Wallace Lawler

Wallace Leslie Lawler (15 March 1912 – 28 September 1972) was a British Liberal politician.

In 1928 he founded the Worcester Boys’ Club for teenagers and was involved in youth work until he went to Birmingham in 1938 to work as an aircraft engineer.

During the Second World War, Lawler served in the 8th Battalion, the Worcestershire Regiment.

In 1943 he married Catherine Letitia Durcan.

They had two sons and two daughters.

Lawler had an early interest in community projects and youth work in particular.

In 1943, he founded the Public Opinion Action Association.

At the time of the 1945 general election, Lawler was said to be a man opposed to all political parties, but during the 1950s he became active in the Liberal Party, even though its electoral record in the West Midlands was dismal.

Lawler's activities in Birmingham had a national reach.

Lawler first stood for Parliament as Liberal candidate in Dudley in the Black Country at the 1955 general election coming third with under 10% share of the vote and losing his deposit.

In 1956, he became Secretary and later Chairman of an emergency accommodation bureau to find homes for homeless people in Birmingham set up after a conference of religious, civic, political and business people presided over by the Bishop of Birmingham, Dr J L Wilson.

Britain’s then best-selling newspaper the Daily Mirror reported Lawler’s campaigning activities, starting with a big splash on his Homeless Bureau in 1956.

He fought Birmingham, Perry Barr at the 1959 general election, again coming third, but this time gaining 14% of the poll and avoided losing his deposit.

There was a front page splash with ‘Rents: ‘Double or Quit’’ in 1960.

In 1962, Lawler became the first Liberal to be elected to Birmingham City Council for nearly 30 years when he won the Newtown Ward.

In 1964 he founded his own plastics business and later took over another established firm called ABCD Plastics, of which he became chairman.

Following up his interest in youth work, Lawler was associated with a wide range of community organisations.

In 1964, he was the candidate in Birmingham, Handsworth.

Again he came third, but achieved 17.6% of the poll.

He was re-elected in 1965, not only holding his seat but increasing his majority fourfold.

This was despite the fact that Labour worked hard to unseat him and had assigned one of the party's most experienced agents to work to secure his defeat.

Lawler held a number of important Liberal posts in the Birmingham area, including Chairman of Birmingham Liberal Organisation, and became the first chairman of the Birmingham Liberal Federation when it was founded in 1965.

The new Federation was established to end dissension between Birmingham Liberal Organisation and the West Midlands Liberal Federation and the ambitious plan was to make Birmingham the spearhead of a campaign to win industrial seats for the Liberal Party.

There was a 1966 article on fire safety in housing, and a long campaign against higher electricity charges saw a petition with 85,000 signatures handed in at No. 10 Downing Street.

At the 1966 general election, he switched to Birmingham, Ladywood.

In what was by that time one of the smallest constituencies in the country, with an electorate of only just over 25,000 (to be compared with electorates of around double that in the rest of the city) Lawler found he was able to make a greater impact at Parliamentary level, campaigning directly with the people who lived in the area.

He managed to come second to Labour in 1966, beating the Conservatives into third place.

The Birmingham Post wrote that Lawler waged a 'canny campaign': ‘in his election posters, the fact that he is a Liberal is not mentioned.

It just says: "Back Lawler, Man o’ the People, to Win.”’

Lawler gained nearly 24% of the vote to Labour's 58%.

There was a 1967 report about an all-night vigil by women in temporary accommodation who were separated from their husbands - this was two weeks after the showing of the TV play Cathy Come Home - and a 1968 splash about eight houses compulsorily purchased without any compensation.

He retained his Newtown seat again in 1968, and between 1968–1972 he led the Liberal Party's small group on the Council.

He was elected a Member of Parliament (MP) by gaining Birmingham, Ladywood from Labour at a by-election on 26 June 1969.

He also worked for the community through the Wallace Lawler Friendship Trust (1969) and Citizens’ Service Ltd (1970)

This result, plus the work in the constituency that Lawler did in the next three years, laid the foundation for his attempt on the seat at the Ladywood by-election in 1969.

However, Lawler only served for one year, as Labour's Doris Fisher regained the seat from him at the 1970 general election.

In 1971, he was created an Alderman, a position he held until he died the following year.

He was the last Liberal to serve as a Member of Parliament in Birmingham, until John Hemming of the successor Liberal Democrats gained Birmingham, Yardley in 2005.

Wallace Lawler was born in Worcester, the son of Stephen and Elizabeth Lawler (née Taylor).

He was educated at St Paul's School, Worcester and privately at Malvern, Worcestershire.