Frank Harmsworth in 1946
Francis 'Frank' Edward Harmsworth (1876-18 April 1958) was a local government official and local politician.
Born in Portsmouth, he was the son of a grocer and baker. He became Assistant Clerk to the Portsmouth Board of Guardians and in 1904 took up a similar position with the Brentford Board of Guardians.
He moved to Ealing and became President of both the Ealing Debating Society and the Ealing Chess Club.
In 1915 he became Clerk of the Board of Guardians. In 1918 he was judgement to be exempt for conscription into the armed forces due to his work. In 1921 took on the additional post of Superintendent Registrar for the Brentford Registration District and in 1927 he added the job of Clerk of the West Middlesex Assessment Committee, fixing rates.
Under the Local Government Act 1929 the poor law guardians were abolished and in 1930 he was given the new post of Local Public Assistance Officer for West Middlesex. In 1932 he resigned from the job of public assistance officer but remained superintendent registrar.
A member of the Ealing Conservative Party Association, in November 1932 he was elected unopposed to Ealing Borough Council as a councillor for Mount Park ward.
In March 1937 the electoral division of Ealing South on Middlesex County Council became vacant and in the following month Harmsworth was elected as a county councillor for the seat. In July 1937 he resigned as registrar as the reorganisation of the civil registration service would have made him an employee of the county council and ineligible to be a councillor. In 1939 he resigned from the clerkship of the West Middlesex Assessment Committee, bringing an end to his career in the public service.
From 1940-1950 he was chairman of the Ealing Food Control Committee.
During the Second World War elections were cancelled. When they resumed in 1946 he retained both his borough and county council seats. In April 1948 he was created an alderman of the Borough of Ealing and in April 1949 a county alderman.
Harmsworth retired from Ealing council in November 1957 and from Middlesex County Council in March 1958. He died shortly afterwards, aged 81.