1421 Alfred Emmott

Constituency  : Oldham  1899-1911

Alfred  was  the  more  popular  locally  of  the  two  Liberal  victors  at  Oldham  in  1899  and  topped  the  poll  in  every  election  he  contested  there.

Alfred  was  the  son  of  a  cotton  spinning  merchant  from  Oldham.  He  was  educated  at  Grove  House,  Tottenham  and  the  University  of  London. He  was  elected  to  the  local  council  in  1881  and  was  mayor  in  1891-92. Alfred  was  an  Anglican  but  his  Quaker  roots  gave  him  nonconformist  sympathies.

Alfred    was  Deputy  Speaker  between  1906  and  1911.

Alfred  supported  the  leftward  drift  of  the  Liberals  ,"  so  far  as  we  have  gone  in  the  direction  of  Socialism, so-called, whether  it  be  in  regard  to  free  and  compulsory  education ,  whether  it  be  in  regard  to  old  age  pensions, or  in  respect  of  any  other  reform,  we  have  diminished  , but  rather  added  to  the  liberty  of  the  individual".

In  October  1911  Alfred  was  appointed  Under  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies    and  was  elevated  to  the  peerage  as  Baron  Emmott  the  following  month.  He  held  the  post  until  1914  when  he  joined  the  Cabinet  as  First  Commissioner  of  Works  between  1914  and  1915.

Alfred  was  Director  of  the  War  Trade  Department  between  1915  and  1919. He  chaired  the  Royal  Commission  on  Decimal  Coinage  between  1918  and  1920. He  was  President  of  the  Royal  Statistical  Society  between  1922  and  1924.

He  died  suddenly  from  angina  pectoris  in  1926  aged  67. He  had  been  due  to  speak  at  a  Liberal  Party  rally  that  day.