Ernest Hatch

Sir Ernest Frederic George Hatch, 1st Baronet, KBE (12 April 1859 – 17 August 1927) was a British politician. He was the son of John William Hatch of London and Matilda Augusta Snell of Callington, Cornwall. Following a private education, he went into business as a wine merchant, and in 1894 established Hatch, Mansfield and Company, working with James Mansfield, who became managing director. Hatch was unsuccessful Conservative parliamentary candidate for the Gorton Division of Lancashire at a by-election in 1889 and at the succeeding general election in 1892. On his third attempt, in the 1895 election, he was elected as Gorton's MP. Hatch remained as Conservative member for Gorton until 1904, when his disagreement with Joseph Chamberlain over free trade led to him crossing the floor to the Liberal Party. At the next general election in 1906 he had little support from Liberal activists for his candidature, and accordingly withdrew.