Maurice Edelman

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Maurice Edelman
Member of Parliament
for Coventry North West
In office
28 February 1974 – 14 December 1975
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byGeoffrey Robinson
Member of Parliament
for Coventry North
In office
23 February 1950 – 7 February 1974
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Member of Parliament
for Coventry West
In office
5 July 1945 – 3 February 1950
Preceded byConstituency established
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Personal details
Born
Israel Maurice Edelman

(1911-03-02)2 March 1911
Cardiff, Wales
Died14 December 1975(1975-12-14) (aged 64)
London, England
Political partyLabour
Spouse
Matilda Yeager
(m. 1933)
Children2
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
ProfessionAuthor

Israel Maurice Edelman (2 March 1911 – 14 December 1975) was a British Labour Party politician, journalist, and novelist from Wales who represented Coventry constituencies in the House of Commons for over 30 years, from 1945 until his death.

Early life[edit]

Maurice Edelman was born to a Jewish family in Cardiff in 1911.[1] His parents had come to Wales seven years earlier, escaping the pogroms in Tsarist Russia.[2] His father was a photographer.[3] He was educated at Cardiff High School[1] and Trinity College, Cambridge,[1] where he was an Exhibitioner in Modern Languages (French, German and later Russian).[2] He joined the plywood industry in 1931 as a company director and at the outbreak of the Second World War was engaged in research into the application of plywood and plastic materials to aircraft construction.[1] In 1933, he married Matilda "Tilli" Yeager, and they had two daughters.[2]

Writing career[edit]

Edelman was a prolific journalist and author of several works of fiction and non-fiction. During the Second World War, he was a correspondent for Picture Post.[2] His non-fiction works include France: The Birth of the Fourth Republic,[1] and a biography of David Ben Gurion.[3] He also produced screenplays for television broadcasts during the 1960s and 1970s.[4] His novels include A Trial of Love (1951), Who Goes Home? (1953), A Dream of Treason (1954), The Happy Ones (1957), A Call on Kuprim (1959), The Minister (1961), The Fratricides (1963), The Prime Minister's Daughter (1964), All on a Summer's Night (1969), Disraeli In Love (1972) and Disraeli Rising (1975).[5]

Political career[edit]

At the 1945 election Edelman was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Coventry West.[1] In 1950 he won the new seat of Coventry North.[2]

He was a vice-chairman of the British Council and chairman of the Franco-British Parliamentary Relations Committee.[1] Staunchly Pro-European, he was a founding member of the Council of Europe in 1949.[2][1] A lifelong Francophile, Edelman was appointed Officier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1960,[1] having previously been awarded Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur in 1954.[6]

He appeared on the live television panel show What's My Line? from New York on 29 April 1962.[7]

He was also president of the Anglo-Jewish Association, and an active member of the Friends of the Hebrew University.[3]

Following further boundary changes in 1974, Edelman represented Coventry North West until his death, from an embolism, at Royal Brompton Hospital on 14 December 1975. His successor was Geoffrey Robinson, who won a by-election on 4 March 1976.[2]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Biography in Penguin Books edition of 'The Minister' 1964
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Sandelson, Neville; Pottle, Mark (2011). "Edelman, (Israel) Maurice (1911–1975), politician and novelist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/31059. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  3. ^ a b c "Maurice Edelman Dead at 64 - Jewish Telegraphic Agency". www.jta.org.
  4. ^ BFI filmography at [1] (accessed 21 December 2015)
  5. ^ Catalogue of archives held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.
  6. ^ Letter offering Edelman the rank of officer of the French Légion d'Honneur, 1960, included in a file of "Miscellaneous official correspondence" [MSS.125/1/3/60] from the archives of Maurice Edelman, Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick
  7. ^ What's My Line? (30 November 2014). "What's My Line? - Bob Cummings; Maurice Edelman [panel] (Apr 29, 1962)". Archived from the original on 13 December 2021 – via YouTube.

External links[edit]

Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Coventry West
19451950
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Coventry North
1950February 1974
Constituency abolished
New constituency Member of Parliament for Coventry North West
February 19741975
Succeeded by