Constituency : Newcastle-upon-Tyne 1874-86
Joseph succeeded his deceased father in the seat.
Joseph was educated privately and at Edinburgh University where he became interested in European revolutionary ideas. He worked in his father's brick business but smuggled messages inside them to his friends such as Mazzini, Garibaldi and Kossuth. In 1858 he was one of the founders of the Northern Reform Union which worked to further the aims of the Chartists.He supported working men's causes both financially and in print. He was President on the first day of the 1873 Co-Operative Congress. He led and co-ordinated the Nine Hours Strike in the 1870s. In 1873 he organised a mass demonstration in Newcastle in protest at the exclusion of Newcastle's miners from the franchise in 1867 which was due to a peculiar form of tenure. He supported Mechanics Institutes and opened Newcastle Public Library.
Joseph was well known as a Radical when he entered Parliament. He was short, graceless and rough in appearance but had genuine oratorical gifts and made an impression in the Commons once he had recovered from a bout of ill health which incapacitated him between 1874 and 1876. In 1876 he made a notable speech criticising Disraeli's Royal Titles Bill. He was not a great party man; as a convinced Imperialist he supported Disraeli's foreign policy and criticised Gladstone's settlement with the Boers in 1881. His Liberal critics accused him of wanting Tory compliments.
In 1885 Joseph was opposed by the local party organisation and stood as an Independent Liberal.. He was supported by Parnell as a friend of Irish Nationalism. He won the contest but decided to quit parliamentary politics in 1886.
Joseph still wrote on political questions in his paper the Newcastle Daily Chronicle where he spoke out against "doctrinaire Radicalism " and whether intentionally or not helped the Tories gain ground in the city.
He died in 1900 aged 70.
That concludes our look at the by-election victors of the 1868-74 Parliament.
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