1341 Alfred Lytttelton

Constituency : Warwick  and  Leamington  1895-1906,  St  George, Hanover  Square  1906-12  ( Liberal  Unionist ), 1912-3  ( Conservative )

Charles  took  over  at  Warwick  on  the  retirement  of  the  Speaker  Arthur  Peel  and  his  elevation  to  the  peerage.

Alfred  was  the  youngest  child  of  Baron  Lyttelton  and  a  nephew  of  Gladstone  by  marriage. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge  and  started  playing  first  class  cricket  for  the  latter. He  went  on  to  play  for  Middlesex  and  played  four  Test  matches  against  Australia. He  also  played  football  for  Old  Etonians  including  the 1876  FA  Cup  Final  and  won  a  solitary  cap  for  England  against  Scotland  in  which  he  was  much  criticised  for  his  selfish  play. He  was  also  national  real  tennis  champion  for  a  decade.  He  became  a  barrister  and  acted  as  legal  private  secretary  to  Henry  James  when  Attorney-General. He  followed  him  into  the  Liberal  Unionists.

In  1900  Chamberlain  sent  him  to  South  Africa  to oversee  reconstruction  after  the  Boer  War. The  High  Commissioner  Alfred  Milner  was  favourably  impressed  with  him. When  Chamberlain  resigned  his  office   as  Colonial  Secretary  to  promote  Tariff  Reform  Alfred  was  appointed  his  replacement. It  was  his  decision  to  use  Chinese  coolie  labourers  which  became  a  major  election  issue  in  1906. Alfred  favoured  decentralised  government  but  was  not  in  office  long  enough  to  pursue  his  ideas.

Alfred  was  defeated  in  1906.

Alfred  opposed  Welsh  disestablishment  but  supported  women's  suffrage.

In  May  1913 Alfred  fanned  the  flames  of  the  Ulster  rebellion  by  declaring  that  "Many officers  and  many  men  would  decline  to  lift  a  hand"  against  the  Protestant  militias.

In  1913  Alfred  took  a ball  in  the  stomach  playing  cricket .  Not  realising  he'd  been  seriously injured,  he  returned  to  his  work   but  soon  needed  surgery  on  a  stomach  abscess. This  was   not  successful  and  he  died  aged  56.

Alfred  was  a  member  of  the  the  Souls  a  social  grouping  for  generally  moderate  politicians. He  was  a  son-in-law  of  Sir  Charles  Tennant  but  never  Asquith's  brother-in-law  as  his  wife had  died  before  her  sister  Margot  married  Asquith. He  became  Balfour's  brother-in-law   instead.

That  concludes  our  look  at  the  by-election  victors  of  the  1892-5  Parliament. We  now  turn  to  the  Liberal  victors  in  1895.

1340 Thomas Leuty

Constituency  : Leeds  East  1895-1900

Thomas took  over  at  Leeds  East  after  the  death  of  John  Gane.

Thomas  was  the  son  of   a  linen  manufacturer  in  Armley. He  was  educated  at  Bramham  College. He  became  a  city  Councillor  in  1882  and  was  described  by  the  Yorkshire  Post  as  a  "militant  Congregationalist"  and  "Radical  of  Radicals".  He  contested  Leeds  North  in  1892. He  became  mayor  of  Leeds  in  1893. He  supported  the  Newcastle  Programme  and  was  well  regarded  by  the  craft  unionists  in  the  city.

Thomas  was  criticised  by  temperance  enthusiasts  for  dining  with  brewers  and  then  dealing  in  brewery  shares  himself  in  1898.

Thomas  was  not  comfortable  at  Westminster  and  his  health  was  failing  so  he  stepped  down  in  1900.

He  died  in  1911 aged  57.

1339 Sir Weetman Pearson

Constituency : Colchester  1895-1910

In  January  1895  the  Conservative  MP  for Colchester  Herbert  Naylor-Leyland  announced  that  the  Queen's  Speech  had  converted  him  to  Rosebery's  brand of  Liberalism  and  he  resigned  his  seat  allowing  Weetman  to  take  over.

Weetman  was  the  manager  of  a  construction  firm  started  by  his  grandfather.  His  father  had  been  a  Conservative  MP  for  Edinburgh  University. The  family  business  took  on  contracts  from  all  over  the  world  including  the  Sennar  Dam  in  Sudan  and  the  Tehuantepec  railway  in  Mexico. While  working  on  the  latter  Weetman  became  involved  in  oil  prospecting  there  which  eventually  paid  off  for  him. His  firm  became  a  multi-national  conglomerate.He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1894.

Weetman  made  little  contribution  in  the  House  and  his  frequent  absences  led  to  the  nickname  of  "Member  for Mexico".

Weetman  stood  down  in   January  1910  and  was  created  Baron  Cowdray. He  was  active in  the  war  effort  building  the  munitions  factory  at  Gretna  and  a  tank  assembly  in  France. In  1917  Lloyd  George  upgraded  him  to  a  viscount  and  persuaded him  to  become President  of  the  Air  Board. He  presided  over  a  tripling  of  output  but  resigned  after  criticism   over  failing  to  prevent a  German  bombing  raid.

Weetman  was  an  active  philanthropist  endowing  university  chairs , building  hospitals  and  supporting  the  League  of  Nations  Union.

