal Navy, colonial forces who took part , civilians employed in official capacity and war correspondents...
and three clasps. During the First World War, he enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery
Royal Horse Artillery
The regiments of the Royal Horse Artillery , dating from 1793, are part of the Royal Regiment of Artillery of the British Army...
and served in France in 1917–18, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. In World War Two he served in the 21st Battalion of the Home Guard and achieved the rank of Captain.
Colonial administrator
After graduating from Oxford with a second in GreatsLiterae Humaniores
Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...
, and the award of an MA degree, Macfadyen entered the Malayan civil service
British Malaya
British Malaya loosely described a set of states on the Malay Peninsula and the Island of Singapore that were brought under British control between the 18th and the 20th centuries...
and served for three years from 1902-1905.
Planting
Macfadyen then went into a partnership obtaining public tenders for road construction to open up new land for agriculture. From there he went into planting and developed significant interests in plantations and the rubber industry which he expanded over the years becoming chairman and director of numerous related companies. He helped establish the United Planters Association and was sometime Chairman of the Planters Association of Malaya. He was Chairman of the Rubber Growers’ Association in 1927 and sometime President of the Institution of the Rubber Industry. He was a member of the First Federal Council of the Federated Malay StatesFederated Malay States
The Federated Malay States was a federation of four protected states in the Malay Peninsula—Selangor, Perak, Negeri Sembilan and Pahang—established by the British government in 1895, which lasted until 1946, when they, together with the Straits Settlements and the Unfederated Malay...
between 1911-1916 and again from 1919-1920. In 1931 and 1941 he served as President of the Association of British Malaya.
Tropical agriculture and disease
From the 1920s onwards Macfadyen became more involved in supporting scientific research into tropical agricultureTropical agriculture
Worldwide more human beings gain their livelihood from agriculture than any other endeavor; the majority are self-employed subsistence farmers living in the tropics...
and the modernisation and efficiency of plantation management. Macfadyen was a member of the governing body of the Imperial College of Tropical Agriculture, Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
, which later became a constituent college of the University of the West Indies
University of the West Indies
The University of the West Indies , is an autonomous regional institution supported by and serving 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Dominica,...
, becoming its chairman in 1937. He was knighted in 1943 for services to tropical agriculture. He also served as Chairman of the Ross Institute and Hospital for Tropical Diseases
Tropical disease
Tropical diseases are diseases that are prevalent in or unique to tropical and subtropical regions. The diseases are less prevalent in temperate climates, due in part to the occurrence of a cold season, which controls the insect population by forcing hibernation. Insects such as mosquitoes and...
, Putney Heath from 1946-1958 and was particularly connected to its work to combat malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
.
Garden Cities
Macfadyen also took an interest in the building of Garden CitiesGarden Cities
Garden Cities may refer to:* Cities designed using principles of the garden city movement* Sustainable Ecocities that are an alternative to urban sprawl* Retrofitted or new Pedestrian Villages utilizing the principles of New Pedestrianism...
and other aspects of the creation of open, landscaped town planning. He was sometime Vice-Chairman and later Chairman of First Garden City Ltd, the company formed in 1903 to acquire the land for the building of Letchworth
Letchworth
Letchworth Garden City, commonly known as Letchworth, is a town and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The town's name is taken from one of the three villages it surrounded - all of which featured in the Domesday Book. The land used was first purchased by Quakers who had intended to farm the...
in Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire
Hertfordshire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England. The county town is Hertford.The county is one of the Home Counties and lies inland, bordered by Greater London , Buckinghamshire , Bedfordshire , Cambridgeshire and...
. He was active in the work of the Town and Country Planning Association
Town and Country Planning Association
The Town and Country Planning Association is England's oldest environmental charity. It was founded as the Garden Cities Association in 1899 by Ebenezer Howard, initially to promote the development of Garden Cities...
, holding a number of offices in the Association including Hon. Treasurer (1950) and Chairman of the Council (1951-1956).
Politics
Macfadyen was described in his obituary in The TimesThe Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
newspaper as a Liberal
Classical liberalism
Classical liberalism is the philosophy committed to the ideal of limited government, constitutionalism, rule of law, due process, and liberty of individuals including freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and free markets....
of the old school. He was Liberal candidate for Devizes at the 1923 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
winning the seat from the sitting Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
MP, William Cory Heward Bell, albeit by the narrow majority of 628 votes. He defended the seat at the 1924 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
but was swept away by the Conservative revival which was particularly strong in the rural constituencies. At the 1924 election, the Liberal Party lost all its agricultural seats in England and was reduced, overall, to just 40 Parliamentary seats. Macfadyen tried to regain his seat at the 1929 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
, this time in a three-cornered contest with the Tories and Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
but trailed the Conservative winner by 1,251 votes. He did not stand for Parliament again.
He also served as a Justice of the Peace
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
.
Death
Macfadyen died at his home in HildenboroughHildenborough
Hildenborough is a village and rural parish in the District of Tonbridge and Malling, Kent. It is two miles north-west of Tonbridge and five miles south-east of Sevenoaks...
near Tonbridge
Tonbridge
Tonbridge is a market town in the English county of Kent, with a population of 30,340 in 2007. It is located on the River Medway, approximately 4 miles north of Tunbridge Wells, 12 miles south west of Maidstone and 29 miles south east of London...
in Kent on 13 July 1966 aged 87 years.