F. W. S. Craig
Encyclopedia
Frederick Walter Scott Craig (10 December 1929 – 23 March 1989) was a Scottish
psephologist
and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations
, compiling election results in his spare time which were published by the Scottish Unionist Party. In the late 1960s he launched his own business as a publisher of reference books, and also compiled various other statistics concerning British politics.
Craig also had a political career of his own, initially as an election agent
and then as a candidate. Efforts to get elected in his native Glasgow
being unsuccessful, after he moved to Chichester
in 1970 he was first elected to the District Council
and later to West Sussex
County Council. However he fell out with a faction in the local Conservative Party
and launched a rebel group which led to his expulsion. Late in his life he suffered severe depression and he took his own life.
. He became interested in election statistics while still at school. He was active in the Scottish Unionist Party Association, and in 1954 began to contribute the 'Scottish Parliamentary Election Manual' of election results to the Yearbook for Scotland, which the party published. Craig was unhappy with existing sources for election statistics and undertook research himself to correct the vote figures and discover the source of independent candidates, and his election manual became highly respected.
in Glasgow Scotstoun
in the 1955 general election
and for the Unionist parliamentary candidate in Rutherglen
in 1964. He twice fought for election to the Glasgow City Corporation
in the mid-1960s. His first attempt was in May 1966 when he came forward as an Independent
Conservative candidate against the 'Progressive Party', a local alliance between Conservatives and Liberals
which controlled the council, in Kelvinside
ward. Craig offered to withdraw if the Progressive councillor would repudiate that party's policy on council house rents, and to sit as a Conservative if the party split up; the offer was rejected.
In September 1967 Craig was selected as official Conservative candidate for Gorbals
ward in a byelection; he was one of seven candidates and attempted to stand out by distributing on the eve of poll 5,000 'wage packets' containing an appeal to vote for him. However Craig came third in the poll.
, and he compiled a card index to all elections from 1918 onwards. In 1966 he had completed a manuscript of a reference book on statistics about elections since 1918, which was intended to be published in two volumes of 700 pages each to be part-funded by the Institute of Electoral Research; the calling of a general election
annoyed him because he would have to add the statistics from it to the book. Craig took a decisive step in 1968 when he was paid off from his public relations job and set up Political Reference Publications, in order to publish his work. The first book to be published was British Parliamentary Election Statistics 1918-1966 which summarised the results of every general election as well as giving a wealth of other information. Critical reception was very positive and Craig always considered it his favourite book. It has continued to be updated, under the title British Electoral Facts.
His series of British Parliamentary Election Results began to appear the next year with the volume for 1918-1949. The series has been completed to run from the Reform Act
of 1832 to date. Craig also started the Political Companion, a quarterly update, which ran from 1969 to 1983. His work was a family affair with his wife Phyllis helping with the production and administration, and his daughters undertaking the proofreading. Craig pioneered the use of technology and put the source data onto computer readable tape; the distinctive clear layout of his books was a result of his use of early computer typesetting
.
in West Sussex
and established another company, Parliamentary Research Services, which eventually took over all his activities. His public relations background led to new lines of business including compilation of activities of Members of Parliament from votes in the House of Commons.He was part of the BBC
team, albeit behind the camera, on their programme covering the 1970 general election; in 1972 he was asked to help by both the BBC and ITV
, and decided to transfer to commercial television. In 1973 he was elected to Chichester District Council, but with the pressure of work caused by the two elections of 1974 he resigned his seat. When the candidate selected to replace him dropped out, Craig found that his busy period was over and was himself nominated to fight the by-election caused by his own resignation.
Craig was a leading member of Chichester Concern, a group set up to oppose a pedestrianisation precinct in the centre of the city. He arranged for John Tyme, a lecturer in Environmental Studies at Sheffield Polytechnic
who had made a name opposing motorway schemes, to come to a public inquiry and oppose it. Tyme was unable to persuade the inquiry to adjourn and consider alternatives, and had to return home.
Craig used the prefaces and forewords of his books to express opinions on the electoral system, arguing in 1977 that the increasing numbers of fringe and frivolous candidates in Parliamentary elections made it necessary to raise the level of the deposit required for a nomination to be valid. He also criticised the ability of people with holiday homes to register to vote in two constituencies, on the grounds that they could choose to vote in the most marginal. Craig pointed out that while it was illegal for dual registered voters to vote twice, the penalties were minimal and the offence difficult to detect. In "Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections", Craig decried the "confusing and often misleading display of computer graphics" used on television election programmes, and also noted the decline in newspaper coverage of by-election campaigns by the broadsheet newspapers.
