View source for James Chuter Ede

{{Short description|British Labour politician (1882–1965)}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific-prefix = [[The Right Honourable]]
| name             = The Lord Chuter-Ede
| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|CH|PC||DL|JP}}
| image            = James Chuter Ede (minister van Binnenlandse Zaken (Home Secretary)), Bestanddeelnr 900-7223.jpg
| caption          = Ede in 1945
| order            = [[Leader of the House of Commons]]
| term_start       = 16 March 1951
| term_end         = 26 October 1951
| primeminister    = [[Clement Attlee]]
| predecessor      = [[Herbert Morrison]]
| successor        = [[Harry Crookshank]]
| order1           = [[Home Secretary]]
| term_start1      = 3 August 1945
| term_end1        = 26 October 1951
| primeminister1   = [[Clement Attlee]]
| predecessor1     = [[Donald Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow|Sir Donald Somervell]]
| successor1       = [[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]]
| order2           = [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education]]
| term_start2      = 15 May 1940
| term_end2        = 13 August 1944
| president2       = {{ubl|[[Herwald Ramsbotham]]|[[Rab Butler]]}}
| predecessor2     = [[Kenneth Lindsay]]
| successor2       = Office abolished
| order3           = Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Education
| minister3        = [[Rab Butler]]
| term_start3      = 13 August 1944
| term_end3        = 23 May 1945
| predecessor3     = Office created
| successor3       = [[Thelma Cazalet-Keir]]
| order4           = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]
| term_start4      = 14 November 1935
| term_end4        = 25 September 1964
| predecessor4     = [[Harcourt Johnstone]]
| successor4       = [[Arthur Blenkinsop]]
| term_start5      = 30 May 1929
| term_end5        = 6 October 1931
| predecessor5     = [[Edward Harney]]
| successor5       = [[Harcourt Johnstone]]
| order6           = [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] <br /> for [[Mitcham (UK Parliament constituency)|Mitcham]]
| term_start6      = 3 March 1923
| term_end6        = 16 November 1923
| predecessor6     = [[Thomas Worsfold]]
| successor6       = [[Richard James Meller]]
| birth_name       = James Chuter Ede
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1882|9|11|df=y}} 
| birth_place      = [[Epsom]], Surrey
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|1965|11|11|1882|9|11|df=y}}
| death_place      = [[Ewell]], Surrey
| party            = [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour]]
| otherparty       = [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal]]
| spouse           = {{marriage|Lilian Williams|1917|1948|end=d}}
| alma_mater       = [[Christ's College, Cambridge]]
}}
'''James Chuter Chuter-Ede, Baron Chuter-Ede''', {{post-nominals|country=GBR|sep=,|CH|PC|DL|JP}} ({{ne|'''Ede'''}}; 11 September 1882 – 11 November 1965), was a British teacher, trade unionist and [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician. He was a [[Member of Parliament (United Kingdom)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) for 32 years, and served as the sole [[Home Secretary]] under Prime Minister [[Clement Attlee]] from 1945 to 1951, becoming the longest-serving Home Secretary of the 20th or 21st century.

==Early life==
James Chuter Ede was born in [[Epsom]], Surrey, elder son (there were two daughters) of "lower-middle-class" parents,<ref>{{cite ODNB | url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-32414 | doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/32414 | date=2004 | last1=Jefferys | first1=Kevin | title=Ede, James Chuter Chuter-, Baron Chuter-Ede (1882–1965), politician and educationist }}</ref> James Ede, a [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|Nonconformist]] ([[Unitarianism|Unitarian]]) [[grocer]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Hermiston |first=Roger |title=All Behind You, Winston – Churchill's Great Coalition, 1940–45 |year=2016 |publisher=Aurum Press |location=London |page=39 |isbn=978-1-78131-664-1}}</ref> (who had been an assistant to John Budgen, founder of the [[Budgens]] grocery store chain) and his wife Agnes Mary, daughter of local builder James Chuter.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://eehe.org.uk/?p=25499 | title=Chuter Ede, James – Epsom & Ewell History Explorer }}</ref> He was educated at Epsom [[National school (England and Wales)|National School]], [[The Ashcombe School|Dorking High School for Boys]], Battersea Pupil Teachers' Centre, and [[Christ's College, Cambridge]], where he studied natural sciences. He attended Cambridge through a Surrey county scholarship, which did not cover his living expenses, and he ran out of funds at university, dropping out without a degree at the end of his second year.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hart |first=Stephen |title=James Chuter Ede: Humane Reformer and Politician |year= 2021 |publisher=Pen & Sword |isbn=9781526783721}} p. 22</ref> In April and May 1943, Ede's ministerial boss [[Rab Butler]] arranged for him to receive an honorary [[Master of Arts (Oxford, Cambridge, and Dublin)|MA]] from Cambridge.<ref>Jago 2015, pp172-3</ref> Either through his family background or by a decision made when a student, he became a Unitarian, and his religion consumed much of his time and effort later in life.<ref name=hart>{{cite journal |last=Hart |first=Stephen|title=James Chuter Ede - a Model Unitarian Overlooked |year= 2020 |journal=Transactions of the Unitarian Historical Society |volume=27 |issue=2}}</ref>

