William Bromfield

William Bromfield (24 January 1868 – 3 June 1950)^[1] was an English trade unionist and Labour Party politician from Leek in Staffordshire. He was the town's Member of Parliament (MP) for all but four of the years between 1918 and 1945.

By 1907, Bromfield was the secretary of several of the unions which comprised the Leek Textile Federation.^[2] Six of these unions merged in 1919 to form the Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades (ASTWKT),^[3] whose membership covered Staffordshire and South Cheshire,^[3] and Bromfield was the secretary of the ASTWKT from its formation in 1919 until 1942.^[2][4]

Political career

At the post-war general election in December 1918, Bromfield was elected as the MP for the Leek division of Staffordshire,^[5] becoming the constituency's first Labour MP. He held the seat at the four elections in the 1920s, increasing his majority to 17% of the votes by 1929, but was narrowly defeated at the 1931 election,^[5] when there was a nationwide swing towards the National Government.

He was returned to the House of Commons at the 1935 election,^[5] and held the seat until he stood down at the July 1945 election.^[5]

References

1. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "L" (part 1)
2. Percy, John (1999). "Silk workers' unions archive contents". Salford: Working Class Movement Library. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
3. "Textile workers". Unite the Union. Retrieved 12 July 2010.
4. "W. Bromfield (Staffordshire, Leek Division)". Debrett's illustrated House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1922. via the Wayback Machine. p. 23. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
5. Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 463. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by William Bromfield