He  died  in  1927  aged  70.

1338 Charles Ramsay

Constituency : Forfarshire  1894-5  ( Liberal  Unionist )

Charles  took  Forfarshire  after  Sir  John  Rigby  became  an  Appeal  Court  judge.  He  described  himself  as  "Liberal  Democrat  and  Conservative".  He  was  aided  by  dissension  in  the  Liberal  ranks  as  many  local  Liberals  preferred  a  local  businessman  James  White  to  the  chosen  candidate  , the  London  stockbroker  Henry  Robson   and  lent  their  vote  to  Charles. He  won  by  286  votes.

Charles  was  the  youngest  son  of  the  Earl  of  Dalhousie. He  obtained  a  commission  in  the   Royal  Artillery  but  didn't  serve  for  long. In  the  1880s  he  bought  a  ranch  in  the  US  and  later took  up  gold  prospecting. He  returned  to  Scotland  when  he  inherited  a  large  estate  in Forfarshire. He  was  a  Freemason.

In  1895   Charles  was  defeated  by  White.

Charles  rejoined  the  army  in  World  War  One, becoming  a  lieutenant-colonel. After  its  cessation  he  worked  for  armed  forces  charities.

He  died  in  1936  aged  77.

1337 John MacLeod

Constituency  : Sutherland  1894-1900

John  took  over  at  Sutherland  after  Angus  Sutherland  resigned  to  become  a  fisheries  inspector. He  was  elected  unopposed.

John  was  a  Crofters  sympathiser  who  had  acted  as  his  predecessor's  informal  deputy.  He  originally  trained as  a  chemist. In  the  early  1880s  he  worked  for  a  gold  prospector  called  Dunker.  He  was  appointed  to   the  Deer  Forest  Commission  by  Gladstone  in  1892. One  of  the  Duke  of  Sutherland's  men  was  aghast  at  this  describing  John  as  " a  man  of  no  reputation  and  is  not  in  a  position  socially  to  allow  him  to  be  a  member  of  any  Commission".

John  made  little  contribution  to  Parliament.

John  was  defeated  by  a  Liberal  Unionist  in  1900.

1336 Walter Hazell

Constituency : Leicester  1894-1900

Walter,  together  with  Henry  Broadhurst  replaced  James  Picton  and  James  Whitehead  in  a  double  by-election  at  Leicester.

Walter  was  a  Congregationalist  and  treasurer  of  the  Peace  Society. He  was  a  partner  in  a  printing  and  publishing  firm. This  enabled  him  to  produce  pamphlets  on  social  reform. He  introduced  a  sick  fund  in  1874.

In  1895, despite  his  pacifist  inclinations, Walter  declared  that  the  time  may  be  right  to  use  force  against  the  Sultan  after  the  Armenian  massacres.

Walter  was  a  member  of  the  Emigration  Committee. He  supported  Women's  Suffrage.

In  1900  Walter  was  edged  into third  place  by  the  Conservatives.

He  died  in  1919  aged  76.

1335 J. Batty Langley

Constituency : Sheffield  Attercliffe  1894-1909

J  ( his  Christian  name   doesn't  seem  to  have  been  recorded )  took  over  at  Sheffield  Attercliffe  when  Bernard  Coleridge  succeeded  to  his  father's  title.  J  had  a  struggle  to  get  the  Liberal  nomination. The  local  trade  council  preferred  a  more  working  class  representative  and  selected  a  man  called  Charles  Hobson  instead. Neighbouring  Liberal  MPs  decried  the  choice  and  eventually  Hobson  withdrew  after  an  open  meeting  of  the  Liberal  Council  overwhelmingly  backed  J.  Despite  receiving  little  support  from  the  NLF  who  didn't  send  up  any  speakers and  facing  an  ILP  candidate ( a  first  for  the  party ), J  won  reasonably  comfortably.   Afterwards  a  certain  Ramsay  McDonald  requested  membership  of  the  ILP saying  "Attercliffe  came  as  a  rude  awakening, and  I  felt  during  the  contest  that  it  was  quite  impossible  for  me  to  maintain  my  position  as  a  Liberal  any  longer".

J  was  a  wealthy  timber  merchant  and  town  councillor. He  also  had  a  farm  in  the  Midlands. He  was  a  nonconformist. In  1892  he  became  Mayor  of  Sheffield  just  as  it  attained  city  status. The  following  year  he  organised  a  conference  in  the  city  to  try  to  end  a  coal  strike.

J 's  maiden  speech  attacked  the  Agricultural  Land  Ratings   Bill  of  1896  as  unfair  to  the  urban  population. He  was  an  infrequent  contributor  in  the  House.  

In  1897 J  bizarrely  became  the  first  President  of  the  General  Union  of  Railway  Clerks  although  he  resigned  on  health  grounds  after  a  year.

In  1895  and  1900  J  was  elected  unopposed.

In  1909  J  decided  to  retire  and  resigned  his  seat. Many  accounts  of  Labour's  triumph  at  the  by-election  wrongly  assert  that  he  had  died.

He  died  in  1914  aged  79.

1334 Harold Tennant

Constituency  : Berwickshire  1894-1918

Harold  took  over  at  Berwickshire  after  Edaward  Marjoribanks  succeeded  his  father  and  went  to  the  Lords.

