Percy Hurd

Sir Percy Angier Hurd (18 May 1864 – 5 June 1950) was a British journalist and Conservative Party politician who served as a member of parliament (MP) for nearly thirty years. He was the first of four generations of Hurds to serve as Conservative MPs.

Percy Hurd was the eldest son of London-based solicitor William Hurd (1831–1913) and his wife Elizabeth (née Angier, died 1910). He was editor of The Outlook, a weekly magazine published in London from 1898 to 1928. He later became editor of the Canadian Gazette and London editor of the Montreal Star and other journals in Canada. During the First World War, he made various visits to the battle-front to study and record the work of the Canadian contingent. He was also a member of the executive committee of the Agricultural Relief of Allies Fund, and twice reported on the needs of the farmers in the provinces of France from which the Germans had been pushed back.

Hurd was a fervent advocate of the British Empire, and wrote several books on the subject, including one written jointly with his brother Archibald (later Sir Archibald Hurd, a naval critic who was editor of the Naval and Military Record from 1896–1899 and then a journalist with the Daily Telegraph until 1928.

Hurd was first elected to the House of Commons at the 1918 general election as the Coalition Conservative MP for the Frome division of Somerset. The seat had been held by the Liberal Party for all but nine of the preceding fifty years, but Hurd's possession of the "coalition coupon" issued to supporters of David Lloyd George's Liberal-Conservative coalition government combined with a strong showing from a Labour Party candidate to allow him to win the seat, ousting Sir John Barlow who had been Frome's MP since 1896. At the 1922 general election Hurd faced only a Labour opponent, and was re-elected with a modest majority of only 2.4% of the votes. However, at the general election in December 1923, Frome was one of many seats won by Labour.

...
Wikipedia