J. C. C. Davidson

John Colin Campbell Davidson (J. C. C. Davidson)

John Colin Campbell Davidson (usually known as J. C. C. Davidson), the second child and only son of Sir James Mackenzie Davidson, ophthalmic surgeon and pioneer of radiology, and his wife, Georgina Barbara Watt, was born in Aberdeen on 23rd February 1889. The family were staunchly Church of Scotland, and Davidson's early years imbued him with a strong faith and the ethic of "your work always comes first". (1)

Davidson was educated at Fretherne House preparatory school, Westminster School and Pembroke College. He graduated from Cambridge University with a third in 1911. He was called to the bar at the Middle Temple in 1913 but never practised, because he had already found a job as assistant private secretary to the colonial secretary, Lewis Harcourt, a member of the Liberal government. (2)

Davidson was involved in war planning: "Today a warning has been received at the Colonial Office to make every immediate preparation for the dispatch of the 'War' telegrams to the colonies and protectorates, i.e. (a) the 'warning' telegrams and (b) the 'Declaration of War' telegrams. This is the first time since my entry into the Colonial Office." (3)

Several members of the Cabinet, including Harcourt, David Loyd George, Charles Trevelyan, John Burns, and John Morley, were opposed to the First World War. Davidson later wrote: "He (Harcourt) opposed the war most strenuously, Asquith, Grey, Haldane and Churchill felt that it couldn't be avoided, but Harcourt was passionately opposed to it." Trevelyan, Burns and Morley resigned from the government. However, after some hestitation, Harcourt and Lloyd George decided to continue in the cabinet. (4)

On 6th December, 1916, H. H. Asquith, who had been prime minister for over eight years, resigned and was replaced by Lloyd George. He brought in a War Cabinet that included only four other members: George Curzon, Alfred Milner, Andrew Bonar Law and Arthur Henderson. There was also the understanding that Arthur Balfour attended when foreign affairs were on the agenda. Lloyd George was therefore the only Liberal Party member in the War Cabinet. (5)

J. C. Davidson: Private Secretary

Bonar Law, the leader of the Conservative Party, was appointed as Chancellor of the Exchequer. He had first met Davidson the previous year when he was working in the Colonial Office, and suggested that he should become his Private Secretary. "A close friendship developed based upon a paternal relationship. Law dissuaded Davidson from leaving Whitehall for military service, and when he became chancellor of the exchequer in the Lloyd George coalition in December 1916 insisted that Davidson move with him to the Treasury." (6)

J. C. C. Davidson (1916)
J. C. C. Davidson (1916)

At first Davidson, like most members of the Conservative Party, disliked the new prime minister, David Loyd George: "In the years immediately before the war Lloyd George had been anathema to the Tory Party, and it was only with the greatest difficulty that they could be persuaded that it was safe to support him in any of his enterprises, because they always saw him as their main enemy." Gradually, he began to acknowledge Lloyd George's assets: "Of course, Lloyd George was a charming man, and that is something which must never be discounted; it was a tremendous asset. He could charm, and he charmed by his apparent sincerity." (7)

Bonar Law became even more attached to Davidson after the death of his two elder sons on active war service. Charles John Law, aged 20, was reported missing in April, 1917. Then in September his eldest son, James Law, a member of the Royal Flying Corps, was shot down in France. His body was never found: "The grief and shock almost destroyed Bonar Law; he could not work, and sat brooding, submerged in despair." (8)

Davidson recalled that after his two sons were killed he "really came to treat me more like a son than anything else". Davidson told Bonar Law that he intended to join the British Army: "I can't bear this any longer. All my friends are being killed and it really isn't human nature for me to remain. Everybody is trying to make it easy for me efficient in my job and I know that this is probably true, but it doesn't make it easy for me." Davidson said that Bonar Law looked at him like "a melancholy dog" and replied: "Well, David, if you feel like that I suppose you must, but I wouldn't be able to carry on. I would resign." After this response, Davidson decided to carry on working in the Treasury. (9)

Marriage

Stanley Baldwin introduced Joan Dickinson (known as Mimi to friends and family) to John Davidson in April 1918. "I was very shy and reluctant to take part in it at all and I thought it was terrible to be wasting time. When I reached the drawing room, I looked around and saw standing on the stairs a girl talking to SB (Stanley Baldwin). I went up to them and he introduced me. And I said to myself then and there, this is the girl I am going to marry. I asked her for a dance and she accepted.... I was invited to stay at Astley with the Baldwins and Mimi was there. I proposed to her and she turned me down. In fact, she turned me down pretty regularly until at long last, on New Year's Eve, 1918... We went back to Portland Place where my parents lived and then to Egerton Gardens where her parents were living and announced our engagement." (10)

At first Elizabeth Dickinson had doubts about Mimi's choice of a husband. Baldwin decided to write her a letter: Mimi has chosen a partner of the right age. She might have married a man of fifty or a boy of twenty. You are spared that. They start equal: with the outlook of the same generation, with the prospect of passing their youth together, of entering middle life and old age together. Then - and for this a father and mother should thank God daily - you are giving your child to a man with a mind as clean as the north wind, whose whole life's attitude towards women makes him worthy of the trust you are placing in him... There is no need of anxiety, believe me. I know them both and love them both, and I believe that in a few years you will look back and bless this day, and, who knows, you may even have a kind word for the man who first brought them together!" (11)

The couple married on 9th April 1919. Joan was the younger daughter and second of three children of Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, barrister and Liberal MP, and his wife, Minnie Elizabeth Gordon Cumming, daughter of General Richard John Meade. It was a close and happy marriage and resulted in two sons and two daughters (Margaret, Jean, Andrew and Malcolm). Baldwin remained a close friend and he wrote on average three times a week for twenty-five years to her. (12)

That day Mimi's father wrote in his diary: "The wedding has taken place and Mimi has left us for good. Everything was very happy. St Margaret's Church was lovely and well filled by a sea of familiar faces... Darling Mimi was perfect. Sweet and natural as ever; speaking out plainly what she meant and her absolute trust in John. I hope he is worthy of it. I think he is, but cannot yet say. I do not know him yet... The whole thing starts well. Pray God it will ever continue so." (13)

Baldwin wrote to Davidson about his marriage to Mimi: "God bless you both now and always as you step into the new life together. When I say you are wothy of her, you know what that means (from me) and she knows now and will learn more and more what you will mean to her... Never has a man had such a friend as you have been to me. You can't tell yourself, nor can any other: but I know it and I shall never forget it. I could have fought through alone but I should have been a soured embittered devil." (14)

