Background
Born Laming Evans, he was the son of Worthington Evans and Susanah Laming.
Born Laming Evans, he was the son of Worthington Evans and Susanah Laming.
He assumed the prefix surname of Worthington by Royal Licence in 1916, although he had been calling himself Worthington Evans (without a hyphen) for many years. He trained as a solicitor. Worthington-Evans was commissioned into the part-time 2nd Middlesex Artillery Volunteers in 1891 and was promoted Lieutenant in 1893 and Captain in 1897.
He served as temporary Major in the First World War.
Worthington-Evans unsuccessfully contested the Colchester constituency in 1906. He served in David Lloyd George"s coalition government as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Munitions from 1916 to 1918, as Minister of Blockade in 1918, as Minister of Pensions from 1919 to 1920, as Minister without Portfolio from 1920 to 1921 and as Secretary of State for War from 1921 to 1922.
In 1919 he was sworn of the Privy Council. As with many Cabinet Ministers in the Lloyd George Coalition, Worthington-Evans declined office in Andrew Bonar Law"s new government when Lloyd George fell in October 1922.
However alone amongst the "Coalition Conservatives" he accepted an invitation the following May when Law retired and was succeeded by Stanley Baldwin.
He served under Baldwin as Postmaster General between 1923 and 1924 and as Secretary of State for War between 1924 and 1929. He also served on various Cabinet Committees, including those relating to Northern Ireland, and Unemployment. He became chairman of the latter in August 1923.
Worthington-Evans was made a Baronet, of Colchester in the County of Essex, in 1916 and appointed a GBE in 1922.
The papers of Worthington-Evans (from 1895-1931) are held at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford.
He was a member of several Conservative and Unionist Party committees including the Policy committee which he chaired in 1927.
29th United Kingdom Parliament. 30th United Kingdom Parliament. 31st United Kingdom Parliament.
32nd United Kingdom Parliament.
33rd United Kingdom Parliament. 34th United Kingdom Parliament.
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He was a member of the British delegation that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty.