George Kemp, 1st Baron Rochdale, (9 June 1866 – 24 March 1945) was a British politician, soldier, businessman and cricketer. Education and business career Kemp was born at Beechwood, Rochdale, Lancashire, and educated at Shrewsbury and Mill Hill Schools. Matriculating at Balliol College, Oxford, in 1883, aged 16, Kemp transferred to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1884, where he graduated B.A. in the Classical Tripos in 1888. In business, Kemp went into the woollen industry eventually becoming Chairman of Kelsall & Kemp, flannel manufacturers. Cricket From 1885 to 1892, Kemp played first-class cricket for Lancashire and Cambridge University. A batsman, he scored three centuries all against Yorkshire - 109 in the Roses Match, at Huddersfield, in 1885 whilst still a teenager and 125 and 103 within 18 days of each other in 1886 at Fenner's and Sheffield respectively. While at Shrewsbury School he appeared in one county cricket match for Shropshire. He was also, at university, a lawn tennis 'Blue'. Politics In 1895, he was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood as Liberal Unionist. He served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to William Ellison-Macartney, Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty, until January 1900, when he resigned to serve in the Second Boer War. In 1904, along with Winston Churchill, Kemp was among a group of Conservative and Liberal Unionist Free Traders who crossed the floor to join the Liberals in response to Joseph Chamberlain's Tariff reform policies. In 1909, he was knighted for his war services and at the January 1910 general election he was elected MP for Manchester North West, this time as a Liberal. Kemp found himself increasingly out of step with the actions of the Liberal government. He was opposed to the Liberal Chancellor of the Exchequer Lloyd George's financial policies. He also opposed Lloyd George's advocacy of Welsh disestablishment. His long-standing opposition to Irish Home Rule had not diminished and he opposed the Liberal Government's Irish Home Rule bill. As he still felt out of step with the Unionist's advocacy of Tariff Reform, he decided to retire from the House of Commons. He declared that he "loathed politics". A year later he was raised to the peerage as Baron Rochdale, of Rochdale in the County Palatine of Lancaster. Military career Kemp had been a captain of the Duke of Lancaster's Own Yeomanry since July 1891. In early February 1900, Kemp volunteered for active service in South Africa during