Conservative Association for many years, but at a stormy meeting on 1 March 1982 he was voted out of office. When he spoke in support of his re-election, Craig had noted the presence of many unfamiliar faces and declared "I will oppose wets and Left Wing infiltrators who would like to destroy this great party from within". In November 1981 the Association had adopted a new policy under which it refused to pay election expenses for sitting councillors, although new candidates would be funded. Craig and the other sitting councillors considered this amounted to deselection and formed the 'Association of Conservative Councillors' which would raise funds for their election expenses.
The Association of Conservative Councillors chose Craig as its election agent and declared its intention to nominate candidates against those of the Conservative Association. The resignation of a Liberal councillor led to a by-election for Chichester District Council in Chichester West ward in June 1982; Phyllis Craig was nominated in opposition to the official Conservative. The Liberal candidate held the seat with a majority of 149, with Phyllis Craig receiving 250 votes. It was widely perceived that her intervention had led to the Liberals winning a seat which otherwise would have been Conservative. Craig and his wife had their annual subscriptions returned by the Conservative Association in January 1983, which he denounced as "a back-door method of expulsion" and "a very nasty way of getting rid of someone."
Craig and his wife stood as Independent Conservative candidates for Chichester District Council in the 1983 council elections, but were not successful. He did not stand for re-election to the County Council in 1985 when his term ended. He later became a member of Chichester and Bognor Regis Samaritans.
issued a note to alert journalists to it. Craig sold his publishing business to Dartmouth Publishing, which later became part of Ashgate Publishing
; he retained editorial control. He could not come to terms with living on his own, and attempted suicide
in 1988 by taking an overdose of pills; the dedication of "Britain Votes 4" written in May 1988 records his thanks to family and friends as well as medical staff. However over the Easter holiday in 1989 he was found dead in his car having run a pipe from the exhaust. The cause of death was certified as Carbon monoxide poisoning
and the Coroner returned a verdict of suicide as "from the circumstances and from the notes which have been left, I have no doubt he intended the result of what he did".
After his death, his papers were given to Professors Colin Rallings
and Michael Thrasher
of the University of Plymouth
.
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
psephologist
Psephology
Psephology is that branch of political science which deals with the study and scientific analysis of elections. Psephology uses historical precinct voting data, public opinion polls, campaign finance information and similar statistical data. The term was coined in the United Kingdom in 1952 by...
and compiler of the standard reference books covering United Kingdom Parliamentary election results. He originally worked in public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, compiling election results in his spare time which were published by the Scottish Unionist Party. In the late 1960s he launched his own business as a publisher of reference books, and also compiled various other statistics concerning British politics.
Craig also had a political career of his own, initially as an election agent
Election agent
In elections in the United Kingdom, as well as in certain other similar political systems such as India's, an election agent is the person legally responsible for the conduct of a candidate's political campaign and to whom election material is sent to by those running the election. In elections in...
and then as a candidate. Efforts to get elected in his native Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
being unsuccessful, after he moved to Chichester
Chichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
in 1970 he was first elected to the District Council
Chichester (district)
Chichester is a largely rural local government district in West Sussex, England. Its council is based in the city of Chichester.-History:The district was formed on 1 April 1974, under the Local Government Act 1972, as a merger of the municipal borough of Chichester and the Rural Districts of...
and later to West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
County Council. However he fell out with a faction in the local Conservative Party
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...
and launched a rebel group which led to his expulsion. Late in his life he suffered severe depression and he took his own life.
Early life
Craig was a native of GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
. He became interested in election statistics while still at school. He was active in the Scottish Unionist Party Association, and in 1954 began to contribute the 'Scottish Parliamentary Election Manual' of election results to the Yearbook for Scotland, which the party published. Craig was unhappy with existing sources for election statistics and undertook research himself to correct the vote figures and discover the source of independent candidates, and his election manual became highly respected.
Political activity
As a paid agent for the Unionist Party, Craig was the election agent for James HutchisonSir James Hutchison, 1st Baronet
Sir James Riley Holt Hutchison, 1st Baronet, DSO, TD, JP was a British army officer, company director and politician. He was the son of a Scottish shipowner and spent his commercial life in the same field and as a director of shipbuilders, but fought in both World Wars during a long military career...
in Glasgow Scotstoun
Glasgow Scotstoun (UK Parliament constituency)
Glasgow Scotstoun was a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 until 1974. It elected one Member of Parliament using the first-past-the-post voting system.-Boundaries:...
in the 1955 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1955
The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...
and for the Unionist parliamentary candidate in Rutherglen
Rutherglen (UK Parliament constituency)
Rutherglen was a burgh constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1918 until 2005...
in 1964. He twice fought for election to the Glasgow City Corporation
Politics of Glasgow
Politics in Glasgow, Scotland, is evident in the deliberations and decisions of the city council of Glasgow , in elections to the council, and in elections to the Scottish Parliament and the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom .In the European Parliament, the city area is...
in the mid-1960s. His first attempt was in May 1966 when he came forward as an Independent
Independent (politician)
In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...
