Albert Smith (British politician)

Albert Smith (15 June 1867 – 7 April 1942)[1] was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician from Nelson in Lancashire. He sat in the House of Commons from 1910 to 1920.

The son of Leeming Smith and Martha Smith from Cowling in Yorkshire, he became vice-president and Secretary of the Colne Overlookers Association in 1898, and later secretary of the Nelson Overlookers Association.[2] In 1902, and again from 1920 to 1927, he was the president of the General Union of Powerloom Overlookers, and he was also president of the Nelson and District Textile Trades Federation.[3][4]

Smith became an alderman of Nelson, serving as the town's mayor from 1908 to 1910,[2] and was also a Justice of the Peace in Nelson.[2] He was elected at the December 1910 general election as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Clitheroe division of Lancashire.[5] During World War I, he served with the Royal Lancaster Regiment as a Captain. He was invalided out in 1915, but returned to action in 1917.[4] For his war services he was awarded the 1914-15 Star, the British War Medal, the Victory Medal and the Order of the British Empire.[6]

Smith held his seat until the 1918 general election, when he was elected for the new parliamentary borough of Nelson and Colne,[7] but resigned his seat on 20 June 1920 by the procedural device of accepting appointment as Steward of the Manor of Northstead[8] in order to take up a full-time post as a trade union official.[9]

References
  1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
  2. Hesilridge, Arthur G. M. (1918). Debrett's House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1918. London: Dean & Son. p. 151.
  3. "Smith, Albert". Who Was Who. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
  4. Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephen (1979). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament. III. Brighton: Harvester Press. p. 332. ISBN 0855273259.
  5. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 314. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  6. "Lot 1240, 21 September 2001 | Dix Noonan Webb". www.dnw.co.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2020.
  7. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 199. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  8. Department of Information Services (14 January 2010). "Appointments to the Chiltern Hundreds and Manor of Northstead Stewardships since 1850" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 June 2010. Retrieved 13 August 2010.
  9. "Political Notes: Labour MP resigns". The Times. London. 2 June 1920. p. 18.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
David James Shackleton		 Member of Parliament for Clitheroe
Dec 1910–1918		 Succeeded by
Alfred Davies
New constituency Member of Parliament for Nelson & Colne
1918–1920		 Succeeded by
Robinson Graham
Trade union offices
Preceded by
William C. Robinson		 Vice President of the United Textile Factory Workers' Association
1913–1919		 Succeeded by
Edward Duxbury
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