Sir Charles Henry, 1st Baronet

Sir Charles Solomon Henry, 1st Baronet (28 January 1860 – 27 December 1919) was an Australian merchant and businessman who lived mostly in Britain and sat as a Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons from 1906 until his death.

[4] They had one son, Cyril, who held a commission in the Worcestershire Regiment (Special Reserve) and who was killed at the battle of Loos in September 1915.

[3] The venture was clearly a great success as by 1915 he was being described as a millionaire,[12] and Frank Owen a biographer of David Lloyd George, wrote of Henry that he was a self-made man who had made a fortune in South Africa.

[13] During the First World War he undertook a number of missions for the government accomplishing important work in the United States of America and Sweden.

At his own expense he equipped a private home for wounded soldiers in Berkshire and promoted the welfare of British troops in other ways.

Many prominent Jews opposed the establishment of a Jewish state, fearing this would lead to their co-religionists losing the citizenship of those countries where they and their forebears had long lived and prospered.

The Liberal Imperialists were in favour of a more positive attitude towards the development of the British Empire and Imperialism, ending the primacy of the party's commitment to Irish Home Rule.

[16] However Chelmsford was a safe Unionist seat, the previous member having been returned unopposed in 1895 and Henry's opponent was elected with a majority of 3,129 votes.

[23] The constituency was abolished for the 1918 general election and Henry switched his candidacy to the newly created seat of The Wrekin when he was returned unopposed as a supporter of the Coalition government.

[31] Even King Edward VII was concerned that there had been a lot of gossip about Lady Julia and Lloyd George and this may have delayed her husband's getting his knighthood.

It is also clear that Lady Henry's hurt feelings had a lot to do with the damage Lloyd George's rejection could do to her reputation as a political hostess.

[45] During the War, Henry was appointed to a number of important committees as he was identified as a loyal and sound occupant of the Coalition Liberal benches.

He was a member of Lord Balfour of Burleigh's committee on After-War Trade, which was charged with looking at the possible introduction of the metric system to replace Britain's existing coinage, weights and measures.

[47] In July 1917, Henry was appointed to sit on the House of Commons Select Committee on Finance, chaired by Herbert Samuel.