Church, Archibald George, 1886-1954 (politician and public servant)
Dates
- Existence: 1886 - 1954
Biography
Major Archibald George Church (1886-1954) politician, public servant, publicist and businessman. Church was born in East London in 1886 and was educated at an LCC school and the St. Thomas Charterhouse School of Science and Art in Goswell Road, Holborn. From 1909 to 1914 he was a teacher, probably in or near his home district (in 1914 he was President of the East London Teachers' Association); and he also studied for a BSc in physics at University College London, taking a third class honours degree in 1912. On the outbreak of war Church joined the Royal Artillery, and in 1915 was serving as a subaltern on the Western Front. He retired from the Army in 1920 as a major, and was generally known by his rank for the remainder of his career. Church returned to civilian life as General Secretary of the Association of Scientific Workers, a post that he held until 1931; and in 1921 became Honorary Secretary of the trade union side on the Joint Industrial Councils for Government Establishments. Under the first Labour government he became PPS to the President of the Board of Trade (Sidney Webb), sat as Parliament's representative on the Medical Research Council, and was appointed a member of the Parliamentary Commission of Enquiry into the East African colonies. He lost his seat at the elections of 1924 (unfortunately for himself, the Commission was in East Africa during the election campaign), but was appointed to several public bodies including the Essex Agricultural Committee (1924) and the Colonial Office Advisory Committee on Education in the Colonies (1925). Church was returned to Parliament in the general election of 30 May 1929 as MP for Central Wandsworth, and when Ramsay MacDonald formed his second administration, Church was appointed PPS to Tom Shaw, the Secretary of State for War. On the outbreak of the Second World War Church was appointed a member of the Advisory Council of the Ministry of Information and in 1941 he became Assistant Director of Fighting Vehicle Production in the Ministry of Supply. Archibald Church died in London on 23 August 1954.