Davidson later recalled: "Mimi gave him (Baldwin) much affection, understanding and companionship, and he depended upon me for advice of an entirely different kind. I often used to tell her the things that he ought to be doing and wasn't inclined to do, and she would tell him. She has always been like that, and SB adored her because of it. It was an extraordinary friendship for us both... Usually he could only take a short break at dinner-time from the House of Commons, when he would slip across to our house." (15)

The Davidsons and Baldwins used to go on holiday together in Aix-les-Bains. John C. Davidson later wrote: "The Baldwins were regular visitors to Aix-les-Bains, and Mimi and I often joined them there. We used to walk with him while Mrs Baldwin took the baths... It is not easy to describe adequately the splendor of the scenery of Aix-les-Bains. The outline in the morning or the evening of Le Col du Chat and the stiff but marvellous walk along the escarpment are both never-to-be-forgotten memories... It gave such relaxation to SB (Stanley Baldwin), and constituted an essential contrast with the heat and burden of politics at home." (16)

The Baldwins and Davidsons on holiday (August, 1923)
The Baldwins and Davidsons on holiday at Aix-les-Bains (August, 1923)

In his memoirs Davidson pointed out that Bonar Law had a strong dislike of Winston Churchill. "One noticeanle feature... was the evidence of Bonar's dislike for Winston. It was a combination of dislike and distrust." The two men clashed in 1919 when Churchill wanted to support Alexander Kolchak and the White Army during the Russian Civil War. Davidson commented: "I remember when the War Cabinet was discussing the intervention in Russia, and there was a long morning meeting at which Winston had made a speech advocating intervention in Russia to support Kolchak." This went on for sometime until Bonar Law intervened with the words: "Well, Gentlemen, I think we have discussed Russia long enough - we have heard quite enough of Winston's nonsense; we had better come to a decision." (17)

Member of Parliament

Davidson continued as Bonar Law's private secretary until the latter's patronage smoothed his entry into the House of Commons as MP for Hemel Hempstead in November 1920. Davidson now became Law's parliamentary private secretary (PPS). When Law retired on health grounds in March 1921, Davidson became parliamentary private secretary to Stanley Baldwin. "Davidson shared with Baldwin and a range of junior ministers an increasingly negative view of the Lloyd George coalition. The revolt against this was a movement at many levels within the Conservative Party involving constituency pressure, back-bench MPs, junior ministers, and restive peers." (18)

Davidson pointed out that Baldwin disapproved of David Lloyd George, the prime minister. "I think that it is true that although Baldwin fully appreciated the genius of Lloyd George, he so mistrusted his political and moral conduct of affairs that he reacted at once to any proposal or policy of Lloyd George's in a very negative and critical light. They were so entirely different in their mental and moral outlook on life that it was not surprising that they instinctively disliked each other. Although Baldwin appreciated the speed and subtlety of Lloyd George's mental processes, when it came to fundamentals they were poles apart." (19)

At a meeting on 14th October, 1922, Baldwin and Leo Amery, urged the Conservative Party to remove David Loyd George from power. Andrew Bonar Law disagreed as he believed that he should remain loyal to the Prime Minister. In the next few days Bonar Law was visited by a series of influential Tories - all of whom pleaded with him to break with Lloyd George. This message was reinforced by the result of the Newport by-election where the independent Conservative won with a majority of 2,000, the coalition Conservative came in a bad third. (20)

Another meeting took place on 18th October. Austen Chamberlain and Arthur Balfour both defended the coalition. However, Baldwin made a passionate speech against Lloyd George: "The Prime Minister was described this morning in The Times, in the words of a distinguished aristocrat, as a live wire. He was described to me and others in more stately language by the Lord Chancellor as a dynamic force. I accept those words. He is a dynamic force and it is from that very fact that our troubles, in our opinion, arise. A dynamic force is a terrible thing. It may crush you but it is not necessarily right." (21)

Davidson commented: "The speeches which I remember best were of course Baldwin's and Bonar's. Balfour's was most inappropriate to the feeling at the meeting and Austen Chamberlain's was a lecture. Austen made quite a good speech from his point of view, but it was really idolatry, because it was a speech indicating that the only man who could really lead the country was the man who practically the whole of our party, especially the rebelling element in it, regarded as the most evil genius in the country, and who Baldwin subsequently described brilliantly as a dynamic force." As a result of the debate the motion to withdraw from the coalition was carried by 185 votes to 88. (22)

David Lloyd George was forced to resign and his party only won 127 seats in the 1922 General Election. The Conservative Party won 344 seats and formed the next government under Andrew Bonar Law. The Labour Party promised to nationalise the mines and railways, a massive house building programme and to revise the peace treaties, went from 57 to 142 seats, whereas the Liberal Party increased their vote and went from 36 to 62 seats. (23)

Andrew Bonar Law, the leader of the Conservative Party, replaced David Lloyd George as prime minister. Stanley Baldwin was rewarded for his role in bringing down Lloyd George by becoming Chancellor of the Exchequer. Bonar Law's first task was to persuade the French government to be more understanding of Germany's ability to pay war reparations. Under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), agreed to 226 billion gold marks. In 1921, the amount was reduced to 132 billion. However, they were still unable to pay the full amount and by the end of 1922, Germany was deeply in debt. Bonar Law suggested lowering the payments but the French refused and on 11th January, 1923, the French Army occupied the Ruhr. (24)

In April 1923, Bonar Law began to have problems talking. On the advice of his doctor, Sir Thomas Horder, he took a month's break from work, leaving Lord George Curzon to preside over the cabinet and Stanley Baldwin to lead in the House of Commons. Horder examined Bonar Law in Paris on 17th May, and diagnosed him to be suffering from cancer of the throat, and gave him six months to live. Five days later Bonar Law resigned but decided against nominating a successor. (25)

Davidson sent a memorandum to King George V advising him on the appointment: "The resignation of the Prime Minister makes it necessary for the Crown to exercise its prerogative in the choice of Mr Bonar Law's successor. There appear to be only two possible alternatives. Mr Stanley Baldwin and Lord Curzon. The case for each is very strong. Lord Curzon has, during a long life, held high office almost continuously and is therefore possessed of wide experience of government. His industry and mental equipment are of the highest order. His grasp of the international situation is great."

Davidson pointed out that Baldwin also had certain advantages: "Stanley Baldwin has had a very rapid promotion and has by his gathering strength exceeded the expectations of his most fervent friends. He is much liked by all shades of political opinion in the House of Commons, and has the complete confidence of the City and the commercial world generally. He in fact typifies the spirit of the Government which the people of this country elected last autumn and also the same characteristics which won the people's confidence in Mr Bonar Law, i.e. honesty, simplicity and balance."

