Andrew William Barton
Encyclopedia
Sir William Barton (5 August 1862 – 9 July 1957) was a British Liberal
politician and businessman.
, the son of Robert Barton, a mining engineer
from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
, and his wife Annie (nee Gray). In 1895, he married Jessie Cuthbertson, the daughter of James Boyd a Manchester
merchant. They had one daughter. Jessie Barton died in 1915 and Barton married again in 1918. His second wife was Olive Ruth Bryson who had been Matron
of the Balmoral Red Cross Hospital in Flanders
. They too had one daughter. In religion Barton was a Presbyterian.
, among whose most notable former pupils were Liberal prime minister
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
and Conservative
prime minister and Liberal Coalition partner, Andrew Bonar Law
. He later graduated from the University of Glasgow
where he specialized in commercial law
, political economy
and modern languages. Typically for his time, Barton later promoted education and self-improvement by becoming a director of the Manchester Athenaeum, an institution founded in 1835 and devoted to the arts and learning and one of whose founding fathers was Richard Cobden
.
industry in Glasgow where he learned the trade of calico printing and he later established a calico printing business of his own in Manchester.
where he was an elected councillor between 1906-1909. In 1909 one of the two Members of Parliament for Oldham
, J A Bright
the son of the great Liberal reformer John Bright
decided to stand down at the next election and Barton was selected to replace him as candidate. The next election came in January 1910 and Barton was comfortably elected as Oldham’s second Liberal member alongside Alfred Emmott
the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons who had held his seat since a by-election in 1899
, when one of the defeated Conservative
candidates was Winston Churchill
.
Barton had a majority of 5,378 votes over his nearest Conservative rival in January 1910. He held the seat at the December 1910 election with a reduced but still substantial majority of 3,501 with Emmott again winning the other seat.
leader Emmeline Pankhurst
there was a high level of security for the meeting, which was one of three events in Lancashire
at which Asquith was speaking. The issue which incensed Barton was the refusal of Oldham Liberals, without letting him know in advance, to admit any women to the prime minister’s meeting except certain ladies in the platform parties of Lord Sheffield
and Alfred Emmott. This included refusing admission to a delegation of Liberal women who had been active in support of Barton and the Liberal Party in the constituency and who had been asked by Barton to attend.
, although he also voted in protest at the growing campaign of so-called organized rowdyism which the suffragettes were waging as likely to hinder the passing of favourable legislation. He must have been forgiven this transgression however as in 1912 and again in 1914 he was invited to speak at the annual demonstration at the Albert Hall
organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
. This was at a time when Liberal speakers at NUWSS events were hard to come by. At the 1914 meeting Millicent Fawcett
moved a resolution condemning Asquith for refusing to meet a delegation of any of the large number of male supporters of women’s suffrage who had come to London for the event and this was seconded by Barton who nevertheless told the rally that he thought of himself as a supporter of the prime minister and refused to regard Asquith as ‘a hopeless case’ on the issue, although he clearly was.
after he replaced Asquith as prime minister in 1916. In 1917, Barton was rewarded with a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours List. At the 1918 general election
Barton seems to have received the Coalition Coupon
as he stood as a Coalition Liberal in Oldham in that contest. He was elected, as was a Coalition Conservative candidate, against Labour
and Asquithian Liberal opposition with a majority of 11,076 votes. Clearly Barton’s little local difficulty with his constituency Liberal Association had not been resolved given that they were prepared to put up a Wee Free candidate against him. Barton was not very forgiving as he told a colleague that his Asquithian opponent Walter Rea
, a former Junior Lord of the Treasury
in the Asquith administration, ‘counted for nothing’ and that he was all for teaching the local Liberal Association its place. The only thing that mattered in the election was supporting Lloyd George, the hero of the war.
By 1921 however the troubles of a divided Liberal Party were impinging more pressingly on Barton’s political consciousness and he was now less firmly in the Lloyd George camp. He was still reluctant to re-commit to Asquith observing: “I am not keen on joining Asquith, who seems to me in misfortune.” But by the following year he was more kindly disposed telling the Manchester Guardian that Asquith expressed the “true Liberal position”.
