Maurice Edelman

{{infobox officeholder

|name = Maurice Edelman

|image = Maurice Edelman in 1947.jpg

|caption = Edelman in 1947

|constituency_MP = Coventry North West

|parliament = United Kingdom

|term_start = 28 February 1974

|term_end = 14 December 1975

|predecessor = Constituency established

|successor = Geoffrey Robinson

|constituency_MP1 = Coventry North

|parliament1 = United Kingdom

|term_start1 = 23 February 1950

|term_end1 = 8 February 1974

|predecessor1 = Constituency established

|successor1 = Constituency abolished

|constituency_MP2 = Coventry West

|parliament2 = United Kingdom

|term_start2 = 5 July 1945

|term_end2 = 3 February 1950

|predecessor2 = Constituency established

|successor2 = Constituency abolished

|birth_name = Israel Maurice Edelman

|birth_date = {{birth date|1911|3|2|df=yes}}

|birth_place = Cardiff, Wales

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1975|12|14|1911|3|1|df=yes}}

|death_place = London, England

|party = Labour

|profession = Author

|spouse = {{marriage|Matilda Yeager|1933}}

|children = 2

|alma_mater = Trinity College, Cambridge

}}

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

Maurice Edelman was born to a Jewish family in Cardiff in 1911.Biography in Penguin Books edition of 'The Minister' 1964 His parents had come to Wales seven years earlier, escaping the pogroms in Tsarist Russia.{{cite ODNB|doi = 10.1093/ref:odnb/31059|title = Edelman, (Israel) Maurice (1911–1975), politician and novelist|last1 = Sandelson|first1 = Neville|last2 = Pottle|first2 = Mark|year = 2011}} His father was a photographer.{{cite web|url=http://www.jta.org/1975/12/15/archive/maurice-edelman-dead-at-64|title=Maurice Edelman Dead at 64 - Jewish Telegraphic Agency|website=www.jta.org}} He was educated at Cardiff High School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was an Exhibitioner in Modern Languages (French, German and later Russian). 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. In 1933, he married Matilda "Tilli" Yeager, and they had two daughters.

Writing career

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. His non-fiction works include France: The Birth of the Fourth Republic, and a biography of David Ben Gurion. He also produced screenplays for television broadcasts during the 1960s and 1970s.BFI filmography at [https://web.archive.org/web/20151009025018/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/4ce2ba1dc3ee8] (accessed 21 December 2015) 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).Catalogue of archives held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick.

Political career

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

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

He appeared on the live television panel show What's My Line? from New York on 29 April 1962.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVj6owHmKp0 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/LVj6owHmKp0 |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=What's My Line? - Bob Cummings; Maurice Edelman [panel] (Apr 29, 1962)|last=What's My Line?|date=30 November 2014|publisher=|via=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

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

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.