1311 George Palmer

Constituency  : Reading  1892-5, 1898-1904

George  took  his  father's  old  seat  from  the  Tories.

George  was  the  son  of  the  biscuit  manufacturer  and  MP  of  the  same  name. He  was   mayor  of  Reading  in  1889-90.

George  was  defeated  in  1895  but  regained  the  seat  in  a  by-election  in  1898  after  an  unsuccessful  attempt  at  Wokingham  earlier  in  the  year.

George  resigned  his  seat   in  1904  due  to  losing  his  hearing. He  declined  a  peerage.

George  gave  a  £50,000  endowment  fund  to  Reading  University  College  for  new  classrooms  and  laboratories.

He  died  in  1913  aged  62.

1310 Walter Clough

Constituency : Portsmouth  1892-1900

Walter  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Portsmouth.

Walter  was  originally  from  Huddersfield. He  was  a  chartered  accountant.

Walter's  parliamentary  interventions  were  usually  on  naval  questions.

Walter  resigned  his  seat  in  1900  before  the  election.

He  died  in  1922  aged  75.

1309 John Baker

Constituency : Portsmouth  1892-1900, 1906-09

 John  was  part  of  a  double  triumph  at  Portsmouth  removing  the  Liberal  Unionist  William  Crossman  and  a  Tory.

John  owned  several  tailor's  shops  along  the  south  coast . He  was  Lord  Mayor  in  1870  and  1875  and  chairman  of  the  school  board. He  was  known  as  "Honest  John". He  stood  in  1886.

John  was  a  temperance  supporter.

John  was  knighted  in  1895.

John  was  defeated in  1900  but  regained  the  seat  in  1906.

John  was  a  powerful  speaker  but  had  a  tendency  to  be  long  winded.

He  died  of  a  heart  attack  at  the  end  of  1909  aged  81. There  was  no time  for  a  by-election  before  Parliament  dissolved. The  local  Witherspoons  pub  is  named  after  him.

1308 Godfrey Benson

Constituency  : Woodstock  1892-5

Godfrey  took  Woodstock  from  the  Tories  who  complained  at  a  placard  which  they  said  misled  the  agricultural  labourers. He  had  contested  the  by-election  in  1891.

Godfrey  was  a  barrister's  son  educated  at  Winchester  and  Oxford. He  became  a  lecturer  in  philosophy.

Godfrey  described  himself  as  an  "extreme"  Home  Ruler. He  became  secretary  to  the  Minister  of  Agriculture.

Godfrey  was  defeated  in  1895.

Godfrey  and  his  wife  were  opposed  to  female  suffrage.

Godfrey  was  Mayor  of  Lichfield   between  1909  and  1911. In  the  latter  year  he  was  raised  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Charnwood.

Godfrey  was  a  prolific  writer  and  produced  biographies  of  Lincoln  and  Theodore  Roosevelt.

Godfrey  was  the  first  President  of  the  National  Institute  for  the  Deaf  from  1924  to  1935.

He  died  in  1945  aged  80.

1307 Archibald Grove

Constituency  : West  Ham  North  1892-5, South  Northamptonshire  1906-10

Archibald  took  West  Ham  North  from  the  Tories  by  33  votes.

Archibald  was  a  captain's  son. He  was  educated  at  Oxford. In  1889  he  became  founding  editor  of  the  New  Review.  He  set  it  at  a  low  price  to  be  accessible  to  all  but  was  later  forced  to  double  it. He  sold  it  on  in  1894. He  fought  Winchester  in  1886.

Archiald  was  defeated  in  1895. He  first  contested  South  Northamptonshire  in  1900.

Archibald  announced  in  1908  he  would  not  stand  again  due  to  health  problems.

Archibald  joined  the  executive  committee  of  the  Anglo-Russian Trade  Bureau  in  1916.

He  died  in  1920  aged  64.

1306 Reuben Barrow

Constituency : Bermondsey  1892-5

Reuben  took  Bermondsey  from  the  Tories.

Reuben  ( like  his  Tory  opponent  )  was  a  leather  merchant . Reuben  was  mayor  of  Croydon  in  1885. He  was  a  Baptist.

Reuben  was  responsible  for  the  London  ( Equalisation  of  Rates )  Bill  which  redistributed  cash  from  the  richer  boroughs  to  poorer  ones.

Reuben  was  defeated  by  his  Tory  predecessor  in  1895   despite  the  support  of  the  working  class  population.

Reuben  was  knighted  in  1912.

He  died  in  1918  aged  79.

1304 John Benn

Constituency :  Tower  Hamlets  St  George  1892-5, Plymouth Devonport  1904-10 

John  took  Tower  Hamlets  St  George  from  the  Tories.

John  was   a  minister's  son  from   Manchester. His father  moved  to  London  a  year  after  he  was  born  and  opened  an  institute  for  homeless  boys. John  was  privately  educated  and  worked  for  a  furniture  company. In  1880  he  started  the  trade  journal,  The  Cabinet  Maker.  He  later  founded  the  family's  publishing  house.  In  1889  he  was  elected  to  the  L.C.C. as  a  Progressive  member. He  was  an  active  supporter  of  the  London  Dock  Strike  and  a  popular  campaigner  for  public  health  and  housing.

John  was  defeated  in  1895  but  continued  his  work  on  the  L.C.C. and  helped  in  bringing  electric  trams  to  London. He  was  chairman  of  the  L.C.C.  from  1903  to  1904 .  In  1904  he  returned  to  Parliament  at  a  by-election.

John's  parliamentary  contributions  were  usually  on  constituency    matters.

John  was  defeated  in  January  1910.

John  was  created  a  baronet  in  1914. He  continued  to  lead  the  Progressive  Party  until  1918  when  he  stepped  down  for  health  reasons.

He  was  still  a  councillor  on  his  death  in  1922  aged  71. His  son  William  became  an   MP  and  his  grandson  was  Tony  Benn.

1303 Cecil Norton

Constituency : Newington  West  1892-1916

Cecil  took  Newington  West  from  the  Tories.

Cecil  was  an  Irish  rector's  son. He  served  in  the  army  reaching  the  rank  of  captain.

Cecil  maintained  his  hold  on  the  constituency  by  a  concern  for  labour  questions. In  1901  he  protested  that  the  demolition  of  some  tenement  housing  in  marylebone  meant  some  men  had  to  walk  four  miles  to  work.

Cecil  was  a  whip  from  1905  to  1910  and  Assistant  Postmaster  General  from  1910  to  1916.

Cecil  resigned his  seat  in  1916  on  becoming  Baron  Rathcreedan. He  held  a  minor  post  in  the  Ministry  of  Munitions  and  Supply  from  1919  to  1921.

He  died  in  1930  aged  80.

1302 John Stewart-Wallace

Constituency : Limehouse  1892-5

John  took  Limehouse  from  the  Conservatives.

John  was  a  committed  Home  Ruler. He  was  also  interested  in  land  registration  reform.

John  did  not  defend  the  seat  in  1895.

He  died  in  1910  aged  70.

1301 Francis Coldwells

Constituency : Lambeth  North  1892-5

Francis  took  Lambeth  North  from  the Tories  although  his  opponent  was  a  Liberal  Unionist.

Francis  was  educated  at  the  British  School  , Stoke  Newington. He  worked  as  a  harbourmaster  before  setting  up  a  tailoring  business. He  was  one  of  the  first  councillors  for  Croydon  Borough. He  was  a  temperance  activist.

Francis  was  a  director  of  Jabez  Balfour's  Liberator  Building  Society  and  as  such  was  pursued  for  large  sums  of  money  by  the  investors. He  described  himself  as  being  "slowly  killed  with  worry". He  decided  not  to  defend  his  seat  as  the  prospect  of  a  criminal  trial  loomed. The  exact  extent  of  his  culpability  has  not  been  established.

Francis  never  spoke  in  Parliament.

He  died  during  the  election  campaign. The  inquest  found  he  had  died   of  heart  failure  brought  on  by  stress  though  many  suspected  suicide. He  was  63.

1300 Frederick Frye

Constituency : Kensington  North  1892-5

Frederick  took  Kensington  North  from  the  Tories.

Frederick  was  in  a  partnership  that  owned  a  chain  of  grocery  stores  around  Greenwich. He  took  sole  control  in  1880  and  a  limited  company  in  1894. In  1891  he  founded  the  Federation  of  Grocer's  Associations  of  the  United  Kingdom. He  was  a  progressive  employer  who  operated  profit-sharing  schemes.  In  1889  he  was  elected  to  the  L.C.C.  as  a  Progressive.

Frederick  was  a  radical.

Frederick  was  defeated  in  1895. He  later  became  an  alderman  on  Kensington  Borough  Council. In  the  early  twentieth  century  Frederick's  business  failed  and  he  lived  in  straitened  circumstances.

Frederick's  daughter  Kate  became  a  suffragette.

He  died  in  1914  aged  68.

1299 Thomas Lough

Constituency : Islington  West  1892-1918

Thomas  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist   Richard  Chamberlain.

