1645 James Branch

Constituency : Enfield  1906-10

James  took  Enfield  from  the  Tories.

James  was  a  boot  manufacturer  in  Bethnal  Green  where  he  was  president  of  the  Liberal  Association  for  twenty  years. He  was  a  Progressive  Councillor  from  1899  to  1907. He  was a  Congregationalist   and a well  known  philanthropist.

James  asked  a  number  of  parliamentary  questions  about  a  small  arms  factory  in  the  constituency.

James  was  defeated  in  January  1910  after  a  smear  campaign  by  the Tories  who  alleged  that  he  was  a  Polish  Jew  who  favoured   using  foreign  labour. He  failed  to  regain  the  seat  in  December.

He  died  in  1918  aged  73.