Given their relative merits, Davidson believed that the king should select Baldwin: "Lord Curzon temperamentally does not inspire complete confidence in his colleagues, either as to his judgement or as to his ultimate strength of purpose in a crisis. His methods too are inappropriate to harmony. The prospect of him receiving deputations as Prime Minister for the Miners' Federation or the Triple Alliance, for example, is capable of causing alarm for the future relations between the Government and labour, between moderate and less moderate opinion... The time, in the opinion of many members of the House of Commons, has passed when the direction of domestic policy can be placed outside the House of Commons, and it is admitted that although foreign and imperial affairs are of vital importance, stability at home must be the basic consideration. There is also the fact that Lord Curzon is regarded in the public eye as representing that section of privileged conservatism which has its value, but which in this democratic age cannot be too assiduously exploited." (26)

Arthur Balfour, the prime minister between July, 1902 and December, 1905, was also consulted and he suggested the king could chose Baldwin. (27) "Balfour... pointed out that a Cabinet already over-weighted with peers would be open to even greater criticism if one of them actually became Prime Minister; that, since the Parliament Act of 1911, the political centre of gravity had moved more definitely than ever to the Lower House; and finally that the official Opposition, the Labour party, was not represented at all in the House of Lords." (28)

Stanley Baldwin became prime minister on 22nd May, 1923. He told the House of Commons: "I never sought the office. I never planned out or schemed my life. I have but one idea, which was an idea that I inherited, and it was the idea of service - service to the people of this country. My father lived in the belief all his life… It is a tradition; it is in our bones; and we have to do it. That service seemed to lead one by way of business and the county council into Parliament, and it has led one through various strange paths to where one is; but the ideal remains the same, because all my life I believed from my heart the words of Browning, 'All service ranks the same with God'. It makes very little difference whether a man is driving a tramcar or sweeping streets or being Prime Minister, if he only brings to that service everything that is in him and performs it for the sake of mankind." (29)

Baldwin appointed Davidson a Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster: "Baldwin spent much time in the Davidsons' company; Mimi was a frequent companion in his favourite relaxation of long country walks, and they regularly holidayed with the Baldwins as well. Davidson shared his leader's political aims and moral vision, while being willing to devil on the detail and take care of confidential matters. In Baldwin's first ministry he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; this was outside the cabinet, but an ideal position from which to advise and assist." (30)

In the 1923 General Election he lost his Hemel Hempstead seat by 17 votes. Frances Davidson, explained why her husband lost: "Our seat was looked on as absolutely safe. We had won our previous election with a satisfactory majority and little difficulty. On this occasion, at the last moment a Mr Le Quesne stood as Liberal candidate... One of the worst fogs of the year occured on the day of the poll and for some unknown reason the polls closed at 8 p.m. instead of at 9. We drove ourselves back to Hemel Hempstead to experience two recounts and a defeat by seventeen votes to an unknown Liberal. We subsequently discovered that bout 3,000 of our supporters... had been stranded in their trains in the fog, arriving at their destinations too late to vote!" (31)

The Labour Party won 191 seats. Although the Conservative Party had 258 seats, Herbert Asquith announced that the Liberal Party would not keep the Tories in office. If a Labour Government were ever to be tried in Britain, he declared, "it could hardly be tried under safer conditions". On 22nd January, 1924 Stanley Baldwin resigned and Ramsay MacDonald, became the first Labour prime minister. Winston Churchill complained about the decision but Davidson defended it by arguing "any dishonest combination of that sort - which means the sacrificing of principles by both Liberal and Tory to deprive Labour of their constitutional rights - is the first step down the road to revolution." (32)

Zinoviev Letter

On 10th October 1924, MI5 received a copy of a letter, dated 15th September, sent by Grigory Zinoviev, chairman of the Comintern in the Soviet Union, to Arthur McManus, the British representative on the committee. In the letter British communists were asked to take all possible action to ensure the ratification of the Anglo-Soviet Treaties. It then went on to advocate preparation for military insurrection in working-class areas of Britain and for subverting the allegiance in the army and navy. (33)

Hugh Sinclair, head of MI6, provided "five very good reasons" why he believed the letter was genuine. However, one of these reasons, that the letter came "direct from an agent in Moscow for a long time in our service, and of proved reliability" was incorrect. (34) Vernon Kell, the head of MI5 and Sir Basil Thomson the head of Special Branch, were also convinced that the Zinoviev Letter was genuine. Davidson also thought it genuine but did not think it should be published. (35)

Desmond Morton, who worked for MI6, told Sir Eyre Crowe, at the Foreign Office, that an agent, Jim Finney, who worked for George Makgill, the head of the Industrial Intelligence Bureau (IIB), had penetrated Comintern and the Communist Party of Great Britain. Morton told Crowe that Finney "had reported that a recent meeting of the Party Central Committee had considered a letter from Moscow whose instructions corresponded to those in the Zinoviev letter". However, Christopher Andrew, who examined all the files concerning the matter, claims that Finney's report of the meeting does not include this information. (36)

Kell showed the letter to Ramsay MacDonald, the Labour Prime Minister. It was agreed that the letter should be kept secret until it was discovered to be genuine. (37) Thomas Marlowe, who worked for the press baron, Alfred Harmsworth, Lord Rothermere, had a good relationship with Reginald Hall, the Conservative Party MP, for Liverpool West Derby. During the First World War he was director of Naval Intelligence Division of the Royal Navy (NID) and he leaked the letter to Marlowe, in an effort to bring an end to the Labour government. (38)

The newspaper now contacted the Foreign Office and asked if it was a forgery. Without reference to MacDonald, a senior official told Marlowe it was genuine. The newspaper also received a copy of the letter of protest sent by the British government to the Russian ambassador, denouncing it as a "flagrant breach of undertakings given by the Soviet Government in the course of the negotiations for the Anglo-Soviet Treaties". It was decided not to use this information until closer to the election. (39)

However, in the 1924 General Election, the Conservative Party swept home to a conclusive victory. Davidson easily won his Hemel Hempstead seat. Their popular vote was up by nearly 2.5 million, from just over 5.5 million to 8 million. "They too had a larger number of opposed candidates in the field, but even so their average percentage rose from 42.6 to 51.9 (in 1922 it had been 48.6). In terms of seats they had an overwhelming majority over the other two parties combined, 419 out of a total of 615." (40)

Davidson later recorded that the letter came from the Conservative MP, Major Guy Kindersley, who had obtained it from a man called Donald im Thurn, a former MI5 agent: "The letter came to the Central Office second-hand. Curiously enough, it came through the Conservative Member for Hitchin, Major Guy Kindersley, who was in contact with the agent (Donald im Thurn) who had discovered the letter... There is no doubt that the result of the election was affected by the Zinoviev Letter. I have no doubt that we would have got in in 1924, but we would have had a smaller majority." (41)