Thomas  was  born  and  educated   in  Ireland. He  came  to  London  in  1880  and  worked  as  a  tea  merchant. He  stood  for  Truro  in  1886. In  1888  he  appointed  Ramsay  Macdonald  as  his  private  secretary. He  was  a  Methodist.

Thomas  was  a  radical  who  supported  Home  Rule  and  the  co-operative movement.

Thomas  was  appointed  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Education  by  Campbell - Bannerman  but  Asquith  did  not  keep  him  on.

In  1896  Thomas  set  up  a   co-operative  dairy  company  in  Ireland  which  is  now  Lakeland  Dairies.

Thomas  voted  against  the  government  during  the  Naval  Scare  of  1909. He put  forward  a  motion  to  reduce  the  navy  by  3,000  men.

Thomas  held  on  to  his  seat  with  small  majorities  until  1918  when  he  was  decisively  defeated  by  the  Coalition  Unionist. The  presence  of   Labour  and   NFDDSS  ( discharged  soldiers )  candidates  probably  ensured  his  defeat.  Thomas  had  said  he  would  support  Lloyd  George  though  he  had  previously  opposed  him  and  The  Times  noted  that  his  idea  of  "support" was  "to  say  the  least  peculiar".

Thomas  had  an  estate  in  the  Ulster  county  of  Cavan  and  held  the  office  of  Lord  Lieutenant  there. He  was  subject  to  intimidation  from  the  Unionist  rebels.

Thomas  wrote  a  number  of  papers  on  Irish  economics.

He  died  in  1922 aged  71.

1298 Dabadhai Naoroji

Constituency : Finsbury  Central 1892-5

There  was  no  doubting  who  the  most  exotic  of  the  new  Liberals  was. Dabadhai  squeezed  in  at  Finsbury  by  just  5  votes. He  was  already  in  his  late  sixties. His  campaign  was  supported  by  Keir  Hardie  and  Florence  Nightingale.

Dabadhai  was a  Parsi  born  in  Mumbai. He  was  educated  at  the  Elphinstone  Institute.  He  was  a  Zoroastrian  purist. He  became  a  Maths  professor  at  Elphinstone. He  came  to  Britain  in  1855  where  he  founded  cotton  companies. He  subsequently  became  professor  of  Gujarati  at  University  College, London. In  1867  he  founded  the   East  India  Association  to  put  an  Indian  perspective  before  the  British  public. In 1874  he  became  Prime  Minister  of  Baroda. He  joined  the  Indian  National  Association. When  it  was  subsumed  in  the  Indian  National  Congress  he  became  President  in  1886. That  year  he  stood  in  Holborn. In  1888  Salisbury  commented  that  English  constituencies  were  not  ready  to  elect  "a  Blackman".  Dadadhai  used  this  remark  to  his  advantage  in  1892.

Dabadhai  took  the  parliamentary  oath  on  a  Zoroastrian  text. He  identified  himself  as  an  Imperial  citizen  and  claimed  that  tributes  would  be  more  willingly  and  easily  paid  if  money  was  allowed  to  stay  in  India. In  particular  Indian  professionals  needed  more  employment  opportunities  and  industrial  development  needed  to  be  encouraged. Nearly  all  his  Parliamentary  contributions  were  about  India.

Dabadhai  supported  Home  Rule, free  education, public  housing  and  female  suffrage,

In  1893  Dabadhai  was  elected  president  of  the  I.N.C. again. He  became  known  as  the  "Grand  Old  Man of  India".

Dabadhai  was  defeated  in  1895. Despite  that  he  was  appointed  to  the  Royal  Commission  on  Indian  Expenditure  the  following  year. His  agitation  had  been  the  main  reason  it  was  established.

Dabadhai  was  a  moderate  on  the  I.N.C.  In  1901  he  published  Poverty  and  un-British  Rule  in  India  in  which  he  expounded  his  drain  theory  that  Britain  drained  money  out  of  India. Free Trade  allowed  foreign  personnel  to  take  highly  paid  jobs  and  then  take  their  wealth  out  of  the  country. He  likened  it  to  vampirism. India  was  paying  tribute  for  services  such  as  the  railways  which  were  already  profitable  to  Britain. Indian  goods  and  services  were  undervalued. As  time  went  on  Dadhai  became  more  impatient.

Dabadhai  stood  in  Lambeth  North  in  1906  but  was  unsuccessful. He  retired  to  India  the  following  year.

He  died  in  1917  aged  91.

