Walter Baldwyn Yates Commander of the Order of the British Empire was an English barrister, member of the London County Council and Crown Umpire under the Unemployment Insurance Scheme of 1911.
Background
Born in 1857 at Wellbank, Sandbach, Cheshire, he was the youngest son of Joseph Saint John Yates, County Court Judge & his wife Emily Augusta Scott. His father was a descendant of Sir Joseph Yates (1722–1770) and his wife Elizabeth Baldwyn.
Education
He was educated at Shrewsbury School and Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
He was called to the bar to the Inner Temple in 1881. In 1910 he was appointed the first chairman of the Trade Boards under the Trade Boards Acting 1909 and worked as arbitrator in many industrial disputes. In 1912 he was appointed Crown Umpire under the Unemployment Acting of 1911 and held this post until 1923.
Yates decided over 1800 cases under the 1911 Acting and over 4000 under the Unemployment Insurance Acting 1920 as well over 6000 decisions of claims for out of work donation.
His work made up a large volume of case law on the interpretation of the Acts and on their application. He was made a C.B.E. a year after his retirement and was made Chancellor of the Diocese of Bangor in 1942.
He was also Doctor of Laws, Justice of the Peace, and Deputy Chairman of Quarter Sessions for Flintshire. Sir John Eldon Bankes, Lord Justice of Appeal.
Jeremy Hunt Member of Parliament.
Membership
Initially practicing on the North Wales Circuit, he entered local government and was elected as a member of the London County Council for Tower Hamlets for three terms in 1892, 1895 & 1898 for the Progressive Party, and in 1901, was elected a County Alderman for a six-year term.