Had he graduated from Cambridge, Ede might have pursued a career as a science master in the grammar or public school systems, but instead he became an assistant master at council elementary schools in [[Surrey]] from 1905 to 1914, mainly in [[Mortlake]].<ref>Jeffreys, Kevin, [https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32414 "Ede, James Chuter Chuter-, Baron Chuter-Ede (1882–1965)"], ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edition, January 2008. Retrieved 19 April 2018 {{subscription required}}</ref> He took an active part in the Surrey County Teachers’ Association (SCTA), part of the [[National Union of Teachers]]. He was active in the [[Liberal Party (UK)|Liberal Party]], and in 1908 was elected as a member of [[Epsom Urban District]] Council, as the youngest councillor in Surrey, and probably the youngest urban district councillor in the country.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 27</ref> In 1914, Ede stood for election to [[Surrey County Council]] and, as a council employee, had to resign his teaching post before the poll. He was elected, and never worked as a teacher again.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 30</ref>

Much of his council work concentrated on education, as the SCTA wanted teacher representation on the Education Committee, to which, after a struggle, he was appointed.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 51</ref> During the [[First World War]] he served in the [[East Surrey Regiment]] and [[Royal Engineers]], reaching the rank of [[Acting (rank)|Acting]] [[Regimental Sergeant Major]]. He spent most of the War in France, probably working with poison gas.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 31</ref>

==Early political career==
During the war, Ede joined the [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]], having been critical for some time of senior Liberal figures and of wartime establishment attitudes, and believing Labour better represented working people.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 33</ref> He was selected as Labour candidate for [[Epsom (UK Parliament constituency)|Epsom]] in  [[1918 United Kingdom general election|1918]], but was soundly defeated by a candidate who had been given the "[[Coalition Coupon]]".  He was appointed assistant secretary of the SCTA, which provided some Union sponsorship for his county council work. He retained this post until he became a Government minister, and he gradually took over running the Association, as well as dominating education policy in Surrey, a county where population increases brought about the need for much new school building.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 52</ref>

Ede chaired Epsom UDC in 1920.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 63">Hart (2021), op cit, p. 63</ref> Ede was first elected to the [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] as Member of Parliament (MP) for [[Mitcham (UK Parliament constituency)|Mitcham]], at [[1923 Mitcham by-election|a by-election]] in March 1923, which caused a considerable stir in the media.<ref>'Lady Griffith-Boscawen cries over Mitcham result', ''Daily Graphic'' (4 March 1923), and other newspaper articles</ref> However, he lost the seat in December at the [[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923 general election]], and was defeated there again in [[1924 United Kingdom general election|1924]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 50</ref>

Ede eventually left Epsom UDC in 1927, having lived for some years in Mitcham.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 63"/> He returned to [[Parliament of the United Kingdom|Parliament]] at the [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929 general election]], for the [[Tyneside]] seat of [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]].<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 62">Hart (2021), op cit, p. 62</ref> In the short-lived [[Labour government of 1929–31]], Ede was appointed in 1930 to chair a government committee on educational standards in private schools.<ref>{{cite book |last=Barker |first=Rodney |date=1972 |title=Education and Politics, 1900-1951 |publisher=Oxford UP}}</ref> This reported in 1932, and Ede gradually became the Labour Party's main specialist in the field of education, following the retirement from active politics of [[Sir Charles Trevelyan, 3rd Baronet|Charles Trevelyan]], whose encouragement Ede had received, including through this appointment.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 60-1</ref>