1297 Edward Bayley

Constituency : Camberwell  North 1892-5

Edward  took  Camberwell  North  from  the  Tories. A  major  issue  in  the  campaign  was  extending  the  tramways  into  South  London  which  Edward  favoured  but  his  opponent  did  not. He  won  by  845  votes.

Edward  was  the  son  of  a  pastor  in  the  Swedenborgian  New  Church. He  was  born  in  Accrington  and  educated  across  Europe. He  set  up  his  own  business  in  London  building  railway  stock  and  fire  escapes. He  was  chairman  of  three  other  transport  companies. He  founded  an  orphanage  after  the  death  of  his  first  wife  in  1881. He  contested  Camberwell  North  in  1886  after  the  retirement  of  Richard  Strong.

In  1893  Edward  refused  to  pay  the  painter  of   his  Common  portrait  as  neither  he  nor  his  wife  were  satisfied  with  it. The  court  found  for  the  artist.

In  1895  Edward  called  for  a  select  committee  on  whether  the  lifeboat  service  should  be  publicly  funded.

Edward  was  defeated in  1895.

Edward  continued  to  be  active  in  the  transport  business.

He  died  in  1938  aged  96.

1296 John Macdonald

Constituency : Bow and Bromley  1892-5, Falkirk Burghs  1906-18, Stirling and Falkirk Burghs 1918-22

John  took  Bow  and  Bromley  from  the  Tories.

John  was  a  minister's  son  from  Argyllshire. He  was  educated  at  Glasgow  High  School  and  Edinburgh  University.

John  supported  Keir  Hardie's  amendment  to  the  Queen's  Speech  in  1893  that  unemployment  should  be  made  a  priority.

John  was  decisively  defeated  in  1895. He  stood  at  Falkirk  Burghs  in  1900  but  lost  to  the  Liberal  Unionist  John  Wilson. He  won  the  seat  in  1906  and  held  it  easily  in  the 1910  elections.

John  was  a  member  of  the London  School  Board  during  his  period  out  of  parliament.

John  did  not  receive  the  coupon  in  1918  but  had  a  big  win  over  Labour  anyway. He  declared  himself  a  government  supporter  once  in Parliament  and  stood  in  1922  as  a  National  Liberal. He  was  defeated  by  Labour.

He  died  in  1939  aged  84.

1295 John Burns

Constituency : Battersea  1892-1918

John  took  over  from  Ocatavius  Morgan  at  Battersea.

John  was  the  son  of  a  Scottish  fitter. He  had  a  rudimentary  education  then  became  an engineering  apprentice  while  studying  at  night  schools. He  studied  Owen, Mill  and  Cobbett and  became  a  socialist. He  began  speaking  in  public  , helped  by  a  strong  physique  and  voice and  was  arrested  after  addressing  an  open  air  meeting  in  1878.  In  1881  he  founded  a branch of  the  Marxist-leaning  Social  Democratic  Federation  in  Battersea. He  then  joined  a  ship  and worked for  a  year  in  Western  Africa  for  the  United  Africa  Company. In  1885  he  stood  as  an SDF  candidate  in  Nottingham  West.  The  following  year  he  took  part  in  a  protest  against unemployment  which  got  out  of hand ; he  encouraged  the  rioters  to  loot  bakeries. In  1887  he was  arrested  for  resisting  police  attempts  to  break  up a  gathering  in  Trafalgar  Square  and imprisoned  for  6  weeks. In  1889  he  left  the  SDF   after  a  disagreement  with  Hyndman  and  played  a  leading  part  in  the  London Dock  Strike  despite  not  being  a  docker  himself  but  active  in  the  Amalgamated  Engineers Union  instead. He  got  a  lot  of  kudos  when  the  dockers  gained  their  demands. That  same  year  he  was  elected  to  London  County  Council  as  a  Progressive where  he  argued  for  contracts  to  be  worked  under  trade  union  conditions  and  for  maintaining a  direct  labour  force. This  resulted  in  the  building  of  the Latchmere  estate. Beatrice  Webb  didn't  like  him commenting  that  "it  is  pitiful  to  see  this  splendid  man a  prey  to  egotism  of  the  most  sordid  kind".

In  1892  the  Battersea  Liberal  Association  accepted  John as  their  candidate  recognising  the  strength  of  his  machine. He  repudiated  calls for  a  separate  party and  was  happy  to  be  a  Lib-Lab.  He  was  at  the  meeting  that  established  the  Labour  Representation  Committee  but  refused  to  sign  up  to  it, He  was  strongly  opposed  to  the  Boer War.

In  1894 John  received  facial  injuries  from  being  hit  by  the  ball  while  watching  a  cricket match.

