Edward Strauss

Edward Anthony Strauss (7 December 1862 – 25 March 1939) was an English corn, grain and hop merchant of German-Jewish background.

When Causton announced he did not intend to fight again Strauss replaced him and won the seat back from Dunn by the narrow margin of 18 votes, after a recount.

[14] At the 1924 general election Strauss tried to win his seat back, this time in a three-cornered contest with Haden-Guest and Mr J J Llewellin for the Conservatives.

[16] In the event, Strauss profited from the split in the socialist vote[17] gained the seat with a majority of 1,167 over Isaacs with Haden-Guest in third place with less than 20% of the poll.

The election contest was obviously a bitter one as Strauss announced he was cancelling all his public meetings which he claimed were being systematically disrupted and speakers being howled down by Labour Party supporters.

As a result, Strauss found himself the representative of the coalition against Labour in Southwark North at the election, Marcus Samuel having agreed to stand aside.

[19] This time, with no Conservative to split the anti-Labour vote and the great popularity of the National Government as a result of the economic crisis, Strauss won back the seat in a straight fight with Isaacs by a majority of 5,992 taking 65% of the poll.

[13] As the initial crisis passed, the Liberal Party became increasingly anxious about the government's stance on Free Trade and worried about the predominance of the Conservatives in the coalition.

[20] By October 1932, Strauss was writing openly to Herbert Samuel expressing the view that the Liberal Party could not be revived by adopting the slogan 'Back to Free Trade' and that this policy was only one of a number of important issues which needed the government action.

Having been deprived of the seat by small majorities in the past, Strauss was this time the lucky one, squeaking home in another straight fight with Isaacs by just 79 votes.

Mr Macgillicuddy, who conducted his own case, said he was seeking costs to cover his expenses (e.g. correspondence and printing) in bringing to Strauss' attention his failure to carry out his election pledges.

The problems had been caused by an accumulation of factors including default by debtors due to the fall in the market price of grain, government interference with the companies' trade with the US, cash-flow difficulties and bad decision making in management.

[28] While Strauss sought to distance himself from responsibility for these failures saying he had not been personally involved in the day-to-day affairs of the companies for many years, he was nevertheless brought low financially by it.

[33] In the by-election for North Southwark, in the vacancy caused by Strauss' death, George Isaacs again took up the cudgels on behalf of the Labour Party, gaining the seat from the Liberal Nationals in a straight fight with Captain A H Henderson-Livesey by a majority of 1,493 votes.