Ede had again lost his seat in Parliament at the [[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931 election]].<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 62"/> He rejoined Epsom UDC (by now Epsom and Ewell UDC) in 1933, and chaired Surrey CC the same year.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 63"/> In 1934 Ede became chairman of the [[London and Home Counties Joint Electricity Authority]], of which he had been a member since 1928. He held this post until 1940.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 71">Hart (2021), op cit, p. 71</ref>

Ede was re-elected to Parliament for South Shields at the [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935 general election]], and held the seat until his retirement from the Commons at the [[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964 general election]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 67</ref> When Epsom and Ewell were awarded borough status in 1937, he was chosen as the "Charter Mayor", and led the activities celebrating the new Borough’s charter. He was appointed a deputy lieutenant for the county of Surrey.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 63"/> Ede also became chairman of the British Electrical Development Association in 1937.<ref name="Hart 2021, op cit, p. 71"/>

Ede showed great interest in the sciences and the uses to which they could be put, being also a keen photographer. He also contributed greatly to environmental protection in Surrey, encouraging extension of [[green belt]], the purchase of property to prevent development, and building [[Bypass (road)|bypasses]] to restrict traffic in town centres.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 64</ref>

==Education Minister==
{{See also|Political career of Rab Butler (1941–1951)}}
In the [[Churchill war ministry|wartime coalition]], Ede was appointed on 15 May 1940 to junior ministerial office as [[Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education]], and served under two [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] [[Secretary of State for Education|Presidents]], first [[Herwald Ramsbotham]], and then [[Rab Butler]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 119-27</ref> Ede was a very safe pair of hands and his background complemented that of Butler, who was a practising Anglican, privately educated and from a well-to-do family, and who initially had little knowledge of state elementary schools. Ede was also a useful link between Butler and the Labour leaders Attlee, [[Arthur Greenwood]] and [[Ernest Bevin]]. (Ede was also governor of a Jesuit School, although that was less helpful.) Both men also gained a reputation for integrity.<ref>Barber 1994, pp.42-3</ref><ref>Jago, pp154-5</ref>  There remained considerable cross-party respect between Ede and Butler during their various later political activities.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, passim</ref>

He adopted the work initiated by the Board’s civil servants under [[Maurice Gerald Holmes|Sir Maurice Holmes]] to reform education.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 119-27</ref> On 4 February 1942 Ede, who had already grown to respect Butler, declined a request that he move to the Ministry of War Transport, although he would have obeyed a “direct order” from Churchill. Churchill deferred to Attlee’s wish to keep Ede in place.<ref>Jago 2015, pp160-1</ref>

Much of the time of ministers and officials was taken up in negotiating with the Protestant Churches, with the Church of England wanting greater control of religious education in state schools in return for the absorption of Anglican schools into the state system.<ref>Barber 1994, p.43</ref> The Church of England had been relatively sympathetic to Herwald Ramsbotham's Green Book (June 1941), which had proposed permitting denominational teaching - which would in practice have been mostly Anglican - in state schools to children over the age of 11, lifting the ban which had been in place since the Cowper-Temple Clause of the [[Education Act 1870|1870 Forster Act]]. Although agreement was eventually reached, a brief delay was caused by Ede's "White Memorandum" of March 1942, published just before Easter. This reflected nonconformist lobbying since the Green Book, and Ede’s views and those of his officials.<ref>Barber 1994, p.43</ref> Anglicans, who had much support among Conservative MPs, were not pleased with the "White Memorandum" proposal for compulsory transfer of schools in "single school areas" (areas, mainly rural, where the Anglican school, often built by the local squire, was the ''only'' school) to [[Local Education Authority|LEA]] control, a move which tended to be favoured by nonconformists and teaching unions.<ref>Howard 1987, pp. 125–126</ref>

Ministers and officials had less success negotiating with the Roman Catholic Church, who wanted to retain complete autonomy in their schools while receiving 100% state subsidy for infrastructure (rather than the 50% on offer for Voluntary Aided, i.e. semi-autonomous, schools). On one occasion (exact date not given by Butler's biographers but probably in 1942-3), Butler and Ede drove to the Northern Bishops' conference at [[Ushaw College]], near [[Hexham]]. They were given dinner and shown the chapel but were given no concessions.<ref>Howard 1987, p. 130</ref><ref>Jago 2015, pp165-8</ref>

