Arthur Churchman, 1st Baron Woodbridge

Lieutenant-Colonel Arthur Charles Churchman, 1st Baron Woodbridge, DL (7 September 1867 – 3 February 1949), known as Sir Arthur Churchman, Bt, between 1917 and 1932, was a British tobacco manufacturer, soldier and Conservative politician.

Arthur Churchman, 1st Baron Woodbridge
Sir Arthur Churchman in 1929, by Oswald Birley
Member of Parliament
for Woodbridge
In office
28 July 1920 – 10 May 1929
Preceded byRobert Francis Peel
Succeeded byClavering Fison
Personal details
Born(1867-09-07)7 September 1867
Died3 February 1949(1949-02-03) (aged 81)
Political partyConservative

Background and education

Churchman was the son of Henry Charles Churchman, of Paget House, Ipswich, Suffolk, by Mary Anna Eade, daughter of Charles Eade. Sir William Churchman, 1st Baronet, was his elder brother. He was educated at Ipswich School.[1]

Business and political career

Churchman went into partnership with his brother, William, in the family tobacco firm which had been founded by their great-grandfather in 1790. This was renamed W.A. & A.C. Churchman. It was later absorbed by the tobacco combines and Churchman became vice-chairman of the British American Tobacco Company.[1]

Churchman was elected Mayor of Ipswich in 1901, a post he held until the following year (his brother William had been mayor between 1899 and 1900).[2] He was lieutenant-colonel of the Essex and Suffolk Royal Garrison Artillery between 1905 and 1909[1] and commanded a Territorial Force Battalion of the Suffolk Regiment as a temporary lieutenant-colonel in the First World War. In 1917, he was created a baronet, of Abbey Oaks in the Parish of Sproughton in the County of Suffolk.[3] In 1920, he was returned to Parliament for Woodbridge,[4] which he remained until 1929. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Suffolk in 1930[5] and served as High Sheriff of the county in 1931.[6] In 1932, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Woodbridge, of Ipswich in the County of Suffolk.[7] Between 1932 and 1949, he was High Steward of Ipswich.[8]

Family

Lord Woodbridge married Edith Harvey, daughter of J. A. Harvey, in 1891. They had three sons and two daughters, all of whom but one daughter predeceased him. Woodbridge died in February 1949, aged 81, when the baronetcy and barony became extinct.[1]

References
  1. thepeerage.com Arthur Charles Churchman, 1st and last Baron Woodbridge
  2. Ipswich Borough Council: Previous Mayors of Ipswich Archived 16 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. "No. 30224". The London Gazette. 10 August 1917. p. 8130.
  4. "No. 32017". The London Gazette. 13 August 1920. p. 8395.
  5. "No. 33594". The London Gazette. 4 April 1930. p. 2148.
  6. "No. 33700". The London Gazette. 20 March 1931. p. 1878.
  7. "No. 33837". The London Gazette. 21 June 1932. p. 4036.
  8. Ipswich Borough Council: High Stewards of Ipswich Archived 27 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
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