Frederick Burden

Sir Frederick Frank Arthur Burden (27 December 1905 – 6 July 1987) was a British Conservative politician and vice-chairman of the RSPCA.

Career

Burden was educated at the Sloane School, Chelsea and was British schools boxing champion 1921–22. He served with the Royal Air Force in World War II, first with a Polish unit then with Eastern Air Command, and later on the staff of Lord Louis Mountbatten at South East Asia Command, attaining the rank of Squadron Leader.

He became a company director, including of British Eagle International Airlines.

Politics

Burden contested South Shields as a National Labour candidate in 1935, and as a Conservative stood in Finsbury in 1945 and Rotherhithe in a 1946 by-election.

He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Gillingham from 1950 to 1983. By the time of his retirement at the age of 77, he was one of the oldest sitting MPs, as well as one of the longest serving, with 33 years to his credit. James Couchman was his successor.

Animal welfare

Burden was chairman of the Parliamentary Animal Welfare Group. In the early 1960s, he planned to create a Private Member’s Bill extending legal protection to the badger. His Bill proposed to outlaw badger hunting but also legalise the licensed control of "rogue" animals. The Bill did not reach the stage of formal Parliamentary debate. There was a campaign for Burden to resign from the RSPCA due to his support of field sports which members claimed was hypocritical considering his position in the RSPCA.