Waldron Smithers

Who was Waldron Smithers?

Sir Waldron Smithers was a Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Smithers was educated at Charterhouse and in France and became a member of the London Stock Exchange. He was the eldest son of Sir Alfred Waldron Smithers, who had been Conservative Member of Parliament for Chislehurst until 1922.

At the 1924 general election he stood for his father's constituency and won a three-cornered fight with a majority of more than 10,000. In his 30 years in the House of Commons he was always a backbencher, described by The Times as a 'diehard Tory' although well-liked on both sides of the house. In his memoirs, Way of Life, his fellow Conservative John Boyd-Carpenter described Smithers as "an extreme Tory out of a vanished age" and both deeply religious and "not insensitive to the consoling effect of alcohol". Harold Macmillan said he "fondly believed himself to be a good Tory".

Smithers remained as member for Chislehurst until the 1945 general election, when he switched to the newly created Orpington constituency. Chislehurst fell to the Labour Party, but Smithers was comfortably elected in Orpington, and held the seat until he died.