British physician and politician
Francis Edward Fremantle
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Francis Edward Fremantle , OBE , DL , FRCS , FRCP [ 1] (29 May 1872 – 26 August 1943)[ 2] was a British physician and Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for St Albans from 1919 until his death.
Early life
F E Fremantle was the fourth son of the Very Rev. William Henry Fremantle , Dean of Ripon . Following education at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford , he went to study medicine at Guy's Hospital , London . He received his doctorate in 1898.[ 3]
Medicine
In 1902 he was appointed county medical officer of health for Hertfordshire , a post he held until 1916. He was elected a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians in 1910, and subsequently served on the organisation's council.[ 3] Fremantle held a commission as a surgeon-captain in the Hertfordshire Yeomanry , and served as a medical officer with the British Army in the Second Boer War . He then travelled to the Punjab , India to work as a plague medical officer from 1903 – 1904. During the First World War he rose to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in the Royal Army Medical Corps , serving in Mesopotamia .[ 3]
Politics
After the war, Fremantle entered politics. In March 1919 he was elected to the London County Council as a Municipal Reform Party councillor for Dulwich .[ 4] Later in the year, Hildred Carlile , the Conservative MP for St Albans , resigned from the House of Commons [ 5] due to ill-health. Fremantle was selected as the Coalition Conservative candidate for the resulting by-election held in December , and was elected despite a strong challenge from the Labour Party .[ 6]
Fremantle became a frequent speaker in parliament, being recognised as a spokesman for the medical profession, and was chairman of the Parliamentary Medical Committee from 1923 to 1943.[ 3] He held the St Albans seat for the Conservatives until his death, and was knighted in 1932,[ 3] for "political and public services".[ 7] In 1926 he became a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire .[ 8]
Marriage and death
In 1905 he married Dorothy Chinnery, and they had one son.[ 3] He died suddenly at his home, Bedwell Park, near Hatfield in August 1943.[ 9]
References
^ Obituary, The Times , 28 August 1943
^ Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "S" (part 1)
^ a b c d e f Obituary: Sir Francis Fremantle, Medicine and Politics , The Times, 28 August 1943, p. 7
^ LCC Elections , The Times, 8 March 1919, p.14
^ Department of Information Services (9 June 2009). "Appointments to the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead Stewardships since 1850" (PDF) . House of Commons Library . Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 February 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2010 .
^ Large Labour Vote At St. Albans. Seat Held By Coalition. , The Times, 24 December 1919
^ "No. 33831" . The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 May 1932. p. 3568.
^ "No. 33175" . The London Gazette . 25 June 1926. p. 4123.
^ Deaths, The Times , 28 August 1943, page 1
External links