George Pilcher (MP)

Pilcher was born in Folkestone, the son of Walter Pilcher, a grocer.{{cite news |author=Felix |title=About the Neighbourhood |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000765/19270702/077/0004 |work=Folkestone, Hythe, Sandgate & Cheriton Herald |date=2 July 1927 |via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} He was educated at Kent College, Canterbury, and then at Wadham College, Oxford, where he studied modern history. He then trained as a barrister, qualifying at the Inner Temple.{{Who's Who | title=Pilcher, George | id = U57976 | type = was | volume = 1920–2016 | edition = April 2014 online | access-date = 29 December 2018 }}

In 1907, he joined the Morning Post, first working as the private secretary to the editor, Fabian Ware, and then becoming foreign editor in 1909. While with the Post, he reported extensively from overseas, including with the Ottoman army in the First Balkan War. He then moved to India in 1914, where he became joint editor of the Statesman, as well as a foreign correspondent for the Post. At the Statesman, he reported from the Waziristan campaign of 1920 and the royal tour of 1921.

In 1924, Pilcher was elected to the Central Legislative Assembly, the Indian colonial parliament.{{cite news |author= |title=London Notes |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0000687/19290610/244/0008 |work=Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer |date=10 June 1929 |via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} He was one of the two members representing the "European" constituency in the Bengal Presidency. He resigned the seat in August.{{cite news |author= |title=Gazette of India |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0003221/19240816/062/0005 |work=Civil & Military Gazette |date=16 August 1924 |via = British Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}

Later that year, in the 1924 United Kingdom general election, he returned to the UK where he was elected for Penryn and Falmouth as a Conservative, defeating the incumbent Liberal. During his time in the Commons, he was involved in overseas affairs, part of a delegation visiting Brazil in 1927, and the British delegation to the 1928 Empire Parliamentary Conference in Canada. After standing down at the 1929 United Kingdom general election (he did not seek re-election), he became secretary of the Royal Empire Society, retiring from that post in 1935. His successor as Conservative candidate for Penryn and Falmouth in 1929, Maurice Petherick, was defeated by the Liberal, Tudor Walters.{{cite book |title=The Times House of Commons 1929 |date=1929 |publisher=The Times Office |location=London |page=72}}

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Category:1882 births

Category:1962 deaths

Category:UK MPs 1924–1929

Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies

Category:Members of the Central Legislative Assembly of India

Category:Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Penryn and Falmouth