{{Short description|British politician}} {{about||the American lawyer, diplomat and politician|Charles J. McCurdy|the American politician|Charles McCurdy Mathias}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use British English|date=November 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Charles McCurdy | honorific_suffix = PC | image = File:Charles Mccurdy MP.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | office = {{ubl|Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons|Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury}} | term_start = 1 April 1921 | term_end = 19 October 1922 | monarch = George V | prime_minister = David Lloyd George | alongside = Leslie Wilson | predecessor = Freddie Guest | successor = Leslie Wilson | office1 = Coalition Liberal Chief Whip{{efn|Became National Liberals in January 1922}} | term_start1 = 1 April 1921 | term_end1 = 20 December 1922 | leader1 = David Lloyd George | predecessor1 = Freddie Guest | successor1 = Edward Hilton Young | office2 = Minister of Food Control | term_start2 = 19 March 1920 | term_end2 = 31 March 1921 | prime_minister2 = David Lloyd George | predecessor2 = George Roberts | successor2 = Office abolished | office3 = Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food Control | term_start3 = 27 January 1919 | term_end3 = 19 March 1920 | prime_minister3 = David Lloyd George | predecessor3 = Waldorf Astor | successor3 = William Mitchell-Thomson | office5 = Member of Parliament<br />for Northampton | term_start5 = 15 January 1910 | term_end5 = 6 December 1923 | predecessor5 = John Greenwood Shipman | successor5 = Margaret Bondfield | birth_name = Charles Albert McCurd | birth_date = {{Birth date|1870|03|13|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1941|11|10|1870|03|13|df=yes}} | death_place = | party = Liberal (Before 1916, 1923–1941) | other_party = Coalition Liberal (1916–1922)<br>National Liberal (1922–1923) | spouse = | children = | father = | mother = | relatives = Margaret Wingfield (niece) | education = Loughborough Grammar School | alma_mater = Pembroke College, Cambridge | occupation = | profession = Barrister }} '''Charles Albert McCurdy''' (13 March 1870 – 10 November 1941) was a British Liberal Member of Parliament and minister in the Lloyd George Coalition Government. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1920.
==Early life and career== McCurdy was educated at Loughborough Grammar School and Pembroke College, Cambridge.<ref>{{acad|id=MRDY888CA|name=McCurdy, Charles Albert}}</ref> He then became a barrister.
==Political career== thumb|120px|McCurdy He was elected Member of Parliament for Northampton, then a two-member constituency, in 1910. He was returned in 1918 when it was reduced to a single-member seat, his former Liberal co-member Hastings Lees-Smith having sought election elsewhere and joined the Labour Party.
===Coalition government=== He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food Control from 1919 to 1920 and then Minister of Food Control in 1920. After the Ministry of Food Control was abolished in April 1921, he was appointed Coalition Liberal Chief Whip (officially 'Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury') in succession to Frederick Guest. Guest had held the position during the 1918 seat negotiations with the Unionists. Unlike Guest, McCurdy was more concerned with strengthening the Liberals part in the Coalition and took a much tougher line with the Unionists. A junior Unionist whip Robert Sanders, wrote in his diary that McCurdy was "a particularly bad-mannered fellow...the reverse...of Guest".
McCurdy favoured a general election in January 1922 and the formation of a Centre Party made up of Liberals, moderate Conservatives and moderate Labour MPs. In March 1922, McCurdy wrote to Lloyd George claiming that one hundred Unionist MPs would defect if a Centre Party was formed. Lloyd George, however, decided to stay with the Coalition. He left office with Lloyd George when the Unionists ended the coalition in October 1922.
===Liberal reunion=== After the coalition ended, McCurdy favoured Liberal reunion. He was influential in drawing up the Liberals' manifesto for the 1923 general election, moving it further in a free trade direction. However, he was not returned at that election. He died in November 1941, aged 71, a month before his former co-member for Northampton, Hastings Lees-Smith.
McCurdy's niece, Margaret Wingfield, was an influential member of the Liberal Party, and eventually its President.
===Elections contested=== ====UK Parliament elections==== {| class="wikitable" ! Date of election !! Constituency !!colspan="2"|Party !! Votes !! % !! Result |- | 1906 || Winchester || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || 1,272 || 49.0 || Not elected (2nd) |- | 1910 (Jan) || Northampton || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''5,289''' || '''22.9*''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1910 (Dec) || Northampton || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || '''6,179''' || '''28.6*''' || '''Elected''' |- | 1918 || Northampton || style="background-color: {{party color|Coalition Liberal}}" | | Coalition Liberal || '''18,010''' || '''62.7''' || '''Elected'''<ref name="1918–49">{{cite book |last1=Craig |first1=Fred W. S |title=British parliamentary election results, 1918-1949 |url=https://archive.org/details/britishparliamen0000crai/ |publisher=Political Reference Publications |isbn=0900178019 |access-date=5 April 2025 |date=1969}}</ref> |- | 1922 || Northampton || style="background-color: {{party color|National Liberal Party (UK, 1922)}}" | | National Liberal || '''19,974''' || '''52.3''' || '''Elected'''<ref name="1918–49"/> |- | 1923 || Northampton || style="background-color: {{party color|Liberal Party (UK)}}" | | Liberal || 11,342 || 29.5 || Not elected (3rd)<ref name="1918–49"/> |}
==Note== {{notelist}}
==References== {{reflist}} *''The Impact of Labour, 1920 - 1924'' (Cambridge University Press, 1971) by Maurice Cowling. *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
== External links == * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Charles Albert McCurdy}} * {{Hansard-contribs | mr-charles-mccurdy | Charles McCurdy }}
{{S-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{s-bef| before = Herbert Paul<br />John Greenwood Shipman}} {{s-ttl| title = Member of Parliament for Northampton | years = January 1910 – 1923 | with = Hastings Lees-Smith, 1910–1918}} {{s-aft| after = Margaret Bondfield}}
{{s-off}} {{s-bef| before = George Henry Roberts}} {{s-ttl| title = Minister of Food Control | years = 1920 – 1921}} {{s-non| reason = Office abolished}}
{{s-bef| before = Freddie Guest}} {{s-ttl| title = Government Chief Whip in the House of Commons<br>Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasury | years = 1921 – 1922 | with = Leslie Wilson}} {{s-aft| after = Leslie Wilson}} {{s-ppo}} {{s-bef|before=Freddie Guest}} {{s-ttl|title=Coalition Liberal Chief Whip | years = 1921–1922}} {{s-non|reason = Party reorganized as National Liberals}} {{s-new|party}} {{s-ttl|title=National Liberal Chief Whip | years = 1922}} {{s-aft|after = Edward Hilton Young}} {{S-end}}
<!-- for correct sorting, index on Maccurdy, i.e. with lowercase 'c' and an 'a' in 'Mac' -->
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:McCurdy, Charles}} Category:1870 births Category:1941 deaths Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:People educated at Loughborough Grammar School Category:Alumni of Pembroke College, Cambridge Category:UK MPs 1910 Category:UK MPs 1910–1918 Category:UK MPs 1918–1922 Category:UK MPs 1922–1923 Category:Food ministers of the United Kingdom