Conservative candidate against the 'Progressive Party', a local alliance between Conservatives and Liberals
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...
which controlled the council, in Kelvinside
Kelvinside
Kelvinside is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde and is bounded by Dowanhill, Hyndland and Broomhill to the South with Kelvindale and the River Kelvin to the North...
ward. Craig offered to withdraw if the Progressive councillor would repudiate that party's policy on council house rents, and to sit as a Conservative if the party split up; the offer was rejected.
In September 1967 Craig was selected as official Conservative candidate for Gorbals
Gorbals
The Gorbals is an area on the south bank of the River Clyde in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. By the late 19th century, it had become over-populated and adversely affected by local industrialisation. Many people lived here because their jobs provided this home and they could not afford their own...
ward in a byelection; he was one of seven candidates and attempted to stand out by distributing on the eve of poll 5,000 'wage packets' containing an appeal to vote for him. However Craig came third in the poll.
Reference books
His research into elections continued and widened from Scotland to the whole of the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, and he compiled a card index to all elections from 1918 onwards. In 1966 he had completed a manuscript of a reference book on statistics about elections since 1918, which was intended to be published in two volumes of 700 pages each to be part-funded by the Institute of Electoral Research; the calling of a general election
United Kingdom general election, 1966
The 1966 United Kingdom general election on 31 March 1966 was called by sitting Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Wilson's decision to call an election turned on the fact that his government, elected a mere 17 months previously in 1964 had an unworkably small majority of only 4 MPs...
annoyed him because he would have to add the statistics from it to the book. Craig took a decisive step in 1968 when he was paid off from his public relations job and set up Political Reference Publications, in order to publish his work. The first book to be published was British Parliamentary Election Statistics 1918-1966 which summarised the results of every general election as well as giving a wealth of other information. Critical reception was very positive and Craig always considered it his favourite book. It has continued to be updated, under the title British Electoral Facts.
His series of British Parliamentary Election Results began to appear the next year with the volume for 1918-1949. The series has been completed to run from the Reform Act
Reform Act
In the United Kingdom, Reform Act is a generic term used for legislation concerning electoral matters. It is most commonly used for laws passed to enfranchise new groups of voters and to redistribute seats in the British House of Commons...
of 1832 to date. Craig also started the Political Companion, a quarterly update, which ran from 1969 to 1983. His work was a family affair with his wife Phyllis helping with the production and administration, and his daughters undertaking the proofreading. Craig pioneered the use of technology and put the source data onto computer readable tape; the distinctive clear layout of his books was a result of his use of early computer typesetting
Typesetting
Typesetting is the composition of text by means of types.Typesetting requires the prior process of designing a font and storing it in some manner...
.
Expanding company
In 1970 he moved from Anniesland Cross in Glasgow to ChichesterChichester
Chichester is a cathedral city in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, South-East England. It has a long history as a settlement; its Roman past and its subsequent importance in Anglo-Saxon times are only its beginnings...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
and established another company, Parliamentary Research Services, which eventually took over all his activities. His public relations background led to new lines of business including compilation of activities of Members of Parliament from votes in the House of Commons.He was part of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
team, albeit behind the camera, on their programme covering the 1970 general election; in 1972 he was asked to help by both the BBC and ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
, and decided to transfer to commercial television. In 1973 he was elected to Chichester District Council, but with the pressure of work caused by the two elections of 1974 he resigned his seat. When the candidate selected to replace him dropped out, Craig found that his busy period was over and was himself nominated to fight the by-election caused by his own resignation.
Craig was a leading member of Chichester Concern, a group set up to oppose a pedestrianisation precinct in the centre of the city. He arranged for John Tyme, a lecturer in Environmental Studies at Sheffield Polytechnic
Sheffield Hallam University
Sheffield Hallam University is a higher education institution in South Yorkshire, England, based on two sites in Sheffield. City Campus is located in the city centre, close to Sheffield railway station, and Collegiate Crescent Campus is about two miles away, adjacent to Ecclesall Road in...
who had made a name opposing motorway schemes, to come to a public inquiry and oppose it. Tyme was unable to persuade the inquiry to adjourn and consider alternatives, and had to return home.
