Stephen Roxby Dodds (29 January 1881 – 10 September 1943) was an English lawyer and Liberal politician.
Family and education Dodds was born in Birkenhead in Cheshire the son of T L Dodds, a local justice of the peace and his wife Jane.Who was Who, OUP 2007 He was educated at Rydal School in Colwyn Bay and at Trinity Hall, Cambridge where he gained MA and LL.B degrees.The Law journal, E.B. Ince publications, 1926 p101 He married Edith May Bell from Heswall in Cheshire. They never had children.Who was Who, OUP 2007 In religion he was a Methodist.
Career Dodds went in for the law. He was articled as a clerk to a firm of Liverpool solicitors in 1903 and was admitted as a solicitor in 1906.The Times, 17 November 1906 p5 In 1910, he was a founder of the firm of Dodds, Ashcroft & Cook with premises at 24 Fenwick Street, Liverpool.The Times, 13 September 1943 p6 He was qualified as a solicitor, Commissioner for Oaths and Notary Public. He also served as a Justice of the Peace.Who was Who, OUP 2007
Politics Dodds contested the Wirral Division of Cheshire as a Liberal at the 1922 general election coming second to the sitting Conservative MP, Gershom Stewart in a three-cornered contest. Dodds fought Wirral again at the 1923 general election when, in the absence of a Labour candidate, he won the seat from Stewart with a majority of 1,840 votes. Despite Labour's withdrawal, it was still expected that Stewart would hold the seat.The Times, 30 November 1923 p14 The Conservatives had revived by the time of the 1924 general election when the new Tory candidate, John Grace, regained the Wirral from Dodds in a straight fight.F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p309
Dodds tried to win the Wirral constituency once more, at the 1929 general election but this time Labour were back in the field and he again came runner-up to Grace, a local barrister, with Labour candidate George Beardsworth, a trade union official in third place.The Times House of Commons 1929; Politico’s Publishing 2003 p71
Other appointments Dodds served as President of the Liverpool Law Society, 1939–40 and was a member of the Council of the Law Society (London). He was also President of the Literary and Philosophical Society of Liverpool, 1925–26, and again in 1926–27 and President of the Birkenhead Literary and Scientific Society in 1914.Who was Who, OUP 2007 He served as Chairman of the Board of Governors of his old school, Rydal SchoolThe Times, 10 June 1935 p7 and was also a Governor of Wirral Grammar School and Wirral County School for Girls.
Death Dodds died suddenly at his home, Heath Moor, Heswall in CheshireThe Times, 13 September 1943 p6 on 10 September 1943 aged 62 years.
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