Along with Butler, Ede published a formal [[white paper]] on planned education reform (July 1943). This covered several areas, including raising the [[school-leaving age]] to 15 or 16, enshrining the separation of [[Elementary school (England and Wales)|elementary]] and [[Secondary school|secondary]] schooling from age 11 (as opposed to the existing overlap since the school leaving age had been raised to 14 in [[Education Act 1918|1918]]), whether there should be [[Selective school|separate schools for pupils with different aptitudes]] (favoured by education doctrine at the time, although in the event the choice was not prescribed in the 1944 Act but was left a matter of local option), how to assimilate [[Public school (United Kingdom)|public schools]] into the system (the [[David Fleming, Lord Fleming|Fleming]] Report would recommend that public school places be made open to state scholarships, although this was never implemented), and the ‘dual system’ of state and religious schools in the public sector.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 119-27</ref>

With Butler, Ede steered the [[Education Act 1944]] through Parliament, and it is clear that his detailed knowledge of state education, which Butler lacked, was crucial to the success of this measure.<ref>{{cite thesis |last=Evans |first=Robert |date=1993 |title=James Chuter Ede and the Making of the 1944 Education Act |type=MA dissertation|publisher=Institute of Education, London}}</ref> At the Second Reading of the bill in March 1944, [[Thelma Cazalet-Keir]] proposed two amendments, to raise the school leaving age to 16 by 1951 and demanding equal pay for women teachers, which were passed by 117-116 on 29 March 1944, the only time the Coalition suffered a significant defeat in a division. Butler, who thought it wrong to dictate to the teaching profession, stormed out of the Chamber and was rumoured to be about to resign. Ernest Bevin and Ede threatened to resign if Butler was forced out, and Churchill made the amendment a matter of confidence and ensured its defeat by 425-23 on 30 March. This was one of the events which made Churchill and the Conservatives appear reactionary, contributing to their election defeat in 1945.<ref>Howard 1987, pp. 136–137</ref>

The Act set the school-leaving age at 15 with effect from April 1947, with the long-term aim of raising it to 16, and made secondary education free, abolishing the term "elementary school". It established [[Preschool|nursery]] schools and classes, along with provision for children needing [[Special education in the United Kingdom|special educational]] treatment. It provided for [[further education]], medical treatment in schools, school meals and milk, and social, [[Religious education|religious]] and [[Physical education|physical]] education. Independent schools were put under a programme of inspection, a [[School prayer|compulsory act of worship]] introduced, and the rôle and requirements of [[local education authorities]] made clear.<ref>WO Lester Smith, ''Education'' (Penguin, 1957), p. 14</ref>

==Home Secretary and later career==
Although he had expected to be appointed Minister of Education following the [[1945 United Kingdom general election|post-war Labour victory]], Ede was appointed [[Home Secretary]] in the [[Labour Government 1945-1951|1945 Labour government]] of [[Clement Attlee]], and remained in that post throughout. He was concurrently [[Leader of the House of Commons]] in 1951. He was responsible for restructuring several public services, through the [[Police Act 1946]], the [[Fire Services Act 1947]], the [[Civil Defence Act 1948]], and the Justices of the Peace Act 1949. In addition, he was closely involved in the [[Children Act 1948]], the [[British Nationality Act 1948]], the [[Representation of the People Act 1948]], and the [[Criminal Justice Act 1948]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, ch. 14</ref> He used his experience in local government and education to decide the right level of local authority control for services he reconstituted – the Fire Service, Civil Defence and the police, which he organised into a more professional force, with training centres developing consistent standards. Inheriting [[child care]] services and magistrates’ courts operating piecemeal throughout the country, his reforms set up consistent procedures and practices.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp.198-9</ref>

Changes to the electoral system in the Representation of the People Act finally established the principle of "[[one person, one vote]]" and [[single-member constituencies]], for which in Ede's view there had been pressure from the time of the [[Wars of the Three Kingdoms|Civil War]] and through the era of [[Chartism]] to his own period. He abolished [[University constituency|university seats]], along with the business vote, two-member constituencies and the privileged electoral status of the [[City of London]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 195</ref>

The British Nationality Act established the single status of "[[British subject|Citizen of the United Kingdom and Colonies]]", without regard to race or colour, so that all citizens of the UK and its colonies (there were few independent [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] members at the time) continued to be equally able to live and work in the UK.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 210-11</ref>

