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.
