Donald Wade, Baron Wade

Donald William Wade, Baron Wade, DL (16 June 1904 – 6 November 1988) was a British solicitor who became a Liberal Party Member of Parliament. Wade's time in Parliament coincided with the time the Liberals were at their lowest ebb but his job as Chief Whip kept the party operating until times were better; however, his own seat was dependent on a local pact with the Conservatives and when it broke down, he was defeated. He was then elevated to the House of Lords where he became an active Peer.

Wade was born in Ilkley to a wealthy family who were Congregationalists. He had a poorly childhood, suffering from poliomyelitis. He was sent to the independent boarding Mill Hill School, set up by nonconformists, and went from there to Trinity Hall, Cambridge. After lecturing in Law at the University of Leeds, he qualified as a Solicitor and joined a company in Leeds where he became a partner.

Active in the Liberal Party, Wade wrote many pamphlets supporting Liberal policy. He was Chairman of the Yorkshire Liberal Federation for many years, and served on the Liberal party Executive from 1949. When boundary changes proposed in 1948 produced two constituencies based on the town of Huddersfield, where the local Liberal Association was strong, Wade proposed to the local Conservative Association that their respective parties would benefit from a pact whereby each agreed to fight only one of the constituencies and to support the other's candidate. The Conservatives wanted a pledge that any Liberal MP elected would not support a Labour government in a vote of no confidence; Wade slightly softened the wording and pledged that he "would not vote in such a way as to give a vote of confidence to an administration committed to further Socialist measures", which was accepted.

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