Harold  was  the  son  of  Charles  Tennant  , former  MP  for  Peebles  and  Selkirk. He  was  also  Asquith's  brother-in-law. He  was  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge.Harold   had  been  Assistant  Private  Secretary  to  Asquith  at  the  Home  Office  since  1892.

Harold  supported  workmens'  compensation, unemployment  insurance, factory  inspections ( his  wife  was  a  factory  inspector )  and  a  minimum  wage. He  chaired  the  Dangerous  Trades  Committee  from  1895. He  complained  in  1900  that  only  two  of  its  recommendations  had  been  put  in  force.

In  1909  Harold  was   appointed  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade . In  1911  he  became  Financial  Secretary  to  the  War  Office  and  then  Under-Secretary  of  State  for  War  in  1912.  He  had  to  investigate   complaints  of  the  recruitment  of  underage  soldiers. He  countered  by  saying  the  boys  had  lied  about  their  age  but  issued  a  directive  that  the  surviving   boys  should  be  sent  home  which  the  generals  were  reluctant  to  obey.  When  complaints  about  rough  treatment  of  conscientious  objectors  arose  following  the  introduction  of  conscription, Harold  entreated "I  am  asking  the  House  not  to  believe  all  this  tittle-tattle".  He  defended  the  execution  of  deserters.  In  July  1916  he  joined  the  Cabinet  as  Secretary  of  State  for  Scotland  but  held  the  position  for  just  six  months  before  Asquith  was  ousted.

In  1918  Harold's  seat  and  the  neighbouring  Haddingtonshire  seat  were  merged  into  one  and  both  incumbent  Liberals   contested  it. Harold's  neighbour , Thomas  Hope,  received  the  "coupon"  as  a  Lloyd  George  supporter  which  assured  his  victory. Harold  was  left  in  third  place  with  just  16%  of  the  vote.

In  1923  Harold  contested  Glasgow  Central  but  received  a  derisory  vote.

He  died  in  1935  aged  70.

1333 Arthur Humphreys-Owen

Constituency : Montgomeryshire  1894-1905

Arthur  took  over  at  Montgomeryshire  following  the  elevation  of  Stuart  Rendel  to  the  peerage. He  won  by  225  votes.

Arthur  was  the  son  of  a  Welsh  barrister. He  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge. In  1876 he  inherited  the  Owen  estates  and  tagged  the  name  onto  his  surname. He  was  also  a  railway  baron  and  a  barrister .He  became  chairman  of  Montgomeryshire  County  Council  with  a  passionate  interest  in  secondary  and  higher  education. He  was  a  keen  advocate  of  the  University  of  Wales. In  1888  he  described  Lloyd  George  as "a  second  rate  county  attorney"  but  accepted  his  help  at  his  election.  He  was  an  Anglican.

Arthur's  maiden  speech  in  1894  was  in  support  of  Harcourt's  death  duties. He  spoke  as  a  landowner, repudiating  the  predictions  of  disaster  made  by  their  opponents.

Arthur  was  chairman  of  the  Central  Welsh  Board  for  Intermediate  Education  from  1896  to  1903.

Lloyd  George  helped  Arthur  retain  his  seat  ( just ) in  1900.

He  died  at  the  end  of  1905 aged  69  leaving  no  time  for  a  by-election  before  the  general  poll.

1332 Thomas Nussey

Constituency : Pontefract  1893-1910

Thomas  held  on  to  Pontefract  for  the  Liberals  after  Harold  Reckitt's  election  had  been  voided  on  petition  and  he  himself  barred  from  standing  again. Thomas  won  by  32  votes. He  was  the  last  Liberal  to  be  elected  while  Gladstone  was  leader.

Thomas  was  the  son  of  a  Yorkshire  wool  manufacturer. he  was  educated  at  Leamington  College  and  Cambridge. Thomas  became  a  barrister  but  won  the  by-election  almost  immediately  afterwards. He  stood  for  Maidstone  in  1892.

In  a  debate  on  road  safety  Thomas  called  for  legislation  To  "make  cars  illegal  which  ran  at  more  than  about  fifteen  or  twenty  miles  an  hour. I  hope  something  of  this  kind  would  be  done, otherwise  what  was  now  a  great  nuisance  might  become  a  great  danger".

Thomas  was  created  a  baronet  in  1909.

Thomas  stood  down  at  the  December  1910  elections. He  continued  in  public  life  as  a  magistrate.

He  died  in  1947  on  his  79th  birthday.

1331 William Williams

Constituency  : Swansea  District  1893-5

William  took  over  from  Henry  Vivian  when  the  latter  was  elevated  to  the  peerage. He  was  unopposed.

William  started  work  in  a  tinplate  factory  as  a  boy. He  had  to  have  a  leg  amputated  after  a  workplace  accident. The  firm  employed  him as  an  office  clerk  after  the  accident  and  his  business  acumen  became  apparent. in  1868  he  founded  the  Worcester  Tinplate  Works  which  eventually  swallowed  up  his  former  employer. He  also  had  interests  in  a  bank, the  Swansea  Gas  Company, a  railway  and  a  colliery  company. He  became  president  of  Swansea's  Liberal  Association. He  was  mayor  of  the  town  in  1883-4. He  retired  from  the  town  council  in  1886  but  was  elected  to  Glamorgan  County  Council  in  1887.  He  was  a  Congregationalist.

William  asked   just  two  parliamentary  questions  on  local  matters  and  stood  down  in  1895.

He  died  in  1904  aged  64. His  son  Thomas  was  a  later  MP  for  the  seat.

1330 Sir William Wedderburn

Constituency : Banffshire  1893-1900

William  took  over  from  the  long-serving  Robert  Duff  who  stepped  down  in  1893.

William  was  a  baronet's  son  from  Edinburgh. He  was  educated  at  Edinburgh  University. His  father  and  brother  ( who was  killed  in  the  1857  mutiny )  had  been  in  the  Indian  Civil  Service  and  he  followed  in  their  footsteps, coming  third  in  the  entrance  exams.  He  tried  to  introduce  banking  reforms  to  help  the  peasantry.He  left  the  service  in  1887  and  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Indian  National  Congress, serving  as  its  president  in  1889  and  1910.  He  helped  publish  the  journal,  India. He  unsuccessfully  stood  for  North  Ayrshire  in  1892.

William's  parliamentary  contributions  were  mainly  about  India. He  was  Chairman  of  the  Indian  Parliamentary  Committee  throughout  his  timer  in  Parliament.

William  stood  down  in  1900.

In  1910  William  returned  to  India  to  try  and  heal  the   rifts  between  Hindus  and  Muslims   and  moderates  and  hardliners.

He  died  in  1918  aged  79.

1329 William Allan

Constituency : Gateshead  1893-1903

William  came  in  at  Gateshead  when  Walter  James  succeeded  to  his  father's  barony.

Willim's  father  had  run  a  foundry  business  which  fell  on  hard  times  so  William  was  obliged  to  find  work  as a  steamship  engineer. He  had  been  involved  in  gun-running  during  the  American  Civil  War  and  spent  six  weeks  in  a  Union  prison. He  returned  to  the  UK  and  worked  in  an  engineering  works  in  Sunderland  where  he  persuaded  the  directors  he  could  make  it  pay  if  put  in  charge. He  left  in  1887 to  set  up  his  own  Scotia  Engineering  Works. He  patented  a  number  of  improvements  to  the  steam  boiler.

William  was  a  large  man  with  a  beard.  He  was  a  frequent  contributor  on  naval  matters. He  supported  the  establishment  of  a  new  naval  base  at  Rosyth. He  was  a  fierce  critic  of  the   water  boiler  and  got  a  Commission  set up  to  investigate  boiler  efficacy.

William  was  interested  in  employee  welfare  and  voluntarily  introduced  the  eight  hour  day  at  his  works.

William  was  knighted  in  1902.

Although  William  was  largely  self-taught  he  wrote  poetry  in  Scotch  dialect.

He  died  in  1903  aged  66  having  suffered  heart  problems  for  some  years.

1328 Harold Reckitt

Constituency : Pontefract  1893 , Brigg  1895-1907

Harold  chalked  up  a  gain  from  the  Tories  at  Pontefract  where  the  incumbent  was  elevated  to  the  peerage.

Harold's  grandfather  had  founded  a  successful  consumer  goods  business.  His  father  had  been  created  a  baronet. By  the  time  of  Harold's   election  he  had  expanded  into  the  shipping  business  and  was  a  director  of  a  colliery.

Harold's  election  was  voided  on  petition  but  he  returned  for  Brigg  in  1895.

Harold  agitated  for  an  Employer's  Liability  Bill.

In  1907  Harold  had  to  resign  his  seat  due  to  being  involved  in  a messy  divorce  case. It  turned  out  that  Harold  turned  to  drink  and  gambling   after  the birth  of  his  first  child  in  1901. He  then  became  unfaithful   with  their  parlour maid  and  started  visiting  brothels  in  London.

He  died  in  1930  aged  62.

1327 William Shaw

Constituency : Halifax  1893-7

William  took  over  from  his  deceased  father  as  MP  for  Halifax.

William  was  heir  to  a  huge  mill  in  the  town. In  1881  his  father  endowed  the  Rawson  Shaw  Scholarship  to  celebrate  his  coming  of  age. William  was  the  son-in-law  of  Josepgh  Crook, MP  for  Bolton.

William  made  few  contributions  in  Parliament.

William  resigned  his  seat  in  1897  and  moved  to  Sussex  where  he  became  a  magistrate.  He  is  said  to  have  become  a  Conservative  in  later  life.

He  died  in  1932  aged  71.

1326 Samuel Whitbread

Constituency : Luton  1892-5, Huntingdon  1906-10

Samuel  took  over  at  Luton  when  Cyril  Flower  was  elevated  to  the  peerage.

Samuel  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Whitbread  the  brewer  and  still  the  MP   for  Bedford. In  time  he  became  managing  director  of  the  family  firm. He  stood  for  Bootle  in  1885  but  was  soundly  defeated.

Samuel  was  the  president  of  the  Bedfordshire  Education  Committee  and  saw  some  advantages  in  the  1902  Education  Act.

Samuel  spoke  against  the  People's  Budget  for  pushing  "  a  plausible principle  in  respect  of  land  taxation  to  extreme  and  dangerous  limits "  and  the  licensing  clauses  betrayed  "  a  vindictive  party  policy , which  appears  to  me  to  be  simply  shabby."

Samuel  stood  down  in   January  1910.

He  died  in  1944  aged  86.

1325 John Walton

Constituency : Leeds  South  1892-1908

We  now  look  at  the  Liberal  by-election  victors  of  the  1892-5  Parliament. As  the  largest  party  the  Liberals  formed  a  minority  government  dependent  on  Irish  support. This  was  not  particularly  stable  as  the  Irish  party  had split  in  two  over  Parnell's conduct  in  a  divorce  case  and  that  remained  the  case  even  though  Parnell  had  made  a  helpful  contribution  to  reunification  by  dying  a year  earlier. The  split  also  served  to  weaken  the  case  for  Home  Rule  but  Gladstone, the  textbook  example  of  an  old  man  in  a  hurry  pressed  ahead  with  another  Home  Rule  Bill. This  time  he  got  it  through  the  Commons  but  in  the  Lords   where  he  had  meagre  support  since  the  1886  schism  it  was  crushed. His Cabinet  colleagues  resisted  the  idea  of  a  fresh  election  and  it's  difficult  to  see  how  that  would  have  helped. Gladstone  lingered  on  for  a  few  months, puzzling  everyone, before  finally  accepting  his  day  was  done  and   resigning, ostensibly  over  naval  expenditure  in  March  1894. The  Queen  did  not  ask  his  advice  on  a  successor  but  chose  her  own  favourite , the  charming  aristocratic  Foreign  Secretary  Lord  Rosebery. Neil  Primrose  had  never  sat  in  the  Commons  and  was  a  moderate  , imperialistic  Liberal  with  little  enthusiasm  for  Home  Rule. He  was  a  compelling  public  speaker  but  struggled  to  unite  the  party  after  the  Grand  Old  Man's  departure. Harcourt, his  fiercest  rival's  introduction  of  death  duties  was  the  only  real  achievement  of  his  premiership  which  collapsed  in  disarray  after  little  more  than  a  year.

John  came  in  at  Leeds  South  after  Sir  Lyon  Playfair's  elevation  to  the  peerage. He  won  by  948  votes.

John  was  the  son  of  a  Wesleyan  missionary  in  Ceylon  and  later  South  Africa. He  was  educated  at  the  Merchant Taylor's  Hall, Great  Crosby  and  London  University. He  became  a  successful  barrister  often  in  cases  involving  trade  unions. In  1891  he  was  selected  as  the  Liberal  candidate  for   Battersea  but  felt  obliged  to  make  way  for  John  Burns  and  contested  Central  Leeds  instead  where  he  lost  narrowly.

John  was  a  radical  on  the  House  of  Lords  and  disestablishment  but  tacked  to  the  Liberal  Imperialist  grouping  around  Rosebery  during  the  Boer  War.

In  1904  John  was  a  witness  before  the  Royal  Commission  on  Ecclesistical  Discipline  arguing  for  more  effective  procedures  against   law-breaking  clergy.

John  was  appointed  Attorney- General  and  knighted  by  Campbell-Bannerman  in  1905.  He  was  charged  with  introducing  the  Trade  Disputes  Bill. John's  first  draft  would  have  made  unions  responsible  for  breaches  of  law  by  their  members. The  unions  wanted  immunity  clauses  which  John  rejected  as  "class  privileges. His  position  was  undermined  when  CAmpbell-Bannerman   instructed  him  to  redraft  it with  the  new  immunity  clauses  under  pressure  from  Labour.

John  had  often  suffered  from  ill  health  and  developed  a  chill  after  struggling  through  two  all-night  sittings  on  the  Criminal  Court  Appeals  Bill. It  developed  into  double  pneumonia  and  he  died  in  1908  aged  55.

1324 Joseph Wilson

Constituency  : Middlesbrough  1892-1900 ( originally  Independent  Labour )  , 1906-10, South  Shields  1918-22

I've  left  Joseph  until  last  of  the  1892  crop   because  he  wasn't  elected  as  a  Liberal  but  made  an  instant  conversion  once  he  got  into  Parliament.   Joseph's  candidature  on  the  retirement  of  Isaac  Wilson  was  pushed  by  locally  strong  trade  unions  who  played  on  his  support  for  Samuel  Plimsoll's  loading  reforms.  It  was  resisted  by  the  shopkeepers  and  business  barons  which  split  the  local  Liberal  Association  down  the  middle. His  opponents  backed  the  former  South  Shields  MP  William  Robson  who  became  the  official  Liberal  candidate. Another  former  MP, Lowthian  Bell  contested  the seat  for  the  Liberal  Unionists. Once  in  the  Commons  aligned  himself  with  Lib-Labbers  like Thomas  Burt  and  John  Wilson  and  was  strongly  critical  of  McDonald  and  Hardie. His  former  foes  accepted  his  election  as  a  fait  accompli  and did  not  resist  him  standing  in  1895.

Joseph  was  born  in  Sunderland  and  went  to  sea  as  a  boy.  He  spent  some  time  in  the  USA  and  claimed  to  have  helped  build  the  Brooklyn  Bridge.  In  1882  he  returned  to  set  up  a  Temperance  Hotel  in  Sunderland. Despite  no  longer  being  at  sea  he  got  involved  in  the  local  union. Their  leaders  were  not  very  interested  in  expansion  so  he  set  up  his  own  National  Sailor's  &  Firemen's  Union  in  1887. He  was  involved  in  the  London  Dock  Strike  of  1889.  Joseph  was  generally  a  moderate  seeking  formal  conciliation  procedures  to  prevent  strikes  and  lockouts. The  employers  recognised  his  union  in  1911.  He  was  autocratic  in  style  and  cared  nothing  for  exploited  foreign  labour  on  ships.  He  brooked  no  rivals  and  Manny  Shinwell   claimed  that  Joseph  had  him  beaten  up  for  being  an  officer  of  a  rival  union. He  contested  Bristol  East  as  an  Independent  Labour  candidate  at  a  by-election  in  1890  but  did  poorly.

In  1893  Joseph  narrowly  avoided  being  declared  bankrupt.

Joseph  held  his  seat  as  a  Liberal  in  1895  but  was  defeated  in  1900.  In  1906  he  easily  won  the  seat  back  despite  the  intervention  of  George  Lansbury  as  an  Independent  Labour  candidate.

Joseph's  parliamentary  contributions  were  mainly  restricted  to  matters  in  which  is  union  was  interested  and  there  were  none  after  1907. He  was  dissatisfied  with  Lloyd  George's  Merchant  Shipping  Bill.

Joseph  stood  down  in  January  1910. That  July,  Joseph  organised  a  protest  against  the  use  of  Chinese  labour  in  British  ships  and  threatened  a  strike  of  200,000  seamen. He  thought  that  the  language  test  could  be  used  against  them.

 He  was  active  in  the  First  World  War  which  he  strongly supported, liaising  with  the shipowners  to  aid  the  war  effort. He  stopped  a  ship carrying   Labour delegates  to  a  Peace  Conference  in  Stockholm  in  1918  from  leaving  port.  This  did give him   a reputation  as  a  "bosses'  man"  and  his  reputation  in  the  labour  movement  declined in  the  1920s.

Joseph   was  persuaded  to  return  to  Parliament  by  Lloyd  George. He  helped  set  up  the National  Democratic  Party  for  the  premier's  Labour   supporters  but   stood  as  a  Liberal  when he won   a  by-election  at  South  Shields  in  1918. He  held  the  seat  as  a  Coalition  Liberal  in the general  election  later  that  year  but  was  well  beaten  in  1922  coming  third  with  just  20%  of the  vote.

In  1923  Joseph  secured  exclusive  rights  for  his  union  on  the  National  Maritime  Board.

Joseph  regarded  the General  Strike  of  1926  as  a  "red  revolutionary  plot".

He  died  in  1929  aged  70.

We  now  move  to  the  by-elections  of  the  1892-5  Parliament.

1323 David Jones

Constituency : Stroud  1892-5, Swansea  District  1895-1914

David  took  Stroud  from  the  Tories.

David  was  the  son  of  a  Congregationalist  minister  from  Swansea. He  was  educated  at  University  College, London  after  the  family  moved  to  London. He  became  a  barrister  and  then  a  county  court  judge  which  he  gave  up  to  become  an  MP. He  was  not  a  fluent  Welsh  speaker.

In  his  first  Parliamentary  stint,  David  served  on  the  Welsh  Land  Commission. he  helped  draft  the  charter  of  the  University  of  Wales.

David  did  not  defend  his  seat  in  1895,  switching  to  Swansea  District.

In  1906  David  was  knighted.

In  1907  David  served  on  the  Welsh  Church  Commission.

David  published  a  number  of  articles  on  Welsh  legal  history.

David  stood  down  in  1914  after  the  passing  of  the  Welsh  disestablishment  bill. He  had  also  accepted  appointment  as  a  Master  in  Lunacy.

He  died  in  1921  aged  70.

1322 Edward Strachey

Constituency : Somerset  South  1892-1911

Edward  took  over  from  Viscount  Kilcoursie  at  Somerset  South.

Edward  was  the  son  and  heir  of  a  baronet.  He  succeeded  him  in  1901.

Edward  was  a  member  of  the  council  of  the  Central  Associated  Chambers  of  Agriculture.

Campbell-Bannerman  appointed  Edward  Treasurer  of  the  Household, a  post  he  held  until  1909. He  was  Parliamentary  Secretary  to  the  Board  of  Agriculture  and  Fisheries  from  1909  to  1911.

In  1911  Edward  was  elevated  to  Baron  Strachie  despite  his  support  for  abolition  of  the  Lords. In  1912  he  became  Paymaster-General.  He  was  dropped  when  Asquith  formed  the  coalition  government  in  1915.

He  died  in  1936  aged  77.

1321 John Barlow

Constituency  : Frome  1892-5  , 1896-1918

John  took  Frome  from  the  Tories.

John  was  educated  at  Grove  House  School, Tottenham. He  was  a  senior  partner  in  the  family  merchant  firms  dealing  in  tea,  coffee,  rubber and  such. He  had  property  in  both  Devon  and  Cheshire.He  was  a  Quaker.

John  was  defeated  in  1895  but  got  an  early  chance  to  regain  the  seat  in  1896  when  the  Tory  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  and  took  it

John  was  a  close  friend  of  Campbell-Bannerman   and  in  1907  was  created  a  baronet.  He  had  a  close  interest  in  labour  matters.

In  1909  John  asked  Haldane  about  rumours  of  66,000  trained  German  soldiers  in  England  and  rifles  in  a  cellar  near  Charing  Cross. Haldane  sarcastically  thanked  him  for  "this  illustration  of  a  class  of  alarmist  statements  to  which  credence  is  too  often  given  by  thoughtless  persons. To  anyone  possessing  even  an  elementary  knowledge  of  what  mobilisation  requirements  mean , the  suggestion  is  a  ludicrous  one".

John  was  widely  criticised  locally  for  voting  against  the  Military  Service  Act  according  to  his  Quaker  conscience. His  son  was  severely  wounded in  the  War  but  he  declined  to  play  on  that  when  under  attack  in  the  election  campaign.  John's  defeat  in  1918  was  shattering  as  he  came  third  behind  a  Coalition  Unionist  and  Labour  ( who  weren't  far  off  the  winning  post ) with  just  8 %  of  the  vote. It's  often  used  as  an  example  of  the  Liberals'  decline. They  did  not  contest  Frome  again  until  1929.

John  stayed  involved  in  local  government  in  Cheshire.

He  died  in  1932  aged  75. His  wife  Anna  contested  two  constituencies  in  the  1920s  and  his  son  John  became  a  National  Liberal  and  then  Conservative  MP.

1320 Hugh Luttrell

Constituency  : Tavistock  1892-1900, 1906-10

Hugh  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist  Viscount  Ebrington  at  Tavistovk.

Hugh  increased  his  majority  in  1895  but  declined  to  sand  in  1900  when  it  went  back  to  the Liberal  Unionists. Hugh  regained  the  seat  in  1906  but  was  defeated  by  the  Liberal  Unionists in  December  1910.

He  died  in  1918  aged  60.

1319 Hudson Kearley

Constituency : Devonport  1892-1910

Hudson  was  the  other  Liberal  victor  at  Devonport.

Hudson  was  educated  at  Surrey  County  School. in  1876  he  founded  a  tea  importing  company and  started  retailing  it  two  years  later. by  1890  he  had  200  groceries  operating  as International  Stores. In  1895 it  became  a  public  company.

Hudson  was  conscientious  in  raising  dockyard  issues  with  the  Admiralty  in  Parliament   and  this  was  felt  to  be  a  factor  in  his  retaining  the  seat  during  difficult  times  for  the  Liberals. In  1900  he  secured  a  departmental  committee  of  inquiry  into  naval  victualling.

Hudson  was  also  an  effective  parliamentary  champion  of  food  regulation . He  sat  on  a  relevant  select  committee  in  1894-6  and  castigated  the  Local  Government  Board  for  not  exercising  its  powers  effectively.

In  1905  Hudson  was  appointed  parliamentary  secretary  to  the  Board  of  Trade  under  Lloyd George. He  came  to  believe  his  boss  was  a  genius. In  1908  he  was  created  a  baronet   after playing  an  important  part  in  getting  the  Port  of  London  Bill  passed. He  was  unpaid Chairman  of  the  Port  of  London  Authority  from  1909  to  1925.

Hudson  holidayed  in  North  Wales  where  he  had  a  second  home  in  Denbighshire. In  1909  he  was  fined  for  speeding  by  local  magistrates.

Hudson  stood  down  in  January  1910  and  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Devonport. The  New  York  Times  reported  a  dispute  between  party  bosses  and  Hudson  over  his disinclination  to  contribute  to  party  funds  believing  that  his  ministerial  work  alone  justified the  peerage. He  apparently   threatened  to  make  the  correspondence  public  knowledge.  This didn't  save  him  from  a  savage  epigram  from  fellow  Liberal  MP  Hilaire  Belloc -  "The  grocer, Hudson  Kearley, he / When  purchasing  his  barony/ Considered  first, we  understand / The  title  of Lord  Sugarsand".

In  1916  Lloyd  George  made  Hudson  Minister  of  Food  Control  but  he  resigned  in  May  1917 after  his  scheme  for  compulsory  rationing  was  delayed. He  had  become  something  of  a laughing  stock  with  his  promotion  of  "meatless  days"  and  impractical  schemes  for  voluntary  rationing. He  was  upgraded  to  a  viscount.

He  died  in  1934  aged  78.

1318 Edward Morton

Constituency : Devonport 1892-1902

Edward  was  part  of  a  double  victory  for  the  Liberals  at  Devonport.

Edward  was  educated  at  Harrow  and  Cambridge  and  became  a  barrister.

Edward  was  a  strong  advocate  for  the  dockyard  men  in  his  constituency  and  an  authority  on  naval  affairs.

Edward  was   secretary  of  the  Home  Rule  Union. He  championed  Irish  Nationalist  prisoners. He  became  parliamentary  private  secretary  to  John  Morley  as  Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland  and  was  used  as  a  conduit  by  the  Irish  agitator  Maud  Gonne  on  whom  he  had  a  crush.

Edward  was  a  strong  public  orator  and  an  asset  deployed  at  by-elections.

Edward  was  a  supporter  of  land  value  taxation.

Edward  was  a  keen  astronomer.

He  died  in  1902  aged  46.

1317 Charles Hobhouse

Constituency : Devizes  1892-5, Bristol  East  1900-18

Charles  unseated  the  prominent  Tory  Walter  Long  at  Devizes.

Charles  was  a  baronet's  son  educated  at  Eton  and  Cambridge. He  served  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  60th  Rifles  from  1884-90.

Charles  was  parliamentary  private  secretary  at  the  Colonial  Office  from  1892  to  1895. He  was  defeated  in  1895.

Charles  had  a  reputation  as  a  New  Liberal  who  would  support  nationalisation  in  some  circumstances.

Charles  returned  in  1900  for  Bristol   East.   In  1901  he  helped  organise  a  letter  of  protest against  Asquith's   disruptive  dinner  speeches. He  was  appointed  a  Church  Estates Commissioner  in  1906  then  under secretary  of  state  for  India  in  1907. In  1908  Asquith promoted  him  to  Financial  Secretary  to  the  Treasury  at  the  suggestion  of  the  Joint  permanent  Secretary.

In  1911  Charles  joined  the  Cabinet  as  Chancellor  of  the  Duchy  of  Lancaster.   He  was  an opponent  of  women's  suffrage and  addressed  a rally  of  the  National  League  for  Opposing  Women's  Suffrage  in  1912 .  He  supported  going  to  war  "if   there  was  even  a  merely technical  breach  of  the  Belgium  treaty". In  1914  he  was  switched  to  Postmaster-General  but left  the  government  in  1915. He  rejected  calls  for  a  minimum  wage  in  the  Post  Office. Charles'  diaries  are  an  invaluable  source  on  the  deliberations  of  Asquith's  Cabinet.

Charles  succeeded  to  the  baronetcy  in  1916.

In  the  1918  election  Charles  declared  he  would  not  support  the  Coalition  and  this  produced   a  rival  Liberal  candidate  who  did  receive  the  coupon  and  won  the  seat, Charles  received  less than  10%  of  the  vote.

Charles  was  President  of  the  Western  Counties  Liberal  Federation  from  1924  to  1935  and President  of  the  National  Liberal  Federation  from  1927  to  1930.

He  died  in  1941  aged  78.

1316 John Husband

Constituency :  Cricklade  1892-5

John  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist  Neville  Story-Maskelyne.

John  asked  one  question,  about  railway  rates , during  his  parliamentary  career.

John  stood  down  in  1895  and  did  not  stand  for  Parliament  again.

He  died  in  1918  aged  80.

1315 John Williams

Constituency : Truro  1892-5 ( Liberal  Unionist )

John  held  on  to  Truro  for  the  Liberal  Unionists  after  the  retirement  of  William  Bickford-Smith.

John's  grandfather  had  been  MP  for  West  Cornwall  in  the  1850s . He  was  educated  at  Rugby and  Cambridge.  He  had  a  large  estate  in  the  county  and  was  a  quiet  philanthropist.  He  was a  keen  botanist  and  cultivated  a  new  breed  of  camellias  which  were  named  after  him. He served  on  Cornwall  County  Council.

John's  only  parliamentary  contribution  was  to  oppose  a  railway  bill  in  1894  which  was  very unpopular  in  Cornwall.

John  stood  down  in  1895 . He  disliked  London  and  did  not  want  to  bring  his  children  up there.

He  died  in  1939  aged  78.

1314 Thomas Owen

Constituency  : Launceston  1892-8

Thomas  took  over  from  Thomas  Dyke-Acland  at  Launceston.

Thomas  was  privately  educated. He  started  out  as  a  draper  but  later  became  a  partner  in  a  paper  firm. He  also  acquired  partnerships  in  several  newspapers.

Thomas  wished  to  prevent  justices  clerks  acting  as  solicitors  in  cases  which  might  come  before  their  court.

Thomas  was  killed  while  exploring  a  waterfall  in  1898 aged  58.

1313 Charles Townsend

Constituency  : Bristol  North  1892-5

Charles  unseated  the  Liberal  Unionist  Lewis  Fry.

Charles  was  a  partner  in  a  firm  of  chemists  and  drug  suppliers. He  was  a  Baptist.

Fry  reversed  the  result  in  1895. Charles  remained  a  member  of  the  City  Council, an  alderman  from  1897

He  died  in  1908.

1312 Alfred Billson

Constituency  : Barnstaple  1892-5, Halifax  1897-1900, North  West  Staffordshire  1906-07

Alfred  took  Barnstaple  after  the  retirement  of  the  Liberal  Unionist  George  Pitt-Lewis.

Alfred  was  a  solicitor, originally  from  Leicester. He  lived  in  Rowton  Castle  as  a  tenant  of  the  Conservative  peer  Baron  Rowton  but  was  free  to  become  an  active  Liberal. He  was  a  Congregationalist.  He  part  owned  the  Liverpool  Daily  Post.

Alfred  was  defeated  by  a  Liberal  Unionist  in  1895  and  failed  at  the  Bradford  East  by-election  in  1896. In  1897  he  got  back  in  at  a  by-election  in  Halifax.  He  came  third  in  1900.

Alfred  switched  his  attentions  to  Staffordshire  where  he  orchestrated  a  deal  with  the  unions  for  the  five  seats  whereby  they  would  provide  Lib-Lab  candidates  for  the  two  most  urban  seats  and  they  would  support  non - union  Liberals  in  the  other  three.  He  won  North  West  Staffordshire  in  1906.

Alfred  was  knighted  just  before  his  death.

He  collapsed  and  died  in  the  lobby  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1907  aged  68.