Baldwin appointed Davidson as Parliamentary and Financial Secretary to the Admiralty. "My principal job was preparing the Estimates and I was also head of the Contracts Department... I also took Parliamentary questions for the First Lord when he did not wish to answer them or was not available." (42) In this post he was forced to deal with cuts in naval expenditure proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Winston Churchill, especially regarding the construction of new cruisers. "When he (Churchill) was at the Exchequer he believed that he was the keeper of the public purse and must keep a most severe control over all spending departments. And, although an old First Lord of the Admiralty, he felt compelled to oppose the expenditure regarded as the minimum required by the Navy to discharge its responsibilities as laid down by the Committee of Imperial Defence." (43)

The General Strike

Davidson had held the post of Chief Civil Commissioner and in 1925 he was asked to help in the government planning to deal with the feared General Strike. "I retained my contact with the Supply and Transport Committee, at which all the departments - including the Service Departments - likely to be concerned with the General Strike were represented. It met weekly and the complete scheme rapidly developed. It was made known to local authorities in broad terms before the end of November 1925, and by the spring of 1926 the preparations in each region were well advanced, and stocks of food and fuel had been built up in readiness for the almost inevitable emergency." (44)

At the end of April 1926, the miners were locked out of the pits. A Conference of Trade Union Congress met on 1st May 1926, and afterwards announced that a General Strike "in defence of miners' wages and hours" was to begin two days later. The leaders of the Trade Union Council were unhappy about the proposed General Strike, and during the next two days frantic efforts were made to reach an agreement with the Conservative Government and the mine-owners. (45)

The Trade Union Congress called the General Strike on the understanding that they would then take over the negotiations from the Miners' Federation. The main figure involved in an attempt to get an agreement was Jimmy Thomas. Talks went on until late on Sunday night, and according to Thomas, they were close to a successful deal when Stanley Baldwin broke off negotiations as a result of a dispute at the Daily Mail. (46)

What had happened was that Thomas Marlowe, the editor the newspaper, had produced a provocative leading article, headed "For King and Country", which denounced the trade union movement as disloyal and unpatriotic.The workers in the machine room, had asked for the article to be changed, when he refused they stopped working. Although, George Isaacs, the union shop steward, tried to persuade the men to return to work, Marlowe took the opportunity to phone Baldwin about the situation. (47)

The strike was unofficial and the TUC negotiators apologized for the printers' behaviour, but Baldwin refused to continue with the talks. "It is a direct challenge, and we cannot go on. I am grateful to you for all you have done, but these negotiations cannot continue. This is the end... The hotheads had succeeded in making it impossible for the more moderate people to proceed to try to reach an agreement." A letter was handed to the TUC negotiators that stated that the "gross interference with the freedom of the press" involved a "challenge to the constitutional rights and freedom of the nation". (48)

The General Strike began on 3rd May, 1926. The Trade Union Congress adopted the following plan of action. To begin with they would bring out workers in the key industries - railwaymen, transport workers, dockers, printers, builders, iron and steel workers - a total of 3 million men (a fifth of the adult male population). Only later would other trade unionists, like the engineers and shipyard workers, be called out on strike. Ernest Bevin, the general secretary of the Transport & General Workers Union (TGWU), was placed in charge of organising the strike. (49)

Davidson was appointed as "Deputy Chief Civil Commissioner and was the member of the Government responsible for publicity and it was agreed that he should not make himself responsible for any propaganda, but should confine himself to acting in the capacity of collector and distributor of Government news, covered when necessary, but undoctored... Before the strike actually began it became apparent that it might result in the disappearance of all the London and a great many of the provincial papers, and the vital importance of the British Broadcasting Company as a news-distributing agency was obvious." (50)

Davidson put John Reith under considerable pressure in order to control what was broadcast on the BBC. This included several appearances by Baldwin. He "had recognized the importance of the new medium from its inception... now, with an expert blend of friendliness and firmness, he repeated that the strike had first to be called off before negotiations could resume, but repudiated the suggestion that the Government was fighting to lower the standard of living of the miners or of any other section of the workers". (51)

In one broadcast Baldwin argued: "A solution is within the grasp of the nation the instant that the trade union leaders are willing to abandon the General Strike. I am a man of peace. I am longing and working for peace, but I will not surrender the safety and security of the British Constitution. You placed me in power eighteen months ago by the largest majority accorded to any party for many years. Have I done anything to forfeit that confidence? Cannot you trust me to ensure a square deal, to secure even justice between man and man?" (52)

Baldwin constantly clashed with Winston Churchill and rejected his suggestion to close down the trade union supporting Daily Herald. Churchill also wanted the government to take complete control over the BBC. (53) At a meeting, William Joynson-Hicks, made it clear that Davidson preferred to trust "Reith to do what was best rather than to take the BBC over. Churchill was enraged, and protested that it was monstrous not to use the BBC. Joynson-Hicks intervened swiftly to say that if feelings were so strong on the matter, the Cabinet had better discuss it." At the Cabinet meeting Baldwin agreed with Davidson and the BBC was not taken until government control. (54)

Davidson commented that Churchill was "the sort of man whom, if I wanted a mountain to be moved, I should send for at one. I think, however, that I should not consult him after he had moved the mountain if I wanted to know where to put it." (55) Neville Chamberlain found Churchill's approach unacceptable and wrote in his diary that "some of us are going to make a concerted attack on Winston... he simply revels in this affair, which he will continually treat and talk of as if it were 1914." (56)

On the 11th May, at a meeting of the Trade Union Congress General Committee, it was decided to accept the terms proposed by Herbert Samuel and to call off the General Strike. The following day, the TUC General Council visited 10 Downing Street and attempted to persuade the Government to support the Samuel proposals and to offer a guarantee that there would be no victimization of strikers. Baldwin refused but did say if the miners returned to work on the current conditions he would provide a subsidy for six weeks and then there would be the pay cuts that the Mine Owners Association wanted to impose. He did say that he would legislate for the amalgamation of pits, introduce a welfare levy on profits and introduce a national wages board. The TUC negotiators agreed to this deal. As Lord Birkenhead, a member of the Government was to write later, the TUC's surrender was "so humiliating that some instinctive breeding made one unwilling even to look at them." (57)

