{{Short description|British Liberal Party politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} '''Lancelot Dykes Spicer''' DSO, MC and Bar, (22 March 1893 – 6 December 1979), was a British Liberal Party politician.
==Background== He was the youngest son of Rt Hon. Sir Albert Spicer, the Liberal Party politician. He was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He married in 1920, Iris Cox. They had one son who was killed in action on 31 May 1944. Iris obtained a divorce in 1935. Lancelot's second marriage, in 1951, was to Dorothy Beverley Gwyther.<ref>‘SPICER, Lancelot Dykes’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U159801, accessed 15 January 2014]</ref>
==War service== In the First World War he was granted temporary commission in the Army in September 1914. He was made T/Captain in July 1916 and Brigade-Major in April 1918. He served with the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry,<ref>The Times House of Commons 1945</ref> was awarded the Military Cross in October 1917, bar to Military Cross in May 1918 and was made a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order in September 1918.{{cn|date=September 2022}}
==Professional career== He was a director of the family paper-manufacturing business Spicers Ltd, serving as chairman from 1950 to 1959. He served as president of the Stationers' Association of Britain and Ireland.
==Political career== In November 1941 he was a founder of the Liberal Action Group, a pressure group inside of the Liberal Party that lobbied for the party to withdraw from the wartime electoral truce.<ref>Liberal Crusader: The Life of Sir Archibald Sinclair By Gerard J. De Groot</ref> In 1943 he was selected as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for the Walthamstow West Division of Essex and at the 1945 General Election finished second. right|thumb|150px|Walthamstow West in Essex for 1945 {{Election box begin|title=General Election 1945: Walthamstow West<ref>British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.</ref> Electorate 38,269}} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = Valentine la Touche McEntee |votes = 17,460 |percentage = 65.22 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Lancelot Dykes Spicer''' |votes = 4,760 |percentage = 17.78 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate = Leslie Charles Curran |votes = 4,550 |percentage = 17.00 |change = }} {{Election box majority |votes = 12,700 |percentage = 47.44 |change = }} {{Election box turnout |votes = |percentage = 70.14 |change = }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = Labour Party (UK) |swing = }} {{Election box end}} He was Liberal candidate for the Kensington South Division of London at the 1945 Kensington South by-election where he finished second. thumb|150px|Kensington South in London in 1944 {{Election box begin | title=By-election, 20 November 1945<ref>British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig, F.W.S.</ref> Electorate 52,750}} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate = Rt Hon. Richard Kidston Law |votes = 15,846 |percentage = 81.7 |change = +11.9 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Lancelot Dykes Spicer''' |votes = 3,559 |percentage = 18.3 |change = +7.0 }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 12,287 |percentage = 68.4 |change = }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = 52,750 |percentage = 36.8 |change = }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = Conservative Party (UK) |swing = }} {{Election box end}} He did not stand for parliament again.
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == *'''Sir Archibald Sinclair''':https://books.google.com/books?id=J7XiewCEo5wC&pg=PA207&dq=lancelot+spicer+liberal&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GU_WUsIUrKDsBuTlgYAO&ved=0CDYQuwUwAA#v=onepage&q=lancelot%20spicer%20&f=false *'''Liberal Action Group''':https://books.google.com/books?id=qps14mSlghcC&pg=PA316&dq=lancelot+spicer+liberal&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9U_WUr29IuTW7Qa4sYAQ&ved=0CDkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=lancelot%20spicer%20liberal&f=false
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Spicer, Lancelot Dykes}} Category:1893 births Category:1979 deaths Category:Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Younger sons of baronets Category:People educated at Rugby School