{{short description|British politician}} '''Robert Stone Comben''' CBE JP (1868 – 30 December 1957), was a British Liberal Party politician who gave over 40 years service to local government in Dorset.
==Background== Comben was born the son of Robert Stone Comben, of the Village Rest Coffee House Woodford Bridge, Essex. In 1893 he married Charlotte Alice Hawkins. They had one daughter Annie Lilian Kate Comben who, when her father was Mayor (1915-1918) was the youngest Mayoress in the history of Weymouth.<ref>Comben Family History</ref> In 1923 he married Alice Logan (widow) née Jeffries.
He was appointed a CBE in 1920.<ref name=who>‘COMBEN, Robert Stone’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2016; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014; online edn, April 2014 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U235972, accessed 2 Feb 2017]</ref> He was awarded the Freedom of the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis in 1952, and his name is inscribed on the plaque on Weymouth Town Bridge.
==Political career== Comben was elected to Weymouth Borough Council in 1909. He served as Mayor of Weymouth from 1915 to 1918. He was elected to Dorset County Council in 1918.<ref name=who/> He was Liberal candidate for the South Dorset division at the 1923 General Election. He did not stand for parliament again.<ref name="Craig, F. W. S. 1983">Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. {{ISBN|0-900178-06-X}}.</ref> He stood down from Dorset County Council in 1950 after 32 years service. In 1952 he resigned from Weymouth Borough Council after 43 years service. He was a Justice of the Peace for Dorset and the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis.<ref name=who/>
===Electoral record=== {{Election box begin | |title=General Election 1923: South Dorset <ref name="Craig, F. W. S. 1983">Craig, F. W. S. (1983). British parliamentary election results 1918-1949 (3 ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. {{ISBN|0-900178-06-X}}.</ref> }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Unionist Party (UK) |candidate = Robert Yerburgh |votes = 11,057 |percentage = 53.5 |change = -3.7 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Liberal Party (UK) |candidate ='''Robert Comben''' |votes = 5,973 |percentage = 29.0 |change = +7.0 }} {{Election box candidate with party link| |party = Labour Party (UK) |candidate = David Wyndham Thomas |votes = 3,602 |percentage = 17.5 |change = -3.3 }} {{Election box majority| |votes = 5,084 |percentage = 24.5 |change = -10.7 }} {{Election box turnout| |votes = |percentage = 71.6 |change = -3.6 }} {{Election box hold with party link| |winner = Unionist Party (UK) |swing = -5.4 }} {{Election box end}}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Comben, Robert Stone}} Category:1868 births Category:1957 deaths Category:Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Category:Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire