Constituency : Worcestershire North 1885-95
Benjamin took the new seat of Worcestershire North.
Benjamin was educated at King Edward's School Halesowen and entered the family firms which were a chain and anchor manufacturers and a colliery business. He was chair of the regional Ironmasters Association and sat on to Wages Boards. He also had an interest in gas companies.
Benjamin went over to the Liberal Unionists in 1886 and was returned unopposed . He had returned to the main fold by the 1892 election.
Benjamin opposed the mandatory imposition of a detaching hook for miners' cages. His parliamentary contributions were mostly on mining matters. He sat on the Admiralty Committee. He pressed for the Particulars Clause which favoured women workers to be applied to the chainmaking business. He was a benevolent employer but opposed the eight hour day for miners and Workmen's Compensation Bill of 1897 which he viewed as communistic.
Benjamin was Mayor of Dudley from 1887 to 1889. He was created a baronet in 1893
Benjamin stepped down on health grounds in 1895.
Benjamin was elected president of the Mining Association of Great Britain in 1903.
He died of heart failure in 1905 aged 74.
That concludes our look at the Liberals elected in 1885. That Parliament didn't sit for very long. Jesse Collings' amendment to the Queen's Speech brought down the Salisbury government and let Gladstone form a third ministry but when he proposed Home Rule for Ireland enough Liberals voted against to defeat the Bill on its second reading. Most of those Liberals came to an agreement with the Tories and stood at the ensuing election as Liberal Unionists.
There were no new Liberals elected at by-elections during the Parliament.
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