Thomas Berridge

Thomas Henry Devereux Berridge (6 July 1857 – 24 October 1924) was a British Liberal politician and solicitor.

Berridge was the son of the Reverend W Berridge the Vicar of Lowton St. Mary's in Lancashire. He was educated privately and at Upholland Grammar School where his father was the headmaster. In 1887 Berridge married Agnes Campion from Redhill. Mrs. Berridge suffered from heart problems in later life and while apparently in good health and spirits was taken ill suddenly at a dance in Kensington and died in a few minutes in February 1909. They had one son and one daughter.

Berridge went into the law and was articled to Maskell Peace, solicitors of Wigan, who were the solicitors to the Mining Association of Great Britain. In 1878 he was admitted as a solicitor. In 1882 he became a partner in the firm of Burn & Berridge, solicitors to the government of Newfoundland. He was a member and later Master of the Court of the City of London Solicitors' Company of which David Lloyd George was also a member.

Like most middle-class men of his time, Berridge took an interest in public affairs. He was some time Chairman of the Law and Parliamentary Committee of the Board of Works for the St Giles District in London and he wanted a full-time career in politics. In 1904, he was Honorary Secretary of a committee of leading Liberal organisations set up to honour the retirement of Sir William Harcourt and commissioned two portraits of Sir William painted one for the family and the other to hang in the National Liberal Club.

In the summer of 1902 there were rumours of a possible vacancy in the constituency of Warwick and Leamington when the sitting Liberal Unionist member Alfred Lyttelton was tipped for an appointment to be a Judge or Governor of a British Colony. In the event this did not happen but it provided the opportunity for Berridge to associate himself with the constituency. In 1903 however Lyttelton was appointed Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Parliamentary regulations of the day required him to contest a by-election. Berridge was adopted as Liberal candidate. There was some initial suggestion that Lyttelton should not be opposed but the local Liberal Association decided there were good precedents for such a contest and wished to have the chance of opposing the government on its policies. Besides, Alfred Lyttelton was to succeed Joseph Chamberlain as Colonial Secretary and the Warwick & Leamington seat being so close to Chamberlain's Birmingham stronghold it was considered by the Liberals as something of a "rotten borough" which Chamberlain felt he could dispose of as he wished, and this was added reason for the Liberals' wish to stand a candidate. The by-election resulted in a Unionist majority of 190 for Lyttelton over Berridge on a turnout of 86%. This contrasted to Lyttelton's majority of 831 at the previous general election in 1900.

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