In  1897  John  accepted  Lloyd  George's  invitation  to  speak  at  a  quarrymen's  rally. He  later  became  very  hostile  towards  him.

John  supported  female  suffrage.

In  1905  Campbell-Bannerman  appointed   John  to  the  Cabinet  as  President  of  the  Local Government  Board  to  strengthen  the  alliance  with  Labour. Despite  his  previous  reputation  John was  actually  becoming  quite  reactionary  and  often  acted  as  a  brake  on  the  government's social  reforms. He  was  a  puritan  who  believed  that  poverty  was  often  the result  of  individual failure  and  he  was  strongly  opposed  to  smoking, drinking  and  gambling. He  did  not  favour   Webb's  plans  for  restructuring  the  poor  law  which  he saw  as  outdoor  relief. He  opposed  the  idea  of  a  welfare  state; government  should  not  "supersede  the  mother, and  they  should  not  by  over-attention  sterilise her  initiative  and   capacity  to  do  what  every  mother  should  be able  to  do for  herself". He  was  bitterly  attacked  for  these  attitudes  by  old  comrades. Webb  called  him  " a  monstrosity, an  enormous  personal  vanity  feeding  on  the  deference  and  flattery  yielded  to  patronage  and  power".

John  was  responsible  for  the  Housing  and  Town  Planning  Act  of  1909  and  the  1910  Census  Bill  but  generally  lacked  imagination  and  boldness. He  was  very  reliant  on  his  officials'  advice.

In  1914  John  was  switched  to  President  of  the  Board  of  Trade. He  did  not  hold  the  office for  long. He  resigned  when  Britain  decided  to  go  to  war. John  enjoyed  military  parades  but his  commitment  to  pacifism  was  too  strong.  He  declared    it  is  my  especial  duty  to  dissociate  myself  and  the  principles  I  hold  and  the  trusteeship  for  the  working  classes  I  carry  from  such  a  universal  crime  as  the  contemplated  war  will  be".  He  did  support  the  diversion  of  police  recruits  into  the  army.  He  remained  in  Parliament  until  1918  but  was  largely  inactive.  He  was  appalled  by  Lloyd  George's  ascent  to  power  , saying  he  "degrades  by  his  disloyal, dishonest  and  lying  presence  the  greatest  office  in  the  State. The  Gentlemen  of  England  serve  under  the  greatest  cad  in  Europe".

Aware  of   the  state  of   public  opinion  and  lacking  support  from  either  the  Liberal  or  Labour  parties  John  decided  to  stand  down  in  1918.

In  1919  John  was  willed  an  annuity  by  Andrew  Carnegie  which  left  him  financially independent. He  became  a  serious  bibliophile  and  an  expert  on  London  history.

He  died  in  1943  aged  82.

1294 James Moorsom

Constituency :   Great  Yarmouth  1892-5

James  took  Great  Yarmouth  from  the  Tories.

James  was  a  barrister.

James  opposed  the  proposed  closure  of  the  Royal  Naval  Hospital  at  Yarmouth  in  1893  and   championed  the  rights  of  the  attendants  there  to  pensions.

He  died  in  1918  aged  80.

1293 Clement Higgins

Constituency : Mid  Norfolk   1892-5  ( from  1895  Liberal  Unionist )

Clement  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist  Robert  Gurdon.

Clement  was  an  architect's  son . He  was  educated  at  Cambridge  and  became  a barrister.

Clement  supported  disestablishment  of  the  church.

Clement  never  spoke  in  Parliament.

In  March  1895  Clement  declared  himself  a  Liberal  Unionist  after  the  Queen's  Speech. The  local  Liberal  Association  thanked  him  for  past  services  and  invited  him  to  sit  until  the  next  general  election, hoping  to  avoid  a  by-election. At  Chamberlain's  urging, Clement  did  not  comply  and  Gurdon  got  back  in.

He  died  in  1916  aged  72.

1292 Robert Price

Constituency : Norfolk  East  1892-1918

Robert  took  Nofolk  East  from  the Tories.

Robert  was  educated  at  Cholmeley  School  and  University  College  Hospital  and  became  a  surgeon. He  also  qualified  as  a  barrister  , one  of  few  men  to  practise  both  medicine  and  law.  The  former  MP  for  Nuneaton, Jasper  Johns  was  his  father-in-law.

Robert's  maiden  speech  was  in  favour  of  allotments  to  prevent  the  drift  of  labour  away  from  the  country  districts.

Robert  was  knighted  in  1908.

In  1910 Robert  introduced  a  Bill  to  reform  the  Poor  Law.

