Background
Scurr was born in Brisbane, Australia, the son of Louis James Rennie, an immigrant from London, but was adopted by his uncle, Captain John Scurr, and brought to London aged six months.
Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom
Scurr was born in Brisbane, Australia, the son of Louis James Rennie, an immigrant from London, but was adopted by his uncle, Captain John Scurr, and brought to London aged six months.
He spent his life in Poplar in the East End, from which his family came, a lifelong supporter of left-wing and Labour causes. He served as mayor in 1922–1923, vice-chairman (1920–1922) and chairman (1922–1923) of the Metropolitan Boroughs Standing Joint Committee, and an alderman of London County Council from 1925 to 1929. In 1921 he was imprisoned, along with 29 other Poplar councillors, as a protest against unequal rates.
He contested the 1914 Ipswich by-election coming third as the Conservatives snatched the seat from the Liberals.
He was defeated again at the 1922 general election in the Mile End constituency in the East End. He was re-elected in 1924 and 1929, but lost his seat when the Labour Party split at the 1931 general election.
Julia died in 1927.
In 1913, when Scurr was Chairman of the London District Committee of the Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers" Union, he was a last minute socialist candidate at the Chesterfield by-election.
33rd United Kingdom Parliament. 34th United Kingdom Parliament. 35th United Kingdom Parliament]
He was an active member of Poplar Trades Council (and was later its president) and was elected as an alderman to Poplar Borough Council in 1919.