The Criminal Justice Act abolished the sentences of [[Penal labour|hard labour, penal servitude]] and whipping, and established new arrangements for [[probation]] and the treatment of young offenders. It also ended the right of [[Peerages in the United Kingdom|peers]] to be tried by the [[House of Lords]]. Attempts to amend it to abolish capital punishment were unsuccessful (see below).<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 199 ff</ref>

Ede established the [[Lynskey tribunal]] under Sir [[George Lynskey]] in 1948 to investigate allegations of corruption among ministers and civil servants.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 215</ref> Changes he also brought about included ending the tradition that the Home Secretary attends royal births, which started following the rumours that [[James II of England|James II]]’s [[James Francis Edward Stuart|son]] was an impostor, smuggled into the royal birth chamber.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 216</ref> Ede helped change the date of the [[Grand National]] horse race to a Saturday, and proposed that [[Remembrance Sunday]] be moved to a date in the summer, reflecting the different days on which the World Wars ended (this was not taken up).<ref>Public Record Office, Cabinet Papers CAB 129/1/43 & 129/6/22</ref> He arranged the naturalisation of [[Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh]], and was involved in the choice of Mountbatten as his British surname.<ref>Philip Eade, ''Young Prince Philip'' (Harper Press, 2011 ), pp. 184-8, and Basil Boothroyd, ''Philip'' (Longman, 1971), p. 39</ref>

Ede ceased to be in government when Labour lost the [[1951 United Kingdom general election]], and pursued other interests during his remaining 13 years in opposition.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 237</ref> As well as his British Museum work, he became an active member of the [[BBC]]'s General Advisory Council, and held a leading role in the [[Unitarianism|Unitarian Church]].<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, pp. 265 ff</ref> In 1964 he left the Commons and was created a [[life peer]] as ''Baron Chuter-Ede, of [[Epsom]] in the [[County of Surrey]]'', on 1 January 1965,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43538 |date=1 January 1965 |page=83}}</ref> having accordingly adopted the surname ''Chuter-Ede'' on 18 December 1964.<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=43522 |date=22 December 1964 |page=10979}}</ref>

==Unitarian Church==
When Home Secretary, Ede expanded his activities in the Unitarian Church, addressing its [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches|General Assembly]] in 1947, and arranging for the church to be represented at [[the Cenotaph]] on [[Remembrance Sunday]].  He also spoke to various Unitarian congregations, and increased this activity after he left office in 1951.  He attended congresses of the [[International Association for Religious Freedom|International Association for Liberal Christianity and Religious Freedom]] (IARF), and in 1955 was elected its President.  In that connection, he paid more than one visit to [[North America]].

From 1957 to 1958, Ede was President of the Unitarian General Assembly, and for a year he travelled tirelessly around the country, addressing different congregations.<ref name=hart/>

==Capital punishment==
In 1938, Ede voted for a motion in favour of abolishing the death penalty for [[murder]]. This did not result in any change in the law but, when he was Home Secretary, his own Criminal Justice Bill in 1948 was successfully amended by MPs who wished to abolish [[hanging]]. However, by this time Ede, in line with the policy of the Attlee Government, opposed the reform. A person sentenced to hang was entitled to appeal to the Monarch for mercy, so in practice the Home Secretary, to whom the task was delegated, decided whether each execution should proceed. For a while he agreed to commute every death sentence to [[life imprisonment]], but the [[House of Lords]] then rejected the amendment, and the [[Criminal Justice Act 1948]] did not abolish capital punishment.  He permitted hangings to continue.

In 1950 [[Timothy Evans]] was convicted of murdering his own daughter, and Ede approved his death sentence. In 1953, after [[John Christie (murderer)|John Christie]] had been convicted and hanged for a murder committed in the same house (and it was clear he had committed several others), Ede eventually concluded that he had made the wrong decision in regard to Evans.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 255 ff</ref>

He took part in the campaign for a pardon for Evans, and ended his career supporting the cause of abolition.  In November 1965, capital punishment for murder was abolished by the [[Murder (Abolition of Death Penalty) Act 1965]], and Evans's body was transferred to consecrated ground, shortly before Ede's death. His campaign was described as "the last struggle of a liberal nonconformist of the old school".<ref>Quotation from Kevin Jeffreys, op cit; see also his introduction to ''Labour and the Wartime Coalition'', Historian's Press, 1987.</ref>

==Family==
Ede married Lilian Mary, daughter of Richard Williams, in 1917. They had no children, and she died in 1948, having been ill for some years. Lord Chuter-Ede survived her by 17 years and died at [[Ewell]], Surrey, in November 1965, aged 83.

