Athelstan Rendall
Athelstan Rendall was a Liberal Party, later Labour politician in the United Kingdom.
Family and education
Rendall was the son of Henry Rendall JP of Bridport in Dorset. He was educated at University College School. In 1897, he married Amy, daughter of J J Young JP of Northend, Portsmouth. They had one daughter. Amy Rendall died in 1945 and Rendall was remarried, in 1946, to Beatrice Sophia, the daughter of Captain A W Brooke-Smith RNR.Career
After first working as a journalist, Rendall trained as a solicitor, passing the Law Society final examinations in January 1894 and practising at Yeovil. After he left Parliament, Rendall reverted to the law and was a partner in the firm of Rendall, Litchfield and Co. of Bournemouth.Politics
In 1895, Rendall joined the Fabian Society but his political affiliation at this time was still Liberal, as reflected by his membership of the Cobden Club, and by 1905 he had been selected as a Liberal Parliamentary candidate.He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Thornbury constituency in Gloucestershire at the 1906 general election, and held the seat until his defeat at the 1922 general election by the Conservative Party candidate Herbert Charles Woodcock. In 1918 Rendall had stood as a supporter of the Coalition government of David Lloyd George. He was not opposed by the Conservatives, though he did defeat a National Party candidate, and had presumably been in receipt of the Coalition Coupon. However, by 1920 he had fallen out with the Coalition, writing to his local Liberal Association to explain that he was dissatisfied by what he described as the government's tremendous and unjustified commitment of British money and lives in Mesopotamia at the same time as their inability to end waste and extravagance at home. He went and sat on the opposition benches.
After Liberal reunion he retained his Thornbury seat standing as a Liberal at the 1923 general election, but was defeated again at the 1924 general election. He did not stand for Parliament again.
In Parliament, Rendall interested himself particularly in divorce reform and was responsible for introducing legislation under which a widow could marry her deceased husband's brother. He also sat as a member of the House of Commons Select Committee on Debtors’ Imprisonment. He was also a committed supporter of Electoral reform and introduced a Proportional representation bill during the term of the [First MacDonald ministry|first Labour Party (UK)|Labour government].