{{Short description|British Conservative Party politician and journalist (1903–1974)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}} {{infobox officeholder | name = Sir Hamilton Kerr, Bt | office = Member of Parliament for Cambridge | term_start = 1950 | term_end = 1966 | predecessor = Arthur Symonds | successor = Robert Davies | office1 = Member of Parliament for Oldham | alongside1 = Anthony Crossley (1931–1935)<br />John Dodd (1935–1945) | term_start1 = 1931 | term_end1 = 1945 | predecessor1 = James Wilson<br />Gordon Lang | successor1 = Leslie Hale<br />Frank Fairhurst | birth_name = Hamilton William Kerr | birth_date = {{birth date|1903|08|01|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{dda|1974|12|24|1903|08|01|df=yes}} | death_place = | education = Eton College | alma_mater = Balliol College, Oxford | party = Conservative | parents = Henry S. Kerr<br />Olive Grace Kerr | relations = Charles Greville, 3rd Baron Greville (stepfather) }} '''Sir Hamilton William Kerr, 1st Baronet''' (1 August 1903 – 26 December 1974) was a British Conservative Party politician and journalist.
==Early life== Kerr was born on 1 August 1903. He was second son born to Americans Olive (née Grace) Kerr and banker Henry Scanlan Kerr of Long Island.<ref name="1907Estate">{{cite news |title=Henry S. Kerr Left Over $1,000,000. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/11/26/106769499.pdf |accessdate=15 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=26 November 1907}}</ref> After his father's death, his mother remarried to Charles Greville, shortly thereafter the 3rd Baron Greville.<ref name="1909Engagement"/> His older brother was Henry Grace Kerr,<ref name="1907Estate"/> who was killed in France during World War I.<ref name="LtKerr1917">{{cite news |title=Lieut. H.G. Kerr Killed in Action. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/07/07/96253652.pdf |accessdate=15 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=7 July 1917}}</ref> His paternal grandparents were William Henry Kerr and Harriet Ellen (née Scanlan) Kerr. His mother was a niece of Michael P. Grace and Mayor William Russell Grace, founder of W. R. Grace and Company.<ref name="1909Engagement">{{cite news |title=MRS. HENRY S. KERR TO WED.; To Become the Bride of the Hon. Charles Greville on Nov. 24. |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1909/10/27/101902373.pdf |accessdate=15 November 2019 |work=The New York Times |date=27 October 1909}}</ref>
He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.<ref name="Dod36">{{cite book|title=Dod's Parliamentary Companion for 1936|date=1936|publisher=P. S. King & Son Ltd|location=London|page=386}}</ref>
==Career== After his graduation from Oxford, he then took up a career in journalism and worked on the ''Daily Mail'' and the ''Daily Telegraph''.<ref name="Dod36"/>
At the 1931 general election, he was elected as the Member of Parliament for the Oldham constituency in Lancashire. He held the seat until losing it to Labour at the 1945 general election. In the 1930s, Kerr served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to Alfred Duff Cooper, starting in 1933 when Cooper was Financial Secretary to the War Office.<ref name="Dod36"/> During the Second World War, he served in a balloon squadron in the Royal Air Force and briefly held office as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health in the 1945 caretaker government.<ref name="Times 55">{{cite book|title=The Times House of Commons 1955|date=1955|publisher=The Times Office|location=London|page=70}}</ref>
At the 1950 general election, he was returned to the House of Commons as the MP for Cambridge, holding that seat until his retirement at the 1966 general election. In 1954, Kerr was appointed Parliamentary Private Secretary to the future Prime Minister Harold Macmillan.<ref name="Times 55"/>
Kerr was made a Baronet, of Cambridge in the County of Cambridge, in 1957. The title became extinct upon his death in 1974.
==Legacy== The Hamilton Kerr Institute was established in 1976 in the riverside property given to Cambridge University for the Fitzwilliam Museum and endowed by Sir Hamilton Kerr.<ref>[http://www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/introduction.html Hamilton Kerr Institute: History]{{Archive url|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20021004111711/http://www-hki.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/introduction.html|date=2002-10-04}}</ref> The HKI provides art conservation services and training.
== References == {{reflist}} *{{Rayment-bt|date=March 2012}} *{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
== External links == * {{Hansard-contribs | sir-hamilton-kerr | Sir Hamilton Kerr }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Oldham | with = Anthony Crossley, to 1935 | with2 = John Dodd, (1935–1945) | years = 1931–1945 | before = James Wilson<br />Gordon Lang | after = Leslie Hale<br />Frank Fairhurst }} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Cambridge | years = 1950–1966 | before = Arthur Symonds | after = Robert Davies }} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{s-new | creation }} {{s-ttl | title = Baronet<br />'''(of Cambridge)''' | years = 1957–1974 }} {{s-non | reason = Extinct }} {{s-end}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kerr, Hamilton William}} Category:1903 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Alumni of Balliol College, Oxford Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Ministers in the Churchill caretaker government, 1945 Category:People educated at Eton College Category:Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Category:UK MPs 1931–1935 Category:UK MPs 1935–1945 Category:UK MPs 1950–1951 Category:UK MPs 1951–1955 Category:UK MPs 1955–1959 Category:UK MPs 1959–1964 Category:UK MPs 1964–1966