Constituency : St Pancras East 1910-18
Joseph took over from Hugh Lea at St Pancras East.
Joseph was born in Milton, Canada. He was educated at the University of Toronto. He went from being a telegraph operator to a headteacher to a barrister. He went into Canadian politics in 1883, first in Manitoba where he provoked the Manitoba Schools Question crisis which still fuels Quebecois separatism today. He acquired the nickname "Fighting Joe". He later had a stormy time in British Columbia and came to England when that went south in 1908.
In 1911, Joseph came off worst in a Commons exchange with Churchill over the grounding of a warship which Joseph had criticised.
By 1914, Joseph had alienated the local party and they wanted to be rid of him. They selected another candidate. Joseph threatened to contest a by-election as an independent Liberal- Labour candidate and they backed off. He failed to be elected mayor of Vancouver later that year.
In 1918, Joseph defected to Labour and was selected for Islington South. However, he did not stand when the election came round.
Joseph returned to Canada and stood in Vancouver as an Asiatic Exclusion League candidate, losing his deposit.
He died of diabetes in 1923, aged 71.
No comments:
Post a Comment