Robert Pattinson

Sir Robert Pattinson, JP, DL (19 February 1872 – 4 December 1954) was a British Liberal politician and businessman. Pattinson joined his family's railway contracting firm after finishing school and was quickly appointed to senior positions. In 1900, he became chairman of Ruskington Urban District Council and four years later joined Kesteven County Council, eventually becoming an alderman and serving as its chairman for 20 years between 1934 and his death in 1954. He chaired the Sleaford Liberal Association (1900–18) and was nominated as the party's representative for Sleaford shortly before World War I broke out. He contested Grantham unsuccessfully in 1918, but was returned for the seat in 1922, serving until he was defeated in the following year's general election. Several other unsuccessful attempts at a parliamentary career followed. He chaired several bodies responsible for maintaining Lincolnshire's waterways, served as a magistrate for Kesteven and Lindsey and sat as Lincolnshire's High Sheriff in 1941. Knighted in 1934, Pattinson died aged 82 in 1954 after several years of illness. Background Born on 19 February 1872, Robert Pattinson was the son of a contractor and businessman, William Pattinson, JP (1833–1906), and his wife Anne (1833–1916). His father ran (and had founded with brother Samuel) the successful building company Messrs. Pattinson and Son alongside serving as chairman of Ruskington Urban District Council and vice-president of the Sleaford Liberal Association. Robert's brother Samuel (d. 1924) was a Liberal Member of Parliament for Horncastle (1922–24), head of Messrs Pattinson and Co. Ltd, and a prominent member of Kesteven County Council. One of his sisters, Emmeline Taylor (d. 1937), became the first female Kesteven county councillor and alderman, while his other sister's husband Richard Winfrey was also a Liberal MP, for South West Norfolk (1906–23) and Gainsborough (1923–24). Their eldest brother, John (d. 1939), was involved in the family business, supervising contracts in Liverpool and the south of England, before moving back to Lincolnshire; he represented Heckington and Sleaford on the County Council, became a justice of the peace and served as vice-chairman of the Sleaford Bench. Pattinson married Catherine Lucy Pratt (d. 1917), daughter of Henry Pratt of Lincoln in 1895.