Robert  stood  down  in  1918.

He  died  in  1926  aged  71.

1291 Cyril Dodd

Constituency : Maldon  1892-5

Cyril took  Maldon  from  the  Tories.

Cyril  was  a rector's  son.  He  became  a  barrister, specialising  in  railway  law. He  stood  for  Cambridge  in  1886.

Cyril  later  became  a  county  court  judge,

He  died  in  1913  aged  69.

1290 Robert Perks

Constituency : Louth  1892-1910

Robert  took  Louth  from  the  Tories.

Robert  was the  son  of  a  Methodist  preacher. He  was  educated  at  Kingswood  School  and  King's  College  London  and  became  a  solicitor, often  acting  for  railway  companies. He  was  in  partnership  with   the  Wolverhampton  MP   Henry  Fowler.  He  was  a  Methodist  lay  preacher. He  wrote  widely  about  the  Methodist  church. Robert  became  a  successful  businessman   through  specialising  in  transport  infrastructure  projects.

Robert's  maiden  speech  was  in  favour  of  a  Bill  allowing  Nonconformists  to  purchase  the  freehold  of  their  place  of  worship. The  historian  Searle  has  described  him  as  being  "from  that  wing  of  the  party to  which  redress  of  Nonconformist  grievances  was  the  only  kind  of  reform  that  mattered " . Lloyd  George  said  he  "talked  as  if  the  Nonconformist  conscience  were  locked  up  in  his  City  safe".

In  1897  Robert  proposed  a  Twentieth  Century  Fund  to  finance  a  huge  evangelical  and  social  campaign  and  build  a  headquarters  in  London.

In  1898  Robert  urged  Rosebery  to  rule  out  an  independent  parliament  for  Ireland  as  demanded  by  Redmond. In  a  public  speech  that  year  he  raised  the  possibility  of  such  a  parliament  establishing  a  Catholic  university  with  public  funds.

In  1900  Robert  set  up  the  Liberal  Imperial  Council. He  was  also  a  member  of  the  Navy  League  and  was  elected  to  its  committee in  1909.

Robert  was  created  a  baronet  in  1908.

In  1909  Robert  set  up  the  Nonconformist  Anti-Socialist  Union  with  wealthy  Methodist  businessmen.

Robert  stepped  down  in  January  1910. He  said  of his  time  in  parliament that  "there  was  no  period  of  his  life so  fruitlessly  spent, no  time  so  absolutely  wasted". he  is  said  to  have  declined  a  peerage.

Robert  was  interested  in  homeopathy.

He  died  in  1934  aged  85.

1289 William Crosfield

Constituency : Lincoln  1892-5

William  took  Lincoln  from  the  Tories.

William  was  part  of  the  Crosfield  family  who  were  chemical  magnates  based  in  Warrington. He  was  from  Liverpool.  He  was  defeated  at  Warrington  in  1885.

William  was  a  prominent  spokesman  for  temperance.

He  died  in  1909  aged  70.

1288 Henri Josse

Constituency : Grimsby  1892-3

Henri  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist  Edward  Heneage  in  Grimsby.

Henri  was  a  naturalised  Frenchman  who  was  both  a  Paris  banker  and  a  Grimsby  coal  merchant.

Henri  found  mixing  politics  with  business  too  much  and  resigned  his  seat  the  following  year. Heneage  reclaimed the  seat  at  the  by-election.

He   died  a  few  mnths  later  aged  65.

1287 Hugh Hoare

Constituency : Chesterton  1892-5

Hugh  took  Chesterton  from  the  Conservatives.

Hugh  was  the  son  of  a  banker. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Oxford. He  was  a  partner  in  one  brewing  firm  and  had  interests  in  several  others. He  was  also  a  member  of  the  London  School  Board.

Hugh  spoke  in  favour  of  parish  councils  to  advance  the causes  of  allotments  and  education.

Hugh  was  defeated  in  1895  and  1900. He  stood  unsuccessfully  for  Chelsea  in  December  1910.

He  died  in  1929  aged  75.

1286 Charles Shaw

Constituency : Stafford  1892 - 1910

Charles  took  Stafford  from  the  Tories.

Charles  was  educated  at  Tettenhall  College  and  Oxford.

Charles  was  chairman  and  managing  director  of  the  family merchant  firm. He  sat  on  Wolverhampton  Town  Council.

Charles  saw  himself  as  a  Radical  and  supported  trade  unions. He  clung  on  to  his  seat  by  tiny  majorities. Even  in  1906  it  was  only  311  votes.