==Memorials==
Chuter Ede Education Centre in South Shields is named after him. It was formerly a comprehensive school.  There are also a ward in [[Epsom Hospital]] and a primary school near [[Newark-on-Trent]] which bear his name.  The Labour Party headquarters in South Shields is at Ede House, opened and named shortly before he ceased to be its MP.

Ede left twelve volumes of diaries, now residing in the [[British Library]].<ref>Barber 1994, p.43</ref> The diaries (largely neither transcribed nor published) give an account of his wartime activities from 1941 to 1945 in great detail, as well as shorter memoirs from his time as Home Secretary, which illustrate the wide range of duties and concerns which went with that office in the mid-20th century.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 190</ref> At the suggestion of an historian who used them, with his permission, in her research, he left most of them to the [[British Museum]], of which he became a trustee – initially ''ex officio'' as Home Secretary, and then in his own right when he lost office.<ref>Hart (2021), op cit, p. 243</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of Unitarians, Universalists, and Unitarian Universalists]]
*[[Home Secretary]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Books==
* Barber, Michael ''The Making of the 1944 Education Act'', Cassell 1994 {{ISBN|0-304-32661-5}}
* [[Anthony Howard (journalist)|Howard, Anthony]] ''RAB: The Life of R. A. Butler'', Jonathan Cape 1987 {{ISBN|978-0-224-01862-3}} [https://www.amazon.com/RAB-Life-R-Butler-ebook/dp/B00B0CXFM2/ excerpt]
* Jago, Michael ''Rab Butler: The Best Prime Minister We Never Had?'', Biteback Publishing 2015 {{ISBN|978-1849549202}}

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-james-ede | James Chuter Ede }}
* {{PM20|FID=pe/003275}}

{{s-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[Mitcham (UK Parliament constituency)|Mitcham]]
  | years  = [[1923 Mitcham by-election|1923]]–[[1923 United Kingdom general election|1923]]
  | before = [[Thomas Worsfold]]
  | after  = [[Richard Meller|Sir Richard Meller]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]
  | years  = [[1929 United Kingdom general election|1929]]–[[1931 United Kingdom general election|1931]]
  | before = [[Edward Harney]]
  | after  = [[Harcourt Johnstone]]
}}
{{succession box
  | title  = Member of Parliament for [[South Shields (UK Parliament constituency)|South Shields]]
  | years  = [[1935 United Kingdom general election|1935]]–[[1964 United Kingdom general election|1964]]
  | before = [[Harcourt Johnstone]]
  | after  = [[Arthur Blenkinsop]]
}}
{{s-off}}
{{succession box | title=[[Home Secretary]] | before=[[Donald Somervell, Baron Somervell of Harrow|Sir Donald Somervell]] | after=[[David Maxwell Fyfe, 1st Earl of Kilmuir|Sir David Maxwell Fyfe]] | years=1945–1951}}
{{succession box | title=[[Leader of the House of Commons]] | before=[[Herbert Morrison]] | after=[[Harry Crookshank]] | years=1951}}
{{s-end}}

{{Home Secretaries}}
{{Leader of the House of Commons}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ede, James Chuter}}
[[Category:1882 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:Members of Surrey County Council]]
[[Category:Deputy lieutenants of Surrey]]
[[Category:East Surrey Regiment soldiers]]
[[Category:English Unitarians]]
[[Category:English justices of the peace]]
[[Category:Schoolteachers from Surrey]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies]]
[[Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers]]
[[Category:Leaders of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour]]
[[Category:Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951]]
[[Category:Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945]]
[[Category:National Union of Teachers-sponsored MPs]]
[[Category:People from Epsom]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers soldiers]]
[[Category:Secretaries of state for the Home Department]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1922–1923]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1929–1931]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1935–1945]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1945–1950]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1950–1951]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1951–1955]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1955–1959]]
[[Category:UK MPs 1959–1964]]
[[Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages]]
[[Category:Liberal Party (UK) councillors]]
[[Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II]]
[[Category:Military personnel from Surrey]]