922 Henry Broadhurst

Constituency : Stoke-on-Trent  1880-85, Birmingham  Bordesley  1885-6, Nottingham  West  1886-92, Leicester  1894-1906

Henry  was  the  other  victor  at  Stoke  and  sat  as  a  Lib-Lab  MP.

Henry  was  the  son  of  a  stonemason  and  followed  in  his  father's  footsteps,  working  on  the  clock  tower  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster  in  the  1860s. He  was  involved  in  the  Reform  League  in  the  1860s, In  1872  he  was  elected  to  chair  a  Mason's  Committee  during  an  industrial  dispute. He  was  a  success  and  began  working  for  the  Stonemasons  Union  full  time. He  was  their  delegate  to  the  Trades  Union  Congress.In  1873  he  became  secretary  of  the  Labour  Representation  League. Unlike  Burt  and  McDonald, Henry  was  unsuccessful  in  1874  being  defeated  at  High  Wycombe. In  1875  he  became  Secretary  of  the  T.U.C.'s  parliamentary  committee. He  told  the  TUC  that  year  that  the  labour  movement  should  look  to  keep  women  at  home. He  was  a  staunch  Methodist. He  agitated  for  the  right  to  peaceful  picketing  which  was  secured  by  the  Conspiracy  and  Protection  of  Property  Act  of  1875.

Henry  described  the  Lib-Lab  arrangement  as  "a  system  by  which  you  cordially  co-operate  with  your  friends , while  reserving  to  yourself, should  the  need  arise, your  own  independence  of  action".

Once  in  Parliament  Henry  worked  for   workmens'  compensation , allowing  working  men  to  become  magistrates  and  the  inclusion  of  "fair  wage"  clauses  in  government  contracts. In  1884  he  sat  on  the  Royal  Commission  for  working  class  housing.  He  refused  to  appear  at  Court  functions  until  he  had  saved  up  enough  money  to  buy  court  dress.

Henry  was  a  leading  advocate  of  leasehold  reform  and  in  1886  introduced  a  bill  empowering  all  leaseholders to  purchase  the  freehold  title  to  their  land  subject  to  charges  and  conditions.


In  1886  Henry  became  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Home  Department, the  first  working  class  person  to  hold  government  office. He  had  to  resign  his  post  at  the  TUC. Gladstone  had  earmarked  him  for  a  post  at  the  Board  of  Trade  but  Mundella  objected  that  his  background   would  make  him  unacceptable  to  manufacturers.   He  remained  loyal  to  Gladstone  over  Home  Rule  so  had  to  leave  Birmingham  and  challenge  in  Nottingham  West  where  he  evicted  Charles  Seely  in  a  tight  contest.

Now  he  was  an  opposition  MP  Henry  resumed  his  post  with  the  TUC  but  came  under  fire  from  left  wingers  such  as  Keir  Hardie  for  not  doing  enough  for  the  cause.  When  Henry  opposed  the  eight  hour  day  Hardie  accused  him  of  being  more  Liberal  than  Labour . In  1889   Hardie  accused  him  of  holding  shares  in  a  company  which  treated  its  workers  badly.

Beatrice  Webb  met  him  in  1889  and  described  him  as  "A  commonplace  person, hard  working  no  doubt  , but  a  middle  class  philistine  to  the  backbone, appealing  to  the  practical  shrewdness  and  the  high  flown  but  mediocre  sentiments  of  the  comfortably  off  working  man.

.In  1890  Henry  was  defeated  by  Hardie  on  the  eight  hour  day  question  and  resigned  citing  health  reasons. In  1892  he  sat  on  the  Royal  Commission  for  the  impoverished  elderly  but  lost  his  seat   to  Seely  at  the  election  that  year. The  loss  of  local  workers  support  over  the  eight  hour  day  question  was  thought  to  have  cost  him.

Henry  was   unsuccessful  at  the  Grimsby  by-election  in  1893  but  returned  at  one  for  Leicester  in  1894  where the  local  working  class  Liberals  had been  dissatisfied  with  their  previous  representatives.

Henry  retired  to  Norfolk  after  leaving  Parliament  and  became  an  alderman. He  died  in  1911  aged  71.