Davidson was full of praise for Baldwin in the way he handled the strike: "Baldwin took an extremely simple but very stubborn line, that the General Strike was an attempt at political revolution - the destruction of the Constitution - and the perpetrators must surrender before conversations were possible... It has got to be made obsolutely clear, in everything which is written about Baldwin and the General Strike, that his vision and his judgement was clear and decisive... The decision he took was that there should be no parley... The Constitution would not be safe until we had won the victory, and the victory depended on the surrender of the TUC." (58)

Bernard Partridge, The Lever Breaks (19th May 1926)
Bernard Partridge, The Lever Breaks (19th May 1926)

Stanley Baldwin already knew that the Mine Owners Association would not agree to the proposed legislation. They had already told Baldwin that he must not meddle in the coal industry. It would be "impossible to continue the conduct of the industry under private enterprise unless it is accorded the same freedom from political interference that is enjoyed by other industries." (59)

When the General Strike was terminated, the miners were left to fight alone. Cook appealed to the public to support them in the struggle against the Mine Owners Association: "We still continue, believing that the whole rank and file will help us all they can. We appeal for financial help wherever possible, and that comrades will still refuse to handle coal so that we may yet secure victory for the miners' wives and children who will live to thank the rank and file of the unions of Great Britain." (60)

On 21st June 1926, the British Government introduced a Bill into the House of Commons that suspended the miners' Seven Hours Act for five years - thus permitting a return to an 8 hour day for miners. In July the mine-owners announced new terms of employment for miners based on the 8 hour day. As Anne Perkins has pointed out this move "destroyed any notion of an impartial government". (61)

Hardship forced men to begin to drift back to the mines. By the end of August, 80,000 miners were back, an estimated ten per cent of the workforce. 60,000 of those men were in two areas, Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire. "Cook set up a special headquarters there and rushed from meeting to meeting. He was like a beaver desperately trying to dam the flood. When he spoke, in, say, Hucknall, thousands of miners who had gone back to work would openly pledge to rejoin the strike. They would do so, perhaps for two or three days, and then, bowed down by shame and hunger, would drift back to work." (62)

Chairman of the Conservative Party

In November 1926 Baldwin appointed Davidson as chairman of the Conservative Party organization. "Davidson's period as party chairman was the most important and visible phase of his career. Although there were difficulties, his tenure is considered to have been one of the most significant in the development of the Conservative electoral machine in the twentieth century - a period in which it had been an important factor in the party's success.... He made a significant contribution in three main areas: rationalizing the basic structure, developing new areas, and expanding the scale of operations." (63)

In 1927 Donald im Thurn, a former MI5 agent, who provided the forged Zinoviev Letter in 1924, contacted Davidson and demanded the £5,000 still owed by the Central Office to the person - still unknown - who gave him the letter in the first place. It seems that Reginald Hall, the MP, for Liverpool West Derby and the former Principal Agent of the Party and Stanley Jackson, the former chairman of the Party had arranged the initial payment. It is not known if Davidson paid the money. (64)

It has been claimed by Robert Blake, the author of The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) that Hall and Jackson had left the Conservative Party in a terrible state and was desperately short of money. Freddie Guest, the coalition Liberal chief whip, had arranged for "many gifts meant for the Conservatives somehow found their way into Lloyd George's mysterious fund." The Conservatives also had problems with Horace Farquhar, 1st Earl Farquhar, the treasurer of the party, who had financial problems, was "paying sums intended for the Conservative party into his own account and generally behaving with total irresponsibility." (65)

Davidson had a meeting with Herbert Blain, who had replaced Hall as Principal Agent of the Party: "At my first interview with him he behaved extraordinarily unwisely from his point of view; he made it quite clear that one of his main objects was to get rid of the Leader of the Party (Baldwin), whom he regarded as a semi-socialist, an attitude which showed that he had no conception of the authority that Baldwin had after the victory of 1924 - and not only among the rank and file of the Party. I had a tremendous row with Blain on the first and only time I saw him and talked to him, and dismissed him. He never came back to the office." Davidson now appointed Leigh MacLachlan as Principal Agent. (66)

In 1927 Davidson also recruited Joseph Ball, a former member of MI5 who had previously had responsibility of spying on the British socialist movement. Christopher Andrew, the author of The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (2009), has pointed out that Ball might have been involved in producing the Zinoviev Letter. "Suspicion also attaches to the role of the head of B Branch, Joseph Ball. Conservative Central Office, with which Ball had close contacts, probably had a copy of the Zinoviev letter by 22 October, three days before publication. Ball's subsequent lack of scruples in using intelligence for party-political advantage while at Central Office in the later 1920's strongly suggests, but does not prove, that he was willing to do so during the election campaign of October 1924." (67)

Davidson later admitted: "We had agents (ran by Joseph Ball) in certain key centres and we also had agents actually in the Labour Party Headquarters, with the result that we got their reports on political feeling in the country as well as our own. We also got advance "pulls" of their literature. This we arranged with Odhams Press, who did most of the Labour Party printing, with the result that we frequently received copies of their leaflets and pamphlets before they reached Transport House (the Labour HQ). This was of enormous value to us because we were able to study the Labour Party policy in advance, and in the case of leaflets we could produce a reply to appear simultaneously with their production." (68)

Votes for Women

Stanley Baldwin and John Davidson wanted to change the image of the Conservative Party in order to make it appear a less right-wing organisation. In March 1927 Baldwin suggested to his Cabinet that the government should propose legislation for the enfranchisement of nearly five million women between the ages of twenty-one and thirty. This measure meant that women would constitute almost 53% of the British electorate. The Daily Mail complained that these impressionable young females would be easily manipulated by the Labour Party. (69)

Winston Churchill was totally opposed to the move and argued that the affairs of the country ought not be put into the hands of a female majority. In order to avoid giving the vote to all adults he proposed that the vote be taken away from all men between twenty-one and thirty. He lost the argument and in Cabinet and asked for a formal note of dissent to be entered in the minutes. There was little opposition in Parliament to the bill and it became law on 2nd July 1928. As a result, all women over the age of 21 could now vote in elections. (70)

Many of the women who had fought for this right were now dead including Elizabeth Garrett Anderson, Barbara Bodichon, Emily Davies, Elizabeth Wolstenholme-Elmy, Constance Lytton and Emmeline Pankhurst. Millicent Fawcett, the leader of the NUWSS during the campaign for the vote, was still alive and had the pleasure of attending Parliament to see the vote take place. That night she wrote in her diary that it was almost exactly 61 years ago since she heard John Stuart Mill introduce his suffrage amendment to the Reform Bill on May 20th, 1867." (71)

