Carlyon Bellairs

Commander Carlyon Wilfroy Bellairs (15 March 1871 – 22 August 1955) was a British Royal Navy officer and politician.

Commander Carlyon Bellairs
Member of Parliament for King's Lynn
In office 8 February 1906 – 10 February 1910
Preceded by	Thomas Gibson Bowles
Succeeded by	Thomas Gibson Bowles
Member of Parliament for Maidstone
In office 22 February 1915 – 7 October 1931
Preceded by	Viscount Castlereagh
Succeeded by	Sir Alfred Bossom
Personal details
Born	(1871-03-15)15 March 1871 Gibraltar
Died	22 August 1955(1955-08-22) (aged 84) Barbados
Political party	Liberal (Before 1906) Liberal Unionist (1906–1912) Conservative (After 1912)
Military service
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Branch/service	Royal Navy
Years of service	Until 15 March 1902
Rank	Commander

Bellairs was born at Gibraltar, the son of Lieutenant-General Sir William Bellairs, KCMG, and Blanche St. John Bellairs.

He was a Lieutenant of the Royal Navy, and was placed on the retired list 15 March 1902.^[1]

In the 1906 general election he was elected to Parliament for King's Lynn as a Liberal, but in October 1909 crossed the floor to sit as a Liberal Unionist.^[2] In the January 1910 general election he unsuccessfully stood for election at West Salford and in December 1910 was also defeated at Walthamstow.

In 1911 Bellairs was married to Charlotte, daughter of Colonel H. L. Pierson of Long Island, USA. From 1913 he was a member of the London County Council as Municipal Reform Party member for Lewisham, resigning on 17 April 1915.

He returned to Parliament as Conservative member for Maidstone at a by-election in February 1915, and was re-elected for the Maidstone division of Kent in 1918. He retired from Parliament at the 1931 general election, having declined a baronetcy in 1927.

Charlotte Bellairs died in 1939. Carlyon Bellairs lived at 10 Eaton Place, London and Gore Court, Maidstone, Kent, and was a member of the Carlton Club and the Coefficients dining club of social reformers set up in 1902 by the Fabian campaigners Sidney and Beatrice Webb. He died in Barbados in 1955 aged 84.

Carlyon Bellairs bequeathed his Barbados home, called Seabourne, as a research institute dedicated to the study of marine biology. McGill University in Montreal, Canada, founded Bellairs Research Institute in 1954 on the property. The institute as been expanded since, but the original house can still be seen close to shore and is often used as accommodation for visiting academics.

Works

• "The Navy and the Empire" . The Empire and the century. London: John Murray. 1905. pp. 197–212.

References

1. "No. 27418". The London Gazette. 21 March 1902. p. 1961.
2. David Butler and Gareth Butler, Twentieth Century British Political Facts 1900-2000, eighth edition, Macmillan 2000, p. 244

• Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British Members of Parliament Volume III 1919-1945, Harvester Press, 1979, p. 26

Further reading

• "Obituary: Commander C. Bellairs". The Times. London, England. 24 August 1955. p. 9.

External links

• Works by or about Carlyon Bellairs at the Internet Archive
• Portraits of Carlyon Bellairs at the National Portrait Gallery, London
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Carlyon Bellairs

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Thomas Gibson Bowles	Member of Parliament for King's Lynn 1906 – January 1910	Succeeded by Thomas Gibson Bowles
Preceded by Viscount Castlereagh	Member of Parliament for Maidstone 1915 – 1931	Succeeded by Sir Alfred Bossom