# Roy Wise

Alfred Roy Wise (7 July 1901 – 21 August 1974) was a British Conservative Party politician and was the Member of Parliament for the constituencies of Rugby and Smethwick.

## Biography

He was born on 7 July 1901 to Alfred Gascoyne Wise and Augusta Frances Nugent. His father was a judge for the Supreme Court of Hong Kong, and his brother was Percival Kinnear Wise.
He married Cassandra Coke and had one son, Group Captain Adam Nugent Wise LVO MBE RAF, born 1943.
He was elected to the House of Commons at the 1931 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for Smethwick, holding the seat until his defeat in the Labour landslide at the 1945 general election, when he contested Epping, replacing the Conservative candidature of Prime Minister Winston Churchill who had transferred his candidature to the new, safer seat of Woodford. He returned to the House of Commons at the 1959 general election as MP for Rugby, winning the seat from the sitting Labour MP James Johnson with a majority of only 407.
Wise was re-elected at the 1964 election with a slightly increased majority of 1,689. However, at the 1966 general election he lost the seat to the Labour candidate, William Price by a margin of only 409 votes.
He died on 21 August 1974.

## Electoral history

General election 1929: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Oswald Mosley | 19,550 | 54.8 | −2.3 |
| | Unionist | Roy Wise | 12,210 | 34.2 | +0.5 |
| | Liberal | Maude Egerton Marshall | 3,909 | 11.0 | +1.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,340 | 20.6 | −2.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 35,669 | 78.9 | +0.3 |
| | Labour hold | Labour hold | Swing | 1.4 | |
General election 1931: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 20,945 | 60.1 | +25.7 |
| | Labour | W. Ernest Lawrence | 13,927 | 39.9 | −14.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 7,018 | 20.2 | n/a |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 34,872 | 74.7 | −4.2 |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | 20.3 | |
General election 1935: Smethwick :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 16,575 | 52.5 | −7.7 |
| | Labour | Charles Wortham Brook | 15,023 | 47.5 | +7.6 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,552 | 5.0 | −17.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 31,598 | 70.7 | −4.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | −7.7 | |
General election 1945: Epping :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Leah Manning | 15,993 | 44.1 | +19.3 |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 15,006 | 41.3 | −17.8 |
| | Liberal | Sydney Robinson | 5,134 | 14.6 | −1.9 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 987 | 2.8 | |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 36,313 | 71.4 | +3.7 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | +18.6 | |
General election 1959: Rugby :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 17,429 | 42.6 | −4.0 |
| | Labour | James Johnson | 16,959 | 41.4 | −8.7 |
| | Liberal | Simon Goldblatt | 6,413 | 15.7 | N/A |
| | Independent | Archie S Frost | 142 | 0.4 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 470 | 1.2 | −2.3 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 40,924 | 85.6 | +0.2 |
| | Conservative gain from Labour | Conservative gain from Labour | Swing | | |
General election 1964: Rugby :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 19,221 | 45.1 | +2.5 |
| | Labour | D.H. Childs | 17,532 | 41.2 | −0.2 |
| | Liberal | Simon Goldblatt | 5,522 | 13.0 | −2.7 |
| | Social Credit | Archie S Frost | 304 | 0.7 | N/A |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,689 | 4.0 | +2.8 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 42,580 | 84.6 | −1.0 |
| | Conservative hold | Conservative hold | Swing | | |
General election 1966: Rugby :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | William Price | 21,797 | 50.0 | +8.8 |
| | Conservative | Roy Wise | 21,388 | 49.0 | +3.9 |
| | Social Credit | Archie S Frost | 397 | 0.9 | +0.2 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 409 | 0.9 | −3.1 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 43,579 | 84.9 | +0.3 |
| | Labour gain from Conservative | Labour gain from Conservative | Swing | | |