Opinions
In 1975 Craig criticised the extension of postal votes to people on holiday at the time of elections, arguing that there were "very real dangers in any electoral system which permits extensive voting by post". He thought it absurd to increase postal voting facilities which might lead to widespread abuse because there were many ways of committing electoral fraud.Craig used the prefaces and forewords of his books to express opinions on the electoral system, arguing in 1977 that the increasing numbers of fringe and frivolous candidates in Parliamentary elections made it necessary to raise the level of the deposit required for a nomination to be valid. He also criticised the ability of people with holiday homes to register to vote in two constituencies, on the grounds that they could choose to vote in the most marginal. Craig pointed out that while it was illegal for dual registered voters to vote twice, the penalties were minimal and the offence difficult to detect. In "Chronology of British Parliamentary By-elections", Craig decried the "confusing and often misleading display of computer graphics" used on television election programmes, and also noted the decline in newspaper coverage of by-election campaigns by the broadsheet newspapers.
Conservative split
At the West Sussex County Council election in 1981, Craig was elected as a Conservative councillor in Chichester West division, while his wife Phyllis won Chichester South division. He had been the Chairman of the Chichester City branch of ChichesterChichester (UK Parliament constituency)
Chichester is a county constituency in West Sussex, represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....
Conservative Association for many years, but at a stormy meeting on 1 March 1982 he was voted out of office. When he spoke in support of his re-election, Craig had noted the presence of many unfamiliar faces and declared "I will oppose wets and Left Wing infiltrators who would like to destroy this great party from within". In November 1981 the Association had adopted a new policy under which it refused to pay election expenses for sitting councillors, although new candidates would be funded. Craig and the other sitting councillors considered this amounted to deselection and formed the 'Association of Conservative Councillors' which would raise funds for their election expenses.
The Association of Conservative Councillors chose Craig as its election agent and declared its intention to nominate candidates against those of the Conservative Association. The resignation of a Liberal councillor led to a by-election for Chichester District Council in Chichester West ward in June 1982; Phyllis Craig was nominated in opposition to the official Conservative. The Liberal candidate held the seat with a majority of 149, with Phyllis Craig receiving 250 votes. It was widely perceived that her intervention had led to the Liberals winning a seat which otherwise would have been Conservative. Craig and his wife had their annual subscriptions returned by the Conservative Association in January 1983, which he denounced as "a back-door method of expulsion" and "a very nasty way of getting rid of someone."
Craig and his wife stood as Independent Conservative candidates for Chichester District Council in the 1983 council elections, but were not successful. He did not stand for re-election to the County Council in 1985 when his term ended. He later became a member of Chichester and Bognor Regis Samaritans.
Suicide
Fred and Phyllis Craig separated in January 1988, placing the future of his business in jeopardy. The news was considered so important that the House of Commons LibraryHouse of Commons Library
The House of Commons Library is the library and information resource of the lower house of the British Parliament. It has adopted the phrase "Contributing to a well-informed democracy" as a summary of its mission statement.- History :...
issued a note to alert journalists to it. Craig sold his publishing business to Dartmouth Publishing, which later became part of Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing
Ashgate Publishing is an academic book and journal publisher based in Farnham, Surrey, United Kingdom. It was established in 1967 and specializes in the social sciences, arts, humanities, and professional practice...
; he retained editorial control. He could not come to terms with living on his own, and attempted suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
in 1988 by taking an overdose of pills; the dedication of "Britain Votes 4" written in May 1988 records his thanks to family and friends as well as medical staff. However over the Easter holiday in 1989 he was found dead in his car having run a pipe from the exhaust. The cause of death was certified as Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning occurs after enough inhalation of carbon monoxide . Carbon monoxide is a toxic gas, but, being colorless, odorless, tasteless, and initially non-irritating, it is very difficult for people to detect...
and the Coroner returned a verdict of suicide as "from the circumstances and from the notes which have been left, I have no doubt he intended the result of what he did".
After his death, his papers were given to Professors Colin Rallings
Colin Rallings
Colin Rallings is a British academic, Professor of Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics & Law at the University of Plymouth.With his colleague Michael Thrasher, Rallings has written extensively on electoral systems, results and British politics. He is Co-Director of the Local Government...
and Michael Thrasher
Michael Thrasher
Michael Thrasher is a British academic, Professor of Politics in the School of Sociology, Politics & Law at the University of Plymouth.With his colleague Colin Rallings, Thrasher has written extensively on electoral systems, results and British politics. He is Co-Director of the Local Government...
of the University of Plymouth
University of Plymouth
Plymouth University is the largest university in the South West of England, with over 30,000 students and is 9th largest in the United Kingdom by total number of students . It has almost 3,000 staff...
.