Derwent Hall Caine

Derwent Hall Caine, the actor, publisher and Labour Party politician, was born on September 12, 1891 in Keswick, Cumberland, England (near the lake of Derwent Water), the son of novelist Sir Thomas Henry Hall Caine (known professionally as Hall Caine) and his wife Mary (née Chandler). The Caine family hailed from the Isle of Man. Derwent became an actor during in 1915, when he appeared in an adaptation of his father's The Christian (1915). He avoided military service in the Great War due to suffering from asthma, having been declared unfit for service. That same year, he went to America to look after the interests of his father, who had gone to America to propagandize fro American involvement in the war. While in The States, Caine fils appeared in several movies, including _The Deemster (1916)(screenplay by his father) and the propaganda movie _Huns at our gate (1918)_. After returning to England, he and his brother Gordon founded the publishing house The Reader's Library. He won a seat in Parliament in 1929 as a Labour candidate for the Liverpool riding of Everton. After Ramsay MacDonald's Labour government fell in 1931, he ran as a National Labour candidate, supporting MacDonald, but was defeated by the Conservative Party candidate in the 1931 general election. He was the sole sitting National Labour M.P. to be opposed by the Tories in that election. Ironically, his brother Gordon was elected to Parliament as a Tory for East Dorset. Four years later, they created the Hall Caine Airport on the Isle of Man. Caine was knighted in 1935 and granted a baronetcy by King George VI in 1937. He had at least three illegitimate children, one of whom, Elin (born 1912), was adopted by his parents and raised as their own daughter. Sir Derwent Hall Caine, 1st Baronet died in Miami, Florida on December 2, 1971. He was 80 years old. As he had no legitimate son, the baronetcy became extinct.