Ralph Etherton

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

|name = Ralph Etherton

|image =

|birth_date = {{Birth date|1904|02|11|df=yes}}

|birth_place =

|birth_name =

|death_date = {{Death date and age|1987|12|10|1904|02|11|df=yes}}

|death_place =

|party = Conservative Party

|constituency_MP = Stretford

|parliament =

|alma_mater = Trinity Hall, Cambridge

|majority = 18,984

|term_start = 8 December 1939

|term_end = 15 June 1945

|predecessor = Anthony Crossley

|successor = Herschel Lewis Austin

| module = {{Infobox military person|embed=yes

| allegiance = {{Flag|United Kingdom}}

| branch = {{air force|United Kingdom}}

| serviceyears = 1944-1945

| rank = Flight Lieutenant

| battles = World War II

| awards =

| unit =

}}

}}

Ralph Humphrey Etherton (11 February 1904 – 10 December 1987) was a British barrister and Conservative politician.

He was the son of Captain Louis Etherton.Marriages, The Times, 16 December 1944 He was educated at Charterhouse School and Trinity Hall, Cambridge, and was called to the Bar in 1926.Obituary of Mr Ralph Etherton, The Times, 9 January 1988Bar Examinations, 13 January 1926, p. 18

He became involved in Conservative politics, failing to win a parliamentary seat at Everton, Liverpool in 1935. In 1937, he unsuccessfully stood for election to the London County Council as a Municipal Reform Party candidate.Fight To Govern London, The Times, 2 March 1937, p. 13 Two tears later, the 1939 Stretford by-election was caused by the death of Anthony Crossley, Member of Parliament for Stretford. Etherton won the contest and was elected to the seat.Unionist Victory at Stretford, The Times, 11 December 1939, p. 5

Etherton joined the Royal Air Force, rising from the rank of Pilot Officer to Flight Lieutenant.The Times, 16 October 1940, p. 4; 16 September 1942, p. 7 On 15 December 1944, he married Johanne Cloherty in St Mary Undercroft, the crypt chapel of the Palace of Westminster. He met his future wife while she was Charles de Gaulle's diplomatic driver.

He lost his parliamentary seat at the 1945 general election.{{cite web |url=http://www.psr.keele.ac.uk/area/uk/ge45/i19.htm |title=UK General Election results July 1945 |accessdate=22 August 2008 |work=Area Studies, UK: politics, elections and government in Britain |publisher=University of Keele}} He retired from active politics and pursued a career in business. He died in December 1987, aged 83.