{{Short description|British politician and screenwriter (1890–1935)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=December 2017}} {{Use British English|date=February 2023}} {{Infobox person |name = Reginald Cheyne Berkeley |image = Reginald_Berkeley.jpg |image_upright = yes |caption = |birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1890|08|18}} |birth_place = London, England |death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1935|03|30|1890|08|18}} |death_place = Los Angeles, United States |education = Bedford Modern School |alma mater = |other_names = |known_for = |occupation = }} '''Reginald Cheyne Berkeley''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|MC}} (18 August 1890 – 30 March 1935) was a Liberal Party politician in the United Kingdom, and later a writer of stage and radio plays, then a screenwriter in Hollywood.<ref>Obituary in ''The Times'', ''CAPTAIN REGINALD BERKELEY'', April 1, 1935, p.9</ref><ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|id=0075351|name=Reginald Berkeley}}</ref><ref>{{cite LCAuth |id=n83139979}}</ref> He had trained as a lawyer. He died in Los Angeles from pneumonia after an operation.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url-access=subscription|url=https://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/10.1093/ww/9780199540891.001.0001/ww-9780199540884-e-206021|title=Berkeley, Captain Reginald Cheyne, (1890–30 March 1935)|website=WHO'S WHO & WHO WAS WHO|year=2007|doi=10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U206021|isbn=978-0-19-954089-1}}</ref>
His son Humphry Berkeley was a Conservative MP in the United Kingdom.<ref>{{Cite ODNB||url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-54738|title=Berkeley, Humphry John (1926–1994), politician and writer|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/54738|doi-broken-date=12 July 2025 }}</ref>
== Early life ==
Berkeley was born in London to Humphry George Berkeley and Agnes Mary née Cheyne. He was educated privately and at Bedford Modern School. He later went to Fiji where his father was a prominent lawyer in Suva; then to Auckland, New Zealand, where he studied at Auckland University College and passed the Barristers Examination of the University of New Zealand.<ref>''The Evening Post'' (Wellington) 27 January 1911 pp. 2 & 3 April 1911 p. 3</ref> He was admitted to the Bar of Fiji and New Zealand in 1912, and to the Middle Temple (London) on 2 July 1919.<ref>{{cite book |author= Livai’a, Christine |title= Qaravi na'i tavi: They did their duty; soldiers from Fiji in the Great War |year=2009 |publisher= Polygraphia |location= Auckland |page= 200 |isbn= 978-1-877332-62-3}}</ref> He was a lieutenant in the 3rd (Auckland) Regiment of the territorials in New Zealand from 1911 to 1913.<ref>''The New Zealand Gazette'' (Wellington) 8 June 1911 p 1897; 2 & 30 May 1912, pp 1495 & 1788; 15 May 1913 p 1617</ref>
Berkeley served in World War I as a captain in the Rifle Brigade. He was awarded the Military Cross in 1916. His citation reads: {{blockquote|For conspicuous gallantry in action. When his company commander was wounded, he led the company with great dash to its final objective, and later displayed great determination in consolidating the captured line.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/29824/supplements/11046|title=Page 11046 {{!}} Supplement 29824, 14 November 1916 {{!}} London Gazette|work=The Gazette|access-date=22 May 2018}}</ref>}} Postwar he joined the staff of the League of Nations Union in 1919 as Editor of Pamphlets then Director of Propaganda, and the League Secretariat in 1921, resigning when he entered Parliament.
