Archibald Grove

Thomas Newcomen Archibald Grove (1855[1] – 4 June 1920[2]), commonly known as Archibald Grove, was a British magazine editor and Liberal Party[3] politician.

Archibald Grove
Archibald Grove
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for West Ham North
In office 1892–1895
Preceded by	James Forrest Fulton
Succeeded by	Ernest Gray
Member of the United Kingdom Parliament for South Northamptonshire
In office 1906–1910
Preceded by	Edward Fitzroy
Succeeded by	Edward Fitzroy

Early life

He was the second son of Captain Edward Grove and Elizabeth née Watts,[1][4][5] following private education he attended Oriel College, Oxford, matriculating 21 January 1875, then later was entered as a student to the Inner Temple on 19 April 1883.[6] He married Kate Sara (widow of Edmund Gurney) in 1889.[1][4][5]

The New Review

In 1889 Grove became the founding editor of the New Review.[1][4][7][8] He launched the publication at the low price of sixpence, as he sought "to place within the reach of all a critical periodical of the first order".[9] The Review was initially successful, with contributors such as Rider Haggard, Thomas Carlyle and Henry James, while some of Tennyson's poems first appeared there.[1][10][11] However, by 1892 he had been forced to double the cover price, and was suffering competition from newer and illustrated periodicals such as The Strand Magazine, The Idler and the Pall Mall Gazette.[9] At the end of 1894 he sold the magazine.[9]

Residences

In the 1890s Grove commissioned Edwin Lutyens to design his house, Berry Downe Court, near Overton, Hampshire.[4] In 1904 he bought 88 acres (36 ha) of land near Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire. He again engaged Lutyens, but his design was not built due to Grove's financial difficulties.[12][13][14] A more modest house, "Pollards Park" was constructed, where he lived until his death.[1][2][15]

Politics

Grove was a member of the Liberal Party, and unsuccessfully contested the constituency of Winchester in 1886.[1][4] In 1891 he was chosen to contest West Ham North.[16] When the general election was held in July 1892, Grove unseated the sitting Conservative Party MP, Forrest Fulton by the narrow margin of 33 votes.[17] At the ensuing general election in 1895, he was defeated by Ernest Gray of the Conservative Party, who also had the support of the National Union of Teachers.[18][19]

The next general election was called in 1900. Grove was unanimously chosen by the local Liberal Association to contest the constituency of South Northamptonshire.[20] However, the "khaki" election was held at the height of the Second Boer War, which benefitted the Conservative candidate Edward Fitzroy, who won the seat.

He contested South Northamptonshire again at the 1906 general election. There was a swing to the Liberals, and Grove returned to the Commons. In September 1908, Grove announced that he would not be standing for election again due to ill health.[21] He accordingly retired from politics at the January 1910 general election.

After parliament

In 1916 Grove was a member of the executive committee of the Anglo-Russian Trade Bureau.[22] He died in Weybridge, Surrey in June 1920.[2]

References

1. "GROVE, (Thomas Newcomen) Archibald". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
2. "Deaths". The Times. 8 June 1924. p. 1.
3. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1977]. British parliamentary election results 1832–1885 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 206, 360. ISBN 0-900178-26-4.
4. Plarr, Victor G (1899). Men and Women of the Time. A Dictionary of Contemporaries (15 ed.). London: Routledge. p. 456.
5. "Marriages". Daily News. London. 18 November 1889. p. 1.
6. Foster, Joseph. Alumni Oxonienses: The Members of the University of Oxford, 1715-1886
7. "The "New Review". The Times. 31 May 1889. p. 9.
8. Brompton Road: South side "Brompton". Survey of London. 41. 1983. pp. 9–32. Retrieved 15 November 2008.
9. McDonald, Peter D (2002). British Literary Culture and Publishing Practice, 1880-1914. Cambridge University Press. pp. 47–48. ISBN 978-0-521-89394-7.
10. Brake, Laurel; Demoor, Marysa (2009). Dictionary of nineteenth-century journalism in Great Britain and Ireland. Academia Press. p. 445. ISBN 978-90-382-1340-8.
11. Tennyson and Victorian Periodicals: Commodities in Context, by Kathryn Ledbetter, 2007, p. 99.
12. Brown, Jane (1982). Gardens of a golden afternoon: the story of a partnership, Edwin Lutyens & Gertrude Jekyll. Van Nostrand Reinhold. p. 167. ISBN 978-0-442-21256-8.
13. Brown, Jane (1996). Lutyens and the Edwardians: an English architect and his clients. Viking. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-670-85871-2.
14. Stamp, Gavin (2001). Edwin Lutyens: country houses ; from the archives of Country Life. Aurum. p. 17. ISBN 978-1-85410-763-3.
15. John Dodd (2007). "Pollards Wood". The History of Chalfont St Giles. Archived from the original on 15 May 2011.
16. "The Approaching General Election. I.-London". The Times. 27 October 1891. p. 8.
17. British parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)
18. "England". The Times. 27 June 1895. p. 10.
19. "The tide of electoral success continues to flow". The Times. 16 July 1895. p. 9.
20. "England And Wales". The Times. 24 September 1900. p. 8.
21. "Election News". The Times. 1 October 1908. p. 10.
22. "Anglo-Russian Trade Bureau". The Times. 28 June 1916. p. 4.

• Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Archibald Grove

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by James Forrest Fulton	Member of Parliament for West Ham North 1892–1895	Succeeded by Ernest Gray
Preceded by Edward Fitzroy	Member of Parliament for South Northamptonshire 1906–1910	Succeeded by Edward Fitzroy