{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Lyon_Blease.jpg|thumb|right|Lyon Blease]] [[File:Horse and trap bearing "Vote for Blease" signs.jpg|alt=Horse and trap bearing "Vote for Blease" signs during the 1910 general election campaign for Chorley, Lancashire|thumb|'''Horse and trap bearing "Vote for Blease" signs during the 1910 general election campaign for Chorley, Lancashire''']] '''Prof. Walter Lyon Blease''' (1884 – 12 April 1963), was a British [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]] politician, barrister and academic.
==Background== He was born in [[Liverpool]], the son of Walter and Mary Cecilia Blease. He was educated at Parkfield School, Liverpool; [[Shrewsbury School]] and [[Liverpool University]]. He was awarded the Studentship at Bar Final Examination, 1906. He married, in 1918, Harriott Davies. They had three daughters.<ref>‘BLEASE, W. Lyon’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U56350, accessed 28 Nov 2013]</ref>
He served with hospital units in [[Serbia]] 1915 and in [[Russia]] and [[Romania]] 1916–18. He was Assistant Editor of ''The New East'', Tokyo in 1918.
==Academic career== He was Lecturer in the Law and Custom of the Constitution at [[Liverpool University]] in 1910. He was Queen Victoria Professor of Law, at Liverpool University from 1919–49.
==Political career== He was Liberal candidate for the [[Chorley (UK Parliament constituency)|Chorley]] Division of Lancashire at the January 1910 General Election. {{Election box begin | title=[[January 1910 United Kingdom general election|General Election January 1910]]<ref>British parliamentary election results 1885-1918, Craig, F.W.S.</ref> Electorate 14,347}} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate =[[David Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford|Lord Balcarres]] |votes =7,735 |percentage =58.3 |change = }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Walter Lyon Blease''' |votes = 5,523 |percentage =41.7 |change = }} {{Election box majority| |votes =2,212 |percentage =16.6 |change = }} {{Election box turnout| |votes =13,258 |percentage =92.4 |change = }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = Conservative Party (UK) |swing = }} {{Election box end}} In 1936 he was appointed a governor of the [[British Film Institute]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=Autumn 1936 |title=New Governors for B.F.I |url=https://archive.org/details/Sight_and_Sound_1936_10_BFI_GB/page/n11 |journal=[[Sight and Sound]] |volume=5 |issue=19 |pages=63}}</ref> In 1939 he was adopted as Liberal prospective parliamentary candidate for the [[Liverpool East Toxteth (UK Parliament constituency)|East Toxteth]] Division of Liverpool.<ref>The Liberal Magazine, Volume 47</ref> The constituency had been safe for the Conservatives during the 1930s, even without a Labour candidate to split the anti-Tory vote. By 1939 there was again no Labour candidate selected. A general election was anticipated to take place in the autumn of 1939, but, due to the outbreak of war, the election did not take place until the 1945 general election. By then, a Labour candidate had emerged; {{Election box begin | |title=[[1945 United Kingdom general election|General Election 1945]]<ref>British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, F W S Craig</ref> Electorate 52,484 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate = [[Patrick Buchan-Hepburn, 1st Baron Hailes|Patrick George Thomas Buchan-Hepburn]] |votes = 18,145 |percentage = 49.3 |change = -10.9 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = Lt. Victor Harold Edgar Baker |votes = 12,376 |percentage = 33.6 |change = n/a }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Prof. Walter Lyon Blease''' |votes = 6,286 |percentage = 17.1 |change = -22.7 }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 5,769 |percentage = 15.7 |change = -4.7 }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = 36,807 |percentage = 70.1 |change = +4.9 }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = Conservative Party (UK) |swing = n/a }} {{Election box end}} He was Liberal candidate for the new [[Liverpool Garston (UK Parliament constituency)|Garston]] Division of Liverpool at the 1950 General Election. {{Election box begin | |title=[[1950 United Kingdom general election|General Election 1950]]<ref>British parliamentary election results 1950-1973, Craig, F.W.S.</ref> Electorate 65,001 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Conservative Party (UK) |candidate = [[Victor Raikes|Henry Victor Alpin MacKinnon Raikes]] |votes = 31,750 |percentage = 57.6 |change = ''N/A'' }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = Edgar Hewitt |votes = 17,477 |percentage = 31.6 |change = ''N/A'' }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate = '''Prof. Walter Lyon Blease''' |votes = 5,966 |percentage = 10.8 |change = ''N/A'' }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 14,303 |percentage = 25.9 |change = ''N/A'' }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = 55,163 |percentage = 84.9 |change = ''N/A'' }} {{Election box new seat win| |winner = Conservative Party (UK) }} {{Election box end}} He was Chairman of the Executive Council for Liverpool under the [[National Health Service Act 1946]] from 1952–60. He was a Member of the Management Committee of the Executive Councils Association (England) from 1960 until his death.
He was Chairman of the [[Liverpool Philharmonic Society]] from 1950–51.
==See also== {{wikisource author-inline}}
==References== {{Reflist}}
== External links == * {{Gutenberg author | id=37185}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Walter Lyon Blease}} * http://birkdalefocus.blogspot.co.uk/2010/07/brilliant-squeeze-leaflet-from-1945.html
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Blease, Walter Lyon}} [[Category:1884 births]] [[Category:1963 deaths]] [[Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates]] [[Category:Alumni of the University of Liverpool]] [[Category:Academics of the University of Liverpool]] [[Category:People educated at Shrewsbury School]] [[Category:English barristers]] [[Category:Governors of the British Film Institute]]