== Politician == He was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Nottingham Central at the 1922 general election, winning the seat with a majority of only 22 votes over the sitting Conservative MP Albert Atkey.<ref name="auto"/> He was re-elected in another two-way contest in 1923, but did not contest the 1924 general election.<ref name="auto"/> Labour fielded a candidate for the first time in Nottingham Central, and the Conservatives retook the seat.<ref name="auto"/>
He unsuccessfully contested the 1929 general election in Aberdeen North, and stood again in Nottingham Central at the by-election in 1930, where he won only 16.9% of the votes.<ref name="auto"/> He was defeated again in Aberdeen and Kincardine Central at the 1931 election.<ref name="auto"/> These defeats reflected the national decline in the fortunes of the Liberal Party and the rise of the Labour Party.<ref name="auto"/>
== Writer == His stage plays include ''The Lady with the Lamp'' (1929), based on the life of Florence Nightingale and starring Edith Evans in the title role, and ''The Man I Killed'' (1931), which was adapted for the screen as ''Broken Lullaby'' the following year. His play ''French Leave'' (1920) was filmed twice, once in 1930, and again in 1937.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Yyqc0Qa6b60C|title=The Complete Index to Literary Sources in Film|first=Alan|last=Goble|date=1 January 1999|publisher=Walter de Gruyter|isbn=9783110951943}}</ref> His screenwriting credits include ''Dreyfus'' (1931), ''Cavalcade'' (1933), ''The World Moves On'' (1934), ''Carolina'' (1934) and ''Nurse Edith Cavell'' (1939).<ref name="imdb" />
He wrote a number of radio plays for the British Broadcasting Company, (from 1927 the British Broadcasting Corporation). ''The Dweller in the Darkness'', broadcast on 14 April 1925, was "written for the BBC for radio transmission",<ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Dweller in the Darkness |magazine=The Radio Times |date=12 April 1925 |issue=((81, National)) |page=105 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/ef9a901600dc45b1868eb716ed27520f }}</ref> and ''The White Chateau'' was later described by the BBC as "one of the first plays specially written for broadcasting".<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Pages from a Sketchbook |magazine=The Radio Times |date=29 June 1934 |issue=((561, National)) |page=1023 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/706877ed830c4878b3f694b6d586c7a6 }}</ref>
In February 1926 he withdrew permission for a radio broadcast of his play ''Mr. Abdulla'', as he objected to cuts that the BBC intended to make to it, and those they had made to an earlier production, of ''The Quest of Elizabeth'', a radio playlet about the death of a child which he wrote and which was broadcast in October 1925.<ref name="BBCPlay">{{cite news |title=BBC Play Stopped. Author Objects to Censorship. |work=Liverpool Evening Express |date=8 February 1926}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |title=The Quest of Elizabeth |magazine=The Radio Times |date=23 October 1925 |issue=((109, National)) |page=218 |url=https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/page/db6b611db15d45ca87f4f8cc06a13f7e }}</ref>
Berkeley also wrote at least one novel.<ref name="BBCPlay" />
== Personal life == He had married Gwendoline Cock in 1914 and Clara Hildegarde Digby in 1926.
He died in 1935 in the Good Samaritan Hospital, Los Angeles aged 44 from pneumonia following a major operation.<ref>''The Times'' (London) 1 April 1935 p 9</ref> He was residing at 606 North Crescent Drive, Beverly Hills.
==References== {{reflist}}
==Further reading== * {{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |author-link= F. W. S. Craig |title=British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 |orig-year=1969 |edition= 3rd |year=1983 |publisher= Parliamentary Research Services |location=Chichester |isbn= 0-900178-06-X}} * {{Rayment-hc|external links=y|date=March 2012}}
== External links == {{Wikisource}} * {{Internet Archive author |sname=Reginald Berkeley}} * {{Hansard-contribs | captain-reginald-berkeley | Reginald Berkeley }}
{{s-start}} {{s-par|uk}} {{succession box | title = Member of Parliament for Nottingham Central | years = 1922–1924 | before = Albert Atkey | after = Albert Bennet }} {{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Berkeley, Reginald Cheyne}} Category:1890 births Category:1935 deaths Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Category:Rifle Brigade officers Category:UK MPs 1922–1923 Category:UK MPs 1923–1924 Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:English male screenwriters Category:Writers from London Category:People educated at Bedford Modern School Category:University of Auckland alumni Category:British male dramatists and playwrights Category:English male novelists Category:20th-century English novelists Category:20th-century English dramatists and playwrights Category:20th-century English male writers Category:20th-century English screenwriters Category:BBC people