Constituency : Hackney South 1906-12, 1918-22 ( Independent )
Horatio is one of the great villains of twentieth century politics. He took Hackney South from the Tories at the second attempt with a decisive majority despite the intervention of an Independent Liberal candidate.
Horatio was a tailor's son from London. His parents died when he was young and he ended up in an orphanage. Conditions were harsh but Horatio often visited it in later life giving pep talks to the children and praising the institution. He began an apprenticeship with a wood engraver but soon gave this up and became an office junior at a wood engravers. He met Charles Bradlaugh through his uncle and became strongly influenced by him. He went on to be a partner in a firm providing recording and transcription services for the law courts. In 1884 he started a local political magazine the Hackney Hansard , then a similar paper in Battersea. The two merged into The Debater. In 1885 he started a publishing association which bought or launched several papers including the Financial Times. In 1887 he contested a by-election at Hornsey and got a letter of congratulation from Gladstone for his campaign. In 1889 he founded the Hansard Publishing Union to fulfil a contract to print Westminster debates and persuaded several notables to join the Board and invest in the firm. He hid the personal profits he was making from its transactions. He was prosecuted for fraud in 1893 but was unexpectedly acquitted after conducting his own defence. He went on to repay his creditors and increase his own fortune by speculation in Australian gold mining.
At first, Horatio's colleagues treated him like a smouldering firework but were gradually won over by his good humour-such as describing himself as "more or less honourable" and his oratory in support of old age pensions and the eight hour day. Shortly after his election he launched the weekly populist magazine John Bull which became very successful. In 1908 he was brought before a panel at the Guildhall Justice Rooms to answer to charges of fraudulent share issues in his Joint Stock Trust but got away again.
Horatio was returned comfortably in both 1910 elections despite another Independent Liberal challenge ( though it was supported by the London Liberal Federation ) in December. In June 1910 he founded the John Bull League advocating "commonsense business methods" in government. He had now moved to the right and become a critic of Asquith's administration.
In 1912 Horatio was finally successfully sued by a JST creditor and had to declare himself bankrupt thus forfeiting his seat. Through granting assets to relatives and the continued success of John Bull he was able to maintain an expensive lifestyle. He also raised the magazine's circulation by circumventing the gambling laws and introducing sweepstakes and lotteries, most of which were "won" by relatives and associates.
In the First World War John Bull became a source of virulent anti-German propaganda with Horatio constantly warning of "the enemy within" and demanding action against people with German-sounding surnames. He spoke at recruitment rallies and public meetings up and down the country and became a national figure. Though very wary of him, Lloyd George did find uses for him. In 1915 he quelled calls for a strike by Clydeside shipworkers. He visited the front in France in 1917 and the Grand Fleet at Scapa Flow. He was very critical of the National War Aims Committee, describing it as "a dodge for doctoring public opinion" and tried to persuade Lloyd George to make him Director of Propaganda instead. He was fiercely critical of Labour pacifists such as Hardie and McDonald. When the latter unwisely described him as "a man of doubtful parentage who had lived all his life on the threshold of jail" , Horatio retaliated by publishing McDonald's own birth certificate proving his illegitimacy.
In 1918, Horatio shuffled his financial cards to get a discharge from his bankruptcy and stood for Hackney South again. He stood as an Independent and trounced the Coalition Liberal candidate winning 80% of the vote. He grandiosely described himself as the "unofficial prime minister" who would hold the government to account. His attempt to create a new centre party "the People's League" was stillborn but he did manage to attract a few disgruntled MPs to his Independent Parliamentary Group. It supported enforcing reparations, excluding enemy aliens, business methods in government and holding the League of Nations at arm's length. In 1919 he helped pacify troops in Folkestone and Calais who were angry at demobilisation delays.
Later that year Horatio organised his "Victory Bonds Club" promising subscribers an extra return from the government's latest Victory Bond issue. He used the funds accumulated to further his ambitions to become a major press baron but his new ventures were not successful and actually cost him control of John Bull . He lost public confidence and subscribers to the VBC started demanding their money back. Horatio's accounting was so bad that some were repaid more than once.
In 1921 Horatio fell out with his close associate Reuben Bigland whose bizarre alchemical scheme to turn water into petrol he refused to back. Bigland started exposing his business practices. Horatio accused him of criminal libel and extortion. It went to trial but proved far more damaging to him than Bigland who was acquitted on both counts. Instead, Horatio went on trial at the Old Bailey in 1922 . He was found guilty of 23 counts of fraud and sentenced to 7 years in prison. When his appeal failed he was expelled from the Commons.
Horatio spent his first year at Wormwood Scrubs. There's a good story that he was sewing mailbags and a visiting VIP recognised him and asked "Sewing, Bottomley ? " to which he replied "No, reaping !"
Horatio was released in 1927. Though in poor health he tried to return to public life with a new magazine John Blunt and an overseas lecture tour which failed miserably. In his last years he lived with an actress and became a music hall turn as an object of curiosity putting down a career template for the likes of Neil Hamilton.
He died in 1933 aged 73.
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