Edge Rewrite
restyle Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

Jump to content

Charles Challen

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Charles Challen
Member of Parliament
for Hampstead
In office
27 November 1941 (1941-11-27) – 3 February 1950 (1950-02-03)
Preceded byGeorge Balfour
Succeeded byHenry Brooke
Personal details
Born(1894-02-15)15 February 1894
Died20 June 1960(1960-06-20) (aged 66)
PartyConservative
EducationJesus College, Cambridge (MA, LLB)
OccupationBarrister
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Branch
British Army
Service years
1914 – 1919
Rank
Lieutenant
UnitRoyal Field Artillery
Battles of World War I
France
Egypt

Charles Challen (15 February 1894 – 20 June 1960) was a British barrister and politician.

Biography

[edit]

Challen was educated at Merchant Taylors' School and received a Bachelor of Laws and Master's degree from Jesus College, Cambridge (later becoming a member of the Oxford and Cambridge Club).[1][2] During the First World War, he served in France and Egypt as a Lieutenant in the Royal Field Artillery. He was a barrister-at-law at Gray's Inn and won the Arden Prize in 1922. He never married.[3]

Challen was Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Hampstead from a by-election in 1941 to 1950, when his local Conservative association declined to readopt him for that year's general election.[1][3][4] This had followed a rumour that Challen was intending to defect to the Labour Party, which he rebutted in a letter to The Times.[5] Challen had intended to stand again as an Independent Conservative against the new Conservative candidate, Henry Brooke, but was persuaded to withdraw in the interests of the party.[6]

He died on 20 June 1960, aged 66.[1]

The 1945 'anti-alien' petition

[edit]

In October 1945, an antisemitic petition was drawn up, with the help of Waldron Smithers's (Conservative MP for Orpington) Fighting Fund for Freedom, by residents of Hampstead, requesting "that aliens of Hampstead should be repatriated to assure men and women of the Forces should have accommodation upon their return" from World War II.[7] The petition was signed by the antisemitic Conservative mayor of Hampstead, Sydney A. Boyd, and four of Hampstead's Conservative councillors, with the rest of the Conservative members of the council in favour of the petition.[7] Challen, as the constituency's MP, promised to give the petition his "unstinting support",[7][8] and he asked a number of questions in the House of Commons on behalf of the petitioners over the following months.[7] When the petition was complete, Conservative Councillor J. A. Hughes passed it to Challen who, "rather than repudiate the sponsors for their antisemitism", delivered it to Parliament.[7]

References

[edit]
  1. 1 2 3 Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephen (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, Volume IV. Brighton: Harvester Press. p. 57. ISBN 0-85527-335-6.
  2. ↑ "Mr Charles Challen". MembersAfter1832.HistoryOfParliamentOnline.org. Archived from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 2 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 "CHALLEN, Charles". Who Was Who. A & C Black. 1920–2008. Retrieved 12 February 2011.
  4. ↑ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "H" (part 1)
  5. ↑ "A Rumour Denied". The Times. 3 August 1949. p. 5.
  6. ↑ "Former Hampstead M.P. Stands Down". The Times. 10 February 1950. p. 4.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Graham Macklin, 'A quite natural and moderate defensive feeling'? The 1945 Hampstead 'anti-alien' petition' (2003) in Patterns of Prejudice 37:3 DOI: 10.1080/00313220307594
  8. ↑ Hannah Ewence, 'Placing the 'Other' in Our Midst: Immigrant Jews, Gender and the British Imperial Imagination' (2010), University of Southampton, Faculty of Humanities, PhD Thesis
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Charles_Challen&oldid=1365987693"