Edmund Royds

Sir Edmund Royds, OBE, DL (6 July 1860 – 31 March 1946 ) was an English solicitor and Conservative Party politician. He practised law in London, and held a country seat in Lincolnshire, from where he was returned to the House of Commons from 1910 to 1922, and held numerous local offices.

Early life Royds was the son of the Reverend Francis Coulman Royds, who had been rector of Coddington and Canon of Chester. His mother was Cornelia Frances née Blomfield, daughter of Canon G. B. Blomfield of Mollington Hall in Cheshire.

He was educated at Haileybury, and admitted as a solicitor in 1882. and became a Major in 1910. He was a Lieutenant-Colonel of the Lincolnshire Volunteers,

Sleaford At the January 1910 general election he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Sleaford division of Lincolnshire, defeating the sitting Liberal MP Sir Arnold Lupton on a swing of 8.5%. Royds was returned unopposed in December 1910, which had been founded in 1910 by Ernest Pretyman to unite "for mutual protection all those whose property or businesses are based on land in any form". Royds was chairman of the Land Union's legal committee, and in the Commons he repeatedly challenged the valuation process. In June 1912 he sought to reduce the budget of the Land Valuation Office, claiming that its imposed a heavy burden on land-owners and was producing valuations which include improvements rather than, as required, reflect the site value. and questioned where the government was seeking a true valuation of the land. In 1913 he claimed that the valuation process had restricted the availability of credit to land-owners, resulting in a reduction in the number of small houses and cottages built for labourers. He claimed that government figures showed the number of new houses having fallen from an average of 107,000 a year under the previous government to 80,000 after 1906, and only 10,000 in 1910–11, but the government responded that such falls were common after revaluations.

Grantham At the 1918 general election, Royds was elected as a Coalition Conservative for the Grantham division of Lincolnshire, and made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1919, They had ploughed up grazing land to grow crops, but the guaranteed prices had not materialised, while ex-servicemen who had been allocated land after World War I found their holdings too small. and served as High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1931. He wrote letters to The Times on agricultural matters,

In July 1939 it was announced in the King's Birthday Honours in 1939 that he was to be knighted, "for political and public services in Lincolnshire". The knighthood was conferred at St James's Palace on 17 July 1939.

Stubton Hall In 1918 Royds had purchased Stubton Hall, a large estate at Stubton (near Newark-on-Trent) on the border of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, from the estate of Sir Ralph Wilmont, Bt. The estate had a long history, having belonged to the Heron family from 1789 to 1854, and the 17th-century hall was extensively rebuilt in the early 19th century by Sir Robert Heron, 2nd Baronet, the MP for Great Grimsby. Royds set about his own big programme of repairs and alterations.

When he was 81, Royds placed the house for sale, but it remained unsold on his death and was subsequently acquired by Lincolnshire County Council, who turned it into a school.

Family In 1889, Royds married Rachel Louisa Fane, (born 30 January 1869) daughter of Colonel Francis Fane of Fulbeck. Lady Royds died on 18 December 1943 at Stubton Hall, and their son, Anthony Fane Royds, died in 1945.