Davidson was determined to concentrate his future political campaigns to gain the support of women voters. He employed Marjorie Maxse, as Deputy Chief Agent, to make it quite clear to the Party that the women were to play a "very important part in the development of Conservatism in the country". (72) It has been pointed out by Neal R. McCrillis, the author of The British Conservative Party in the Age of Universal Suffrage (1998), that she told party agents "to teach women to be voters and Conservative voters, not to create a feminist movement within the Conservative party". (73)

According to her biographer, Mark Pottle Marjorie Maxse believed that "women Conservatives were important for fund-raising and canvassing, and... she believed that men mostly did not wish to give them organizational responsibility and so she favoured developing separate women's branches at the constituency level... By retaining a separate organization women stood a greater chance to gain recognition of their role, as well as retain a degree of autonomy. She appreciated that this could also lead to their being marginalized, but on balance she felt that the policy brought about real advances." (74)

Another important woman in Davidson's campaign was Caroline Bridgeman (the first woman to be Chairman of the Annual Conference). Davidson wrote to Sir Charles Hall-Cain about the good work that Bridgeman was doing: "When I think of the sacrifice that some of our women have made and the incalculable services they have given to the Party - women like Lady Bridgeman - it is not surprising that I am moved to cheer them on to further efforts... Whether we like it or not, the future of the country is largely in the hands of the women, equally with us men, and no greater service can be rendered to the Party than to provide as powerful a centre as possible in London for the attraction and education of Conservative women." (75)

Lady Bridgeman had warned Davidson that Leigh MacLachlan, the Conservative Party's Principal Agent, was not sympathetic to the women's cause. She proved correct and in January 1928, Davidson informed Stanley Baldwin that he intended to have him removed from office: "He is most unpopular with Members of Parliament, and he is regarded with disfavour by some and with ridicule by others of the Executive of the National Union and by the local leaders of the Party in the country." (76)

The 1929 General Election

Davidson had a major problem raising money for the Conservative Party to fight future elections. One of the problems was Arthur Maundy Gregory who had for several years working for David Lloyd George in raising funds for the Liberal Party. As Robert Rhodes James has pointed out: "Davidson's strategy had a brilliant simplicity. He introduced what was in effect a spy into the Gregory organization, whose task it was to obtain the list of Gregory's clients. Davidson then saw to it that no one on that list obtained any honour or award of any kind. Gregory's position depending upon his ability to deliver the goods for which his clients had paid him. By ensuring that none of his clients received any award, Davidson devastatingly undermined Gregory's entire scheme of operations." (77)

Davidson's intention was for rich businessmen to come directly to him if they wanted to buy honours. For ecample, in a memorandum in March 1929 he recorded: "I have seen (censored) this morning. He is desperately anxious for a peerage in the dissolution list, and had the audacity to suggest that he would give £30,000 to Party funds in addition to all his previous donations after it had gone through. I told him that I would see what could be done." (78)

Three months later Davidson told the businessman that although Baldwin was unwilling to recommend him for a peerage he was prepared to "recommend him to the King for a GBE for philanthropic and public services" and "that his generosity to the Party would not be forgotten in the future". (79) He added that if the Conservative Party won the forthcoming election "his name will be amongst the first to which consideration will be given". Five months later The Daily Mail reported that the businessman, who had not been granted a peerage, was demanding his money back. (80)

Davidson needed the money as he had presided over a huge expansion of staff and spending. By 1928 central office employed 296 persons in London and the regional offices. "Although Davidson did not hold the formal post of party treasurer in fact he did much of the fund-raising. This was an area at which even his critics admitted he was effective, and he raised £1 million before the general election of 1929. In his memoirs Davidson identified himself with having stamped out political corruption through the sale of honours, a scandal which had tarnished the Lloyd George coalition. In practice what this meant was not an end to rewards for faithful contributors, but a return to the former discreet and indirect methods." (81)

Stanley Baldwin firmly believed that he would win the 1929 General Election. He realised that he did not have a good manifesto, "but thought that his reputation as a moderate statesman, calmly if slowly steering the country in the right direction, would overcome that". (82) In its manifesto the Conservative Party blamed the General Strike for the country's economic problems. "Trade suffered a severe set-back owing to the General Strike, and the industrial troubles of 1926. In the last two years it has made a remarkable recovery. In the insured industries, other than the coal mining industry, there are now 800,000 more people employed and 125,000 fewer unemployed than when we assumed office... This recovery has been achieved by the combined efforts of our people assisted by the Government's policy of helping industry to help itself. The establishment of stable conditions has given industry confidence and opportunity." (83)

Ramsay MacDonald and the Labour Party attacked the record of Baldwin's government: "By its inaction during four critical years it has multiplied our difficulties and increased our dangers. Unemployment is more acute than when Labour left office.... The Government's further record is that it has helped its friends by remissions of taxation, whilst it has robbed the funds of the workers' National Health Insurance Societies, reduced Unemployment Benefits, and thrown thousands of workless men and women on to the Poor Law. The Tory Government has added £38,000,000 to indirect taxation, which is an increasing burden on the wage-earners, shop-keepers and lower middle classes." (84)

In the 1929 General Election the Conservatives won 8,656,000 votes (38%), the Labour Party 8,309,000 (37%) and the Liberals 5,309,000 (23%). However, the bias of the system worked in Labour's favour, and in the House of Commons the party won 287 seats, the Conservatives 261 and the Liberals 59. The Conservatives lost 150 seats and became for the first time a smaller parliamentary party than Labour. David Lloyd George, the leader of the Liberals, admitted that his campaign had been unsuccessful but claimed he held the balance of power: "It would be silly to pretend that we have realised our expectations. It looks for the moment as if we still hold the balance." However, both Baldwin and MacDonald refused to form a coalition government with Lloyd George. Baldwin resigned and once again MacDonald agreed to form a minority government. (85)

John C. Davidson was attacked by some members for his role in the general election campaign. "I have often been heavily criticized for concentrating the attack of the campaign on the Liberals rather than on the Socialists. There is a certain amount of justification in this criticism, but the reason we attacked the Liberals heavily was because they had a far greater nuisance value than they really deserved. They had no policy, they had - so far as one could tell - no political principles differing from ours, and yet they were determined to split the vote in order to get Labour in." (86)

Davidson told Samuel Hoare that being chairman of the Conservative Party was a "thankless task" and "a blind alley" (87) Neville Chamberlain led the attacks on Davidson and criticised the uninspiring campaign themes of "Safety first" and "Trust Baldwin". Davidson had alienated a range of figures, including the two main press barons, Lord Rothermere and Lord Beaverbrook. Rothermere that Baldwin did badly in the election because he was too left-wing and probably a "crypto-socialist". Chamberlain told Davidson bluntly in April that he had to go; after further delay, Chamberlain pressed again and Davidson resigned on 29th May, 1930. (88)

