Constituency : Halifax 1900-28
John came in second at Halifax ( behind the Liberal Unionist Savile Crossley ) , displacing the Liberal incumbent , Alfred Billlson.
John was a local man who had married into the Crossley family himself. He was educated at Clifton College then went into the family cotton spinning business. He was a congregationalist.
John was a follower of the American economist Henry George. The local ILP were happy to endorse him.
John was a junior whip from 1907 to 1910. He then became Deputy Speaker in 1911. He was Asquith's first choice to replace the Master of Elibank as Chief Whip in 1913 but refused to relinquish the Deputy Speaker role.
In 1917, John was appointed to chair a committee on the "Relations of Employers and Employees" primarily to ensure the war effort was not disrupted by industrial action. He proposed a system of regular formal consultative meetings - the "Whitley Councils" - to thrash out issues and take them to arbitration if necessary. John intended that they should extend to both sectors but the private sector successfully resisted the idea.
John held his seat in 1918. He was not endorsed by the Coalition but his only opponent represented the Socialist Labour Party.
John ascended to the Speakership in 1921. He resigned the post and his seat in 1928 on the grounds of ill health. He declined a peerage on retirement , breaking a tradition going back to 1789.
In 1930 John became Chairman of the Board of Governors at the BBC through his friendship with John Reith. He made the first broadcast on what became the World Service in 1932.
In 1931 he chaired the Royal Commission on Labour in India which accepted much of Gandhi's case about British employers exacerbating poverty. After the report was published he declined a knighthood.
He died in 1935 aged 68.
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