Charles  was  created  a  baronet  in  1908. He  stood  down  before  the  December  1910  election.

He  died  in  1942  aged  82.

1285 William Allen

Constituency :  Newcastle  under  Lyme  1892-1900, Burslem 1931-5  ( National  Liberal )

William  was  the  son  of  the  former  MP  for  the  constituency  William  Allen  who  was  now  a  politician  in  New  Zealand. He  was  only  22  when  first  elected, unseating  the  Liberal  Unionist  Douglas  Coghill.

William  supported  the  Eight  Hour  Day  and  temperance  reform..

William  was  defeated  in  1900  perhaps  because  he  was  away  on  active  service  in  the  Boer  War  at  the  time. He  rose  to  captain  in  the  Special  Corps  of  Imperial  Yeomanry.

William  then  stood  aloof  from  politics  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  until  1924  when  he  stood  as  a  Constitutionalist  in  Burslem  and  was  narrowly  defeated. He  didn't  stand  in  1929  but  in  1931  took  the  seat  as  one  of  John  Simon's  National  Liberals, a  parliamentary  comeback  after  a  gap  of  31  years. This  is  a  record.

 William  never  spoke  during  his  second  Commons  stint.

William  was  defeated  in  1935  and  didn't  stand  again.

He  died  in  1945  aged  75.

1284 Leonard Darwin

Constituency : Lichfield  1892-5  ( Liberal Unionist )

Leonard  bucked  the  trend  by  unseating  his  Liberal  opponent  Sir  John  Swinburne  by  4  votes.

Leonard  was  the  son  of  Charles  Darwin. He  was  educated  at  Clapham  School. He  joined  the  Royal  Engineers. Between  1877  and  1882  he  worked  in  the  Intelligence  Division  of  the  Ministry  of  War. In  1890  he  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  Major. He  was  an  accomplished  astronomer  and  chemist  but  felt  himself  inferior  intellectually  to  his  siblings.

Leonard  supported  bimetallism, Indian  currency  reform  and  municipal  trading. His  maiden  speech  was

Leonard  was  unseated  in  1895  by  44  votes. The  result  was  overturned  on  petition  but  the  Liberals  still  won  the  by-election.

Between  1908  and  1911  Leonard  was  President  of  the  Royal  Geographical  Society . He  then  became  chairman  of  the  British  Eugenics  Society  until  1928. He  was  mentor  to  the  geneticist  Ronald  Fisher.

In  1912  Leonard  presided  over  the  International  Eugenics  Congress  and  gave  an  interview  in  the  New  York  Times  in  which  he  advocated  economic  measures  to  discourage  "reproduction  on  the  part  of  degenerate  paupers ".  He  discussed  the  idea  of  a  "lethal  chamber "  but  rejected  it. He  did  lobby  the  government  for  flying  squads  of  scientists  to  identify  the  "unfit"  in  the  run  up  to  the  First  World  War.


In  1926  Leonard  wrote  The  Need  for  Economic  Reform.  He  had  some  contact  with  Keynes  who  had  praised  his  book  on  bimetallism  but  said  he  neither  liked  nor  trusted  the  economist.

He  died  in  1943  aged  93, the  last  survivor  of  Darwin's  children.

1283 Sir James Whitehead

Constituency :  Leicester  1892-4

Sir  James  managed  to  edge  out  the  Liberal  Unionist  Alexander  McArthur at  Leicester.

Sir  James  was born  in  Sedbergh. He  was educated  at  Appleby  Grammar  School  and  became a  draper's  apprentice. He  migrated  to  London  and  set  up  his  own  business. Having  made  his  fortune  he  concentrated  on  politics  from  the  1880s  onwards. He  became  a  London  alderman  and Lord  Mayor  in  1888. He  was  an  arbitrator  in  the  London  Dock  Strike  of  1889  and  was  created  a  baronet  that  year. He  was  also  a  philanthropist  with an  interest  in  prison  reform.
He  contested  Appleby  in  1885  and  1886.

James  supported  Home  Rule, Lords  reform  and  disestablishment  of  the church. However  nearly  every  parliamentary  intervention  he  made  was  on  the  subject  of  railway  rates.

James  resigned  after  only  two  years  as  an  MP.

He  died  in  1917  aged  83.

1282 Thomas Bayley

Constituency : Chesterfield  1892-1906

Thomas  unseated  the Liberal  Unionist  Alfred  Barnes by  182  votes  at  Chesterfield.

Thomas  was   a  wealthy  coal  owner  . He  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  at  Barkston  Ash  in  1885  and  at  Chesterfield  in  1886  when  he  was  narrowly  defeated.