Marjorie Maxse wrote to Joan Davidson about her husband's resignation: "I have felt so boiling with rage and resentment about the Chairman's resignation that I have not known what to write to you and have wanted to very much. I will leave that on one side though and merely tell you what you know already and that is how terribly sorry I am and how much we all feel it. The office is furious and ready to go out and slay all his persecutors. It is all so unjust. He is one of the best Chairmen we have ever hard, and they will all realize it when it is too late. We shall never get anyone like him again. I can't tell you what he has done for the office. It has never been so happy, so loyal, or had such co-operation." (89)

Caroline Bridgeman also wrote to give Davidson her support: "You must not be downhearted. The value of good work is not measured by the applause it elicits nor impaired by disloyal criticism. David has done more good things at the Central Office than anyone I can remember in 40 years! I never wanted him to take it and knew it would be a thankless task, but I never realized how utterly beastly some people could be and I do not now understand how this disaffection was promoted... So cheer up, my dear, and remember that an unmolested career of success is bad for anyone - and to have been popular with everyone would have been proof that David was doing his work badly." (90)

Stanley Baldwin wrote to Joan Davidson about the situation: "I have been waiting for the announcement that appeared this morning of David's resignation before writing to tell you how much I have sympathized with you both over this most trying time. The unwarrantable attacks on David have not only been unjust, but also most unfair... But my dear, cheer up, wait till his successor or successors are in office and the same old discordant times will be renewed. Just wait, and David's day will come sooner or later... It has been a horrible time for you both, but with a clear conscience of having striven to do one's best you need have no regrets and those that really matter - one's friends - know! (91)

Davidson's resignation did not bring an end to the crisis over Baldwin's leadership. The Daily Chronicle commented: "The Conservative revolt against Mr. Baldwin's leadership is gaining strength, and preparations are being considered for definite open actions. The resignation of Mr J.C.C. Davidson from the Chairmanship of the party organization has stimulated the movement... It is hailed by the anti-Baldwin faction as a success in the campaign against Mr. Baldwin himself." (92)

In August 1931, Ramsay MacDonald formed a National Government. It contained only other members of the Labour Party: Philip Snowden (Chancellor of the Exchequer), Jimmy Thomas (Colonial Secretary) and John Sankey (Lord Chancellor). The Conservatives had four places and the Liberals two: Stanley Baldwin (Lord President), Neville Chamberlain (Minister of Health), Samuel Hoare (Secretary for India), Herbert Samuel (Home Secretary), Lord Reading (Foreign Secretary) and Philip Cunliffe-Lister (President of the Board of Trade). (93)

Davidson served outside the cabinet as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Davidson felt sorry for MacDonald: "I have great sympathy with the PM's position; he has no organization and he has a lot of people who are pin-pricking him and are expecting rewards for their loyalty to him in a field which he cannot touch. No election can be won without an organization and it is therefore useless to run his friends at by-elections in the face of a hostile Conservative or Liberal or both organizations. He feels completely impotent and is inclined to blame us because we have a very efficient, very democratic and unhappily for him almost completely universal Party machine." (94)

Davidson was knighted in 1935. Stanley Baldwin resigned in May 1937, and as he had never got on well with the new prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, and he decided to leave active politics. He was given the title, Viscount Davidson of Little Gaddesden and his wife, Joan Davidson, stood and won his former seat at Hemel Hempstead. He spent his time on his business concerns, and especially the family's Argentine estates, after leaving the House of Commons. (95)

On the outbreak of the Second World War Davidson was invited by Sir Walter Monckton to serve as an adviser and then controller of production at the Ministry of Information. However, in July 1941, Brendan Bracken, dismissed Davidson: "I had been appointed by Walter Monckton and brought into the Ministry as Controller of Production - BBC, films, posters, etc. It was a most astonishing organization. It had no system at all. Monckton asked me to write a report and make recommendations for reorganization. The report was put up to the new Minister (Brendan Bracken) who had already sacked me to the press at a luncheon. They (the press) thought it brusque and rude. I forced him to sack me personally. Later he begged me to return." (96)

In 1960 Davidson began compiling material for a volume of memoirs, including a number of tape-recorded conversations. However, a cerebral atheroma in 1962 and further serious illness at the end of 1963 meant that he could not complete this. His memory was not affected, and a volume which blended the incomplete memoirs with documents from his extensive archive was edited by Robert Rhodes James and published as Memoirs of a Conservative in 1969. (97)

John Colin Campbell Davidson died on 11th December 1970.

Primary Sources

(1) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

Davidson's relationship with Law had brought him into the inner counsels of the Conservative Party by 1923, and his friendship with Baldwin was to keep him there for the next fourteen years in a variety of roles. This was also a filial relationship across generations - indeed, Davidson met his wife through Baldwin, as she was a friend of one of his daughters. Baldwin spent much time in the Davidsons' company; Mimi was a frequent companion in his favourite relaxation of long country walks, and they regularly holidayed with the Baldwins as well. Davidson shared his leader's political aims and moral vision, while being willing to devil on the detail and take care of confidential matters. In Baldwin's first ministry he became chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster; this was outside the cabinet, but an ideal position from which to advise and assist. He combined this office with the position of chief civil commissioner, responsible for preparing plans to cope with a paralysing industrial stoppage; later, in the general strike of 1926, he served as deputy chief civil commissioner with responsibility for government publicity, overseeing the activities of Winston Churchill and the British Gazette.

(2) J. C. C. Davidson, memorandum sent to Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, private secretary of King George V (22nd May, 1923)

The resignation of the Prime Minister makes it necessary for the Crown to exercise its prerogative in the choice of Mr Bonar Law's successor. There appear to be only two possible alternatives. Mr Stanley Baldwin and Lord Curzon. The case for each is very strong. Lord Curzon has, during a long life, held high office almost continuously and is therefore possessed of wide experience of government. His industry and mental equipment are of the highest order. His grasp of the international situation is great...

Stanley Baldwin has had a very rapid promotion and has by his gathering strength exceeded the expectations of his most fervent friends. He is much liked by all shades of political opinion in the House of Commons, and has the complete confidence of the City and the commercial world generally. He in fact typifies the spirit of the Government which the people of this country elected last autumn and also the same characteristics which won the people's confidence in Mr Bonar Law, i.e. honesty, simplicity and balance....

