Alfred Barnes (Labour politician)
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Alfred John Barnes PC (1887 – 26 November 1974) was a British Labour Co-operative politician.[1]
Born in North Woolwich, he was the youngest child of William Barnes, a docker. Barnes lost a leg in a fairground accident at the age of 8. He was educated at the Northampton Institute and the Central School of Arts and Crafts.[1]
Barnes worked originally as an artist in gold and silver.[1] He was an early member of the Independent Labour Party and was heavily involved in the co-operative movement.[1] He was chairman of the London Co-operative Society for nine years until 1923 and was a founder of the Co-operative Party.[1] He became the Party's chairman in 1924 and served until 1945. He was also a director and President of the National Cooperative Publishing Society.
In November 1922, Barnes was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for East Ham South. In 1925 he was appointed a Labour Whip and served as a whip in Government, as Junior Lord of the Treasury. However, he was forced to resign in October 1930 - although his position as a director of the National Cooperative Publishing Society was unpaid, parliamentary rules dictated that a minister cannot be a director of a public company (although they could be of a private company): Barnes chose to remain on the co-op board rather than as a whip. Like many Labour MPs, he lost his seat in the 1931 general election but regained it in 1935.
In 1945, Barnes was made a Privy Counsellor and Minister of War Transport, later Minister of Transport, serving until the fall of the Labour government in 1951.[1] He stood down as a Member of Parliament at the 1955 general election.
References
- The Times Guides to the House of Commons, Times Newspapers Ltd, 1945, 1950, 1951
- (2003) The Times Guides to the House of Commons, 1929, 1931, 1935, Politico's Publishing (reprint). ISBN 1-84275-033-X
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs [self-published source][better source needed]
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for East Ham South 1922–1931 |
Succeeded by Malcolm Campbell-Johnston |
Preceded by | Member of Parliament for East Ham South 1935–1955 |
Succeeded by Albert Oram |
Political offices | ||
Preceded by as Minister of War Transport | Minister of Transport 1945–1951 |
Succeeded by John Maclay |
Party political offices | ||
Preceded by | Chair of the Co-operative Party 1924–1945 |
Succeeded by William Coldrick |
- Accuracy disputes from March 2012
- Articles lacking reliable references from March 2012
- Wikipedia articles incorporating an LRPP-MP template without an unnamed parameter
- 1887 births
- 1974 deaths
- Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies
- Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
- Labour Co-operative MPs
- UK MPs 1922–23
- UK MPs 1923–24
- UK MPs 1924–29
- UK MPs 1929–31
- UK MPs 1935–45
- UK MPs 1945–50
- UK MPs 1950–51
- UK MPs 1951–55
- People from North Woolwich