Thomas  broke  with  the  Coal-Owners  Federation   during  the  1893  lockout  and  supported  the  miners'  case  against  reduced  wages.

In  1898  Thomas  visited  the  slums  of  Glasgow  and  criticised  living  conditions  there.

Nearly  all  Thomas's  parliamentary  contributions  were  on  Africa  and  the persistence  of  slavery  there.

In  1905  Thomas  wrote  to  Campbell-Bannerman  repudiating  Rosebery : "He  has  now  repudiated  every  good  cause  for  which  he  fought  under  his  late  leader  Mr  Gladstone".

Thomas  stood  down  in  1906  and  died  two  months  later  aged  59.

1281 Thomas Whittaker

Constituency : Spen  Valley  1892-1919

Thomas  took  over  from  Joseph  Woodhead  at  Spen  Valley.

Thomas  was  educated  at  Huddersfield  College  and  became  a  hardware  salesman  at  16. He  later  moved  into  journalism  and  re-located  to  London. He  was  chairman  and  managing  director  of  the  Life  Assurance  Institution.

Thomas  was  a  strong  temperance  advocate  who  advocated  reform  of  the  licensing  laws. he  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Commission  on  Licensing  from 1896  to  1899. He  was  also  a  Liberal  Imperialist.

In  1906  Thomas  was  knighted. He  supported  the  Trade  Disputes  Bill.

In  1908  Thomas  chaired  a  Select  Committee  on  Home  Work  which  led  to  the  Trade  Boards  Act  of  1909  giving  the  Board  of  Trade  powers  to  fix  minimum  rates  in  trades  where  wages  were  exceptionally  low.

Thomas  was  critical  of  the  People's  Budget  as  he  felt  the  taxation  measures  would  erode  small  investors'  savings  in  industrial  and  provident  societies.

In  1912  Thomas  was  dismissive  of  the  Unionist  threats  over  Ulster; "They  said  the  same  thing  forty-four  years  ago  when  we  disestablished  the  Irish  Church. They  were  going  to  lay  down  their  lives, and  instead  they  went  to  bed."

In  1914  Thomas  published  a  book  on  Land  taxation  which  debunked  the  arguments  of  Liberals  in  favour  of  a  Single  Tax  including  the  proposition  that  poverty  was  the  result  of  lack  of  access  to  land.

Thomas  was  made  chairman  of  the  Select  Committee  on  Parliamentary  Procedure  in  1914.  In  1915   he  led  a  plan  to  buy  American  securities  held  in  London. In  1916   he  headed  a  Royal  Commission  on  the  Importation  of  Paper  to  tackle  paper  shortages. He  asserted  that  wartime  controls  had  destroyed  socialism's  credibility.

Thomas  was  a   Lloyd  George  supporter. He  held  the  support  of  the  local  Liberal  Association  and  received  the  "coupon"  in  1918. He  was  appointed  to  the  reunion  committee  at  the  meeting  called  by  George  Lambert.

Thomas  died in  1919  aged   69   prompting  a  famous  by-election, won  by  Labour  due  to  John  Simon  splitting  the  Liberal  vote.

1280 William Byles

Constituency  : Shipley  1892-5 , Salford  North  1906-17

William  took  over  from  Joseph  Craven  at  Shipley, narrowly  beating  a  Liberal  Unionist. Some  sources  describe  William  as  a  Lib-Lab  candidate  but  this  seems  unlikely.

William  was  the  son  of  the  proprietor  of  the  Yorkshire  Observer. He  was  a  Nonconformist.

William  was  defeated  by  the  liberal  Unionists  in  1895.

In  1900  William  stood  for  Leeds  East  as  a  Labour  candidate  due  to  his  opposition  to  the  Boer  War.  He  became  reconciled  to  the  Liberals  but  struggled  to  find  a  constituency  for  want  of  money.

In  1906  William  returned  for  Salford  North.  Almost  immediately  he  moved  to  censure  Milnr  for  ordering  the  flogging  of  Chinese  labourers.

William  was  pro-female  suffrage  and  the  appointment  of  policewomen.

In  1908  William  spoke  in  support  of  the  Public  Meeting  Bill  which  sought  to  make  an  offence  of  trying  to  stop  the  business  of  a  public  meeting  by disruption. He  saw  it  as  preserving  free  speech  and  free  expression.

William  was  knighted  in  1911.

William  maintained  a  pacifist  stance  during  World  War  One  and  supported  a  hunger  striking  conscientious  objector  Emanuel  Ribiero.

He  died  in  1917  aged  78.