Charles Frederick Gurney Masterman PC MP (24 October 1873 – 17 November 1927) was a British radical Liberal Party politician, intellectual and man of letters.

He worked closely with such Liberal leaders as David Lloyd George and Winston Churchill in designing social welfare projects, including the National Insurance Act 1911.

[1] On his mother’s side, Masterman was a grandson of William Brodie Gurney and a distant relative of Elizabeth Fry.

His first published work was From the Abyss, a collection of articles he had written anonymously while living in the slums of south east London.

[4] In 1901, he edited a collection of essays by eminent people of the day, entitled The Heart of the Empire: a discussion of Problems of Modern City Life in England.

Masterman worked closely with Liberal leaders Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George on the People's Budget of 1909.

Before its abolition in 1917, the Bureau published some 300 books and pamphlets in 21 languages, distributed over 4,000 propaganda photographs every week, and circulated maps, cartoons and lantern slides to the media.

The Times reported on 22 August 1916, "Crowded audiences ... were interested and thrilled to have the realities of war brought so vividly before them, and if women had sometimes to shut their eyes to escape for a moment from the tragedy of the toll of battle which the film presents, opinion seems to be general that it was wise that the people at home should have this glimpse of what our soldiers are doing and daring and suffering in Picardy.

The agency was peremptorily closed as soon as the war ended, and neither Masterman nor Buchan received the usual public honours.

[14] Masterman played a crucial role in publicising reports of the Armenian genocide, in part to strengthen the moral case against the Ottoman Empire.

For his role, Masterman has been the target of repeated Turkish allegations that he fabricated, or at least embellished, the events for propaganda purposes.

The local Liberal association wanted an opponent of the coalition to run as their candidate and managed to attract Masterman.

[16] Masterman's good political relationship with the Manchester Liberals resulted in their inviting him to contest one of their constituencies, which he accepted.

[17] During the 1924 election campaign, Masterman publicly blamed Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald for the collapse of Liberal-Labour co-operation.

[18] At the General election of 1924, Masterman was heavily defeated in Manchester Rusholme by the Unionist candidate Frank Boyd Merriman.

He proposed a wide-ranging program to assist the working class, such as labour exchanges, wage boards and free meals for schoolchildren.

She was the author of A Book of Wild Things (1910), Poems (1913), and London from the Bus-top (1951); she also edited Mary Gladstone (Mrs Drew): her diaries and letters (1930).