Lord Curzon temperamentally does not inspire complete confidence in his colleagues, either as to his judgement or as to his ultimate strength of purpose in a crisis. His methods too are inappropriate to harmony. The prospect of him receiving deputations as Prime Minister for the Miners' Federation or the Triple Alliance, for example, is capable of causing alarm for the future relations between the Government and labour, between moderate and less moderate opinion... The time, in the opinion of many members of the House of Commons, has passed when the direction of domestic policy can be placed outside the House of Commons, and it is admitted that although foreign and imperial affairs are of vital importance, stability at home must be the basic consideration. There is also the fact that Lord Curzon is regarded in the public eye as representing that section of privileged conservatism which has its value, but which in this democratic age cannot be too assiduously exploited.

(3) J. C. C. Davidson, letter to Sir Charles Hall-Cain (December 1929)

When I think of the sacrifice that some of our women have made and the incalculable services they have given to the Party - women like Lady Bridgeman - it is not surprising that I am moved to cheer them on to further efforts... Whether we like it or not, the future of the country is largely in the hands of the women, equally with us men, and no greater service can be rendered to the Party than to provide as powerful a centre as possible in London for the attraction and education of Conservative women.

Student Activities

The Middle Ages

The Normans

The Tudors

The English Civil War

Industrial Revolution

First World War

Russian Revolution

Nazi Germany

United States: 1920-1945

References

(1) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 5

(2) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(3) J. C. C. Davidson, memorandum (29th November, 1912)

(4) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 20

(5) John Grigg, Lloyd George, From Peace To War 1912-1916 (1985) page 456

(6) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(7) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 42

(8) Anne Chisholm & Michael Davie, Beaverbrook: A Life (1992) page 151

(9) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 50

(10) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 76

(11) Stanley Baldwin, letter to Elizabeth Dickinson (7th January, 1919)

(12) Frances Joan Davidson : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (3rd September, 2004)

(13) Willoughby Hyett Dickinson, diary entry (9th April, 1919)

(14) Stanley Baldwin, letter to J. C. C. Davidson (8th April, 1919)

(15) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 83

(16) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 174

(17) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 53

(18) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(19) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) pages 114-115

(20) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 205

(21) Stanley Baldwin, speech at a meeting of Conservative Party members of Parliament (19th October, 1922)

(22) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) pages 127-128

(23) Frederick W. Craig, British General Election Manifestos, 1900-1966 (1970) pages 9-17

(24) Conan Fischer, The Ruhr Crisis, 1923–1924 (2003) pages 28-31

(25) Robert Blake, The Unknown Prime Minister: The Life and Times of Andrew Bonar Law (1955) page 516

(26) J. C. C. Davidson, memorandum sent to Arthur Bigge, 1st Baron Stamfordham, private secretary of King George V (22nd May, 1923)

(27) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 157

(28) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 213

(29) Stanley Baldwin, speech in the House of Commons (7th November 1923)

(30) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(31) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 189

(32) J. C. C. Davidson, private letter (12th December, 1923)

(33) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 226

(34) G.D.H. Cole, A History of the Labour Party from 1914 (1948) page 165

(35) Gill Bennett, Churchill's Man of Mystery: Desmond Morton and the World of Intelligence (2006) page 82

(36) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 199

(37) Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (2009) page 150

(38) A. J. P. Taylor, English History: 1914-1945 (1965) pages 289-290

(39) Hamilton Fyfe, Thomas Marlowe : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(40) G.D.H. Cole, A History of the Labour Party from 1914 (1948) pages 166-167

(41) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 226

(42) J. C. C. Davidson, recorded interview (5th July 1961)

(43) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) pages 209-210

(44) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 231

(45) Margaret Morris, The General Strike (1976) page 214

(46) Hamilton Fyfe, Behind the Scenes of the Great Strike (1926) page 24

(47) Hamilton Fyfe, Thomas Marlowe : Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(48) John Hodge, Workman's Cottage to Windsor Castle (1931) page 363

(49) Julian Symons, The General Strike (1957) pages 137-138

(50) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 233

(51) Christopher Farman, The General Strike: Britain's Aborted Revolution? (1972) page 190

(52) Stanley Baldwin, BBC broadcast (8th May, 1926)

(53) Roy Jenkins, Baldwin (1987) page 102

(54) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 247

(55) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 246

(56) Neville Chamberlain, diary entry (9th May, 1926)

(57) Frank McLynn, The Road Not Taken: How Britain Narrowly Missed a Revolution (2013) page 461

(58) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 232

(59) Charles Loch Mowat, Britain Between the Wars (1955) page 332

(60) Paul Davies, A. J. Cook (1987) pages 102-103

(61) Anne Perkins, A Very British Strike: 3 May-12 May 1926 (2007) page 255

(62) Paul Foot, An Agitator of the Worst Type (January, 1986)

(63) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(64) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 199

(65) Robert Blake, The Conservative Party from Peel to Churchill (1970) page 230

(66) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 266

(67) Christopher Andrew, The Defence of the Realm: The Authorized History of MI5 (2009) page 150

(68) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 272

(69) The Daily Mail (28th April, 1928)

(70) Clive Ponting, Winston Churchill (1994) page 314

(71) Millicent Fawcett, diary entry (2nd July 1928)

(72) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 266

(73) Neal R. McCrillis, The British Conservative Party in the Age of Universal Suffrage (1998) page 62

(74) Mark Pottle, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004-2014)

(75) J. C. C. Davidson, letter to Sir Charles Hall-Cain (December 1929)

(76) J. C. C. Davidson, letter to Stanley Baldwin (17th January, 1928)

(77) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 280

(78) J. C. C. Davidson, memorandum (March, 1929)

(79) J. C. C. Davidson, memorandum (18th June, 1929)

(80) The Daily Mail (13th December 1929)

(81) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(82) Roy Jenkins, Baldwin (1987) page 107

(83) The Conservative Manifesto: Mr. Stanley Baldwin's Election Address (May, 1929)

(84) The Labour Manifesto: Labour's Appeal to the Nation (May, 1929)

(85) Roy Hattersley, David Lloyd George (2010) page 608

(86) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 301

(87) J. C. C. Davidson, letter to Samuel Hoare (30th December, 1929)

(88) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(89) Marjorie Maxse, letter to Frances Davidson (5th June, 1930)

(90) Caroline Bridgeman, letter to Frances Davidson (6th June, 1930)

(91) Stanley Baldwin, letter to Frances Davidson (30th May, 1930)

(92) The Daily Chronicle (31st May, 1930)

(93) Nicklaus Thomas-Symonds, Attlee: A Life in Politics (2012) page 59

(94) J. C. C. Davidson, letter to Stanley Baldwin (27th July, 1932)

(95) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)

(96) J. C. C. Davidson, (edited by Robert Rhodes James), Memoirs of a Conservative (1969) page 426

(97) Stuart Ball, J. C. C. Davidson: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (25th September, 2014)


John Simkin