Basil Goldstone

{{Short description|British Liberal Party activist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}} {{Infobox person | name = Basil Goldstone | image = Basil Goldstone.png | caption = Goldstone in 1979 | birth_date = October 1909 | birth_place = Twickenham | death_date = November 1988 | death_place = King's Lynn | occupation = Political activist}}

'''Basil Eric Goldstone''' (October 1909 – November 1988) was an English Liberal Party activist. He served for some years on Kingsclere and Whitchurch Rural District Council.<ref name="times64"/> He was the founder of the Liberal Animal Welfare Group.

==Career==

Goldstone was born in Twickenham.<ref name="Obituary">{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0003432%2F19881125&page=3|title=The Liberal stalwart who cared for people|newspaper=Lynn News & Advertiser|date=November 25, 1988 |page=3}} {{subscription required}}</ref> He studied at Richmond Hill School and Dover College before joining the Royal Air Force.<ref name="times64">''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'' (1964), p. 25</ref> He stood repeatedly for the Liberal Party in general elections, but was never elected: in Hendon in 1935, Petersfield in 1945, Dover in 1950 and 1959, Basingstoke in 1964, Peterborough in 1966, Norfolk South in 1970, and Harlow in February and October 1974.<ref name="times74">''The Times Guide to the House of Commons'' (1974), p. 140</ref> He was more successful locally as he was elected in 1961 to the Kingsclere and Whitchurch Rural District Council by 450 to 50 votes.<ref name="Obituary"/>

He moved to King's Lynn in 1965 as a hospital catering officer and won a Lynn Town Council seat in 1971.<ref name="Obituary"/> In 1976–77, he served as president of the Liberal Party. He was president of Lynn Liberals and involved with St Margaret's Residents' Association which provided homes for the elderly.<ref name="Obituary"/>

In May 1988, an American red oak tree was planted near the Red Mount in The Walks park in King's Lynn in recognition of his service to the Liberal Party.<ref name="Obituary"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0003432%2F19880510&page=14|title=Lib plants a tree|newspaper=Lynn News & Advertiser|date=May 10, 1988|page=12}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

==Animal welfare==

A long-term supporter of animal welfare, in 1978, he proposed wide-ranging animal protection legislation, which the party voted to support.<ref>Richard Dudley Ryder, ''Animal revolution: changing attitudes toward speciesism'', p. 183</ref> In 1980, Goldstone founded the Liberal Animal Welfare Group.<ref>Garner, Robert. (2016). ''Animal Rights: The Changing Debate''. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 187. {{ISBN|978-1349251766}}</ref> Richard D. Ryder has commented that Goldstone "rapidly made the Liberal Party the most active of the four major parties in the whole field of animal welfare".<ref>Ryder, Richard D. (1983). ''Victims of Science: The Use of Animals in Research''. National Anti-Vivisection Society. p. 154. {{ISBN|978-0905225067}}</ref>

Goldstone was an opponent of fox hunting and in 1986 criticized Henry Bellingham's arguments that fox hunting is a humane way to kill.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.findmypast.co.uk/image-viewer?issue=BL%2F0003432%2F19860327&page=20|title=Challenge on animal welfare|newspaper=Lynn News & Advertiser|date=March 27, 1986 |page=20}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

==Death==

Goldstone died at his home in King's Lynn, aged 79.<ref name="Obituary"/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

{{s-start}} {{s-ppo}} {{succession box | title=President of the Liberal Party | before=Margaret Wingfield | after=Gruffydd Evans | years=1976–1977}} {{s-end}}

Category:1909 births Category:1988 deaths Category:Councillors in Hampshire Category:English animal welfare workers Category:Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Category:People educated at Dover College Category:People from King's Lynn Category:People from Twickenham Category:Presidents of the Liberal Party (UK)