1124 Edward Pickersgill

Constituency : Bethnal  Green South  West  1885-1900, 1906-11

Edward  took  the  new  seat  of  Bethnal  Green  South  West.

Edward  was  the  son  of  an  architect  from  York. He  was  educated  at  York  Grammar  School  then  became  a  clerk  in  the  Post  Office  Savings  Bank. He  went  to  London  University  and  became  a  barrister.

Edward  was  a  Radical  with  an  interest  in  penal  reform. He  campaigned  for  an  end  to  the  death  penalty  , flogging  and  imprisonmenr  for  debt.  Edward  was  a  member  of  the  Home  Rule  Union  and  was  part  of  a  delgation  to  Ireland  in  1887.

In  1888  Edward  put  down  a  motion  to  reduce  the  City  Solicitor's  salary  for  his  lethargy  in  prosecuting  investment  fraud,

Edward  was  a  "Progressive"  on  London  County  Council  from  1892  to  1895.

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

In  1906  Edward  took  up  the  cause  of  the  dispossessed  Basuto  tribe  in  South  Africa , chairing  a  reception  for  their  chiefs  in  London.

In  1911 he  resigned  his  seat  in  order  to  become  a  stipendiary  magistrate  but  died  of  pneumonia  just  a  few  months  later  aged  61.