John Rathbone

Who was John Rathbone?

John Rankin Rathbone was a British Conservative Party politician. A Flight Lieutenant and fighter pilot with the Royal Air Force, he was killed shortly after the Battle of Britain.

From the 1935 general election until his death, he was Member of Parliament for the Bodmin constituency in Cornwall. After his death, his American-born wife Beatrice was elected unopposed to succeed him as MP.

Rathbone was the nephew of Eleanor Rathbone, who had been an independent MP for the Combined English Universities between 1929 and 1946, and a staunch women's rights campaigner. He was a grandson of William Rathbone, Liberal MP for Liverpool and later Carnarvonshire.

His son, also called John Rankin Rathbone, but known as Tim Rathbone, was the Conservative MP for Lewes from 1974 to 1997.