By 1922 however, Barton - now aged sixty - decided he did not wish to continue his political career. He stood down at the general election of that year
and did not stand for election to Parliament again.
for the County of Lancaster, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and sometime Vice-President of the British Cotton Growers Association.
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician and businessman.
Family
Barton was born on 5 August 1862 near GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, the son of Robert Barton, a mining engineer
Mining engineering
Mining engineering is an engineering discipline that involves the practice, the theory, the science, the technology, and application of extracting and processing minerals from a naturally occurring environment. Mining engineering also includes processing minerals for additional value.Mineral...
from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton, South Lanarkshire
Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...
, and his wife Annie (nee Gray). In 1895, he married Jessie Cuthbertson, the daughter of James Boyd a Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
merchant. They had one daughter. Jessie Barton died in 1915 and Barton married again in 1918. His second wife was Olive Ruth Bryson who had been Matron
Matron
Matron is the job title of a very senior nurse in several countries, including the United Kingdom, its former colonies, including the Republic of Ireland, although the title Clinical Nurse Manager has become acceptable as an alternative.-History:...
of the Balmoral Red Cross Hospital in Flanders
Flanders
Flanders is the community of the Flemings but also one of the institutions in Belgium, and a geographical region located in parts of present-day Belgium, France and the Netherlands. "Flanders" can also refer to the northern part of Belgium that contains Brussels, Bruges, Ghent and Antwerp...
. They too had one daughter. In religion Barton was a Presbyterian.
Education
Barton was educated at the High School of GlasgowHigh School of Glasgow
The High School of Glasgow is an independent, co-educational day school in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded as the Choir School of Glasgow Cathedral in around 1124, it is the oldest school in Scotland, and the twelfth oldest in the United Kingdom. It remained part of the Church as the city's grammar...
, among whose most notable former pupils were Liberal prime minister
Prime minister
A prime minister is the most senior minister of cabinet in the executive branch of government in a parliamentary system. In many systems, the prime minister selects and may dismiss other members of the cabinet, and allocates posts to members within the government. In most systems, the prime...
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Henry Campbell-Bannerman
Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman GCB was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1905 to 1908 and Leader of the Liberal Party from 1899 to 1908. He also served as Secretary of State for War twice, in the Cabinets of Gladstone and Rosebery...
and Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
prime minister and Liberal Coalition partner, Andrew Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law
Andrew Bonar Law was a British Conservative Party statesman and Prime Minister. Born in the colony of New Brunswick, he is the only British Prime Minister to have been born outside the British Isles...
. He later graduated from the University of Glasgow
University of Glasgow
The University of Glasgow is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ancient universities. Located in Glasgow, the university was founded in 1451 and is presently one of seventeen British higher education institutions ranked amongst the top 100 of the...
where he specialized in commercial law
Commercial law
Commercial law is the body of law that governs business and commercial transactions...
, political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
and modern languages. Typically for his time, Barton later promoted education and self-improvement by becoming a director of the Manchester Athenaeum, an institution founded in 1835 and devoted to the arts and learning and one of whose founding fathers was Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden
Richard Cobden was a British manufacturer and Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with John Bright in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League as well as with the Cobden-Chevalier Treaty...
.
Career
After university Barton went into the textileTextile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
industry in Glasgow where he learned the trade of calico printing and he later established a calico printing business of his own in Manchester.
Into Parliament
Barton learned his political trade on Manchester City CouncilManchester City Council
Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...
where he was an elected councillor between 1906-1909. In 1909 one of the two Members of Parliament for Oldham
Oldham (UK Parliament constituency)
Oldham was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Oldham, England. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, J A Bright
John Albert Bright
John Albert Bright was an English Liberal Unionist Member of Parliament in England. He was the son of the Liberal reformer John Bright....
the son of the great Liberal reformer John Bright
John Bright
John Bright , Quaker, was a British Radical and Liberal statesman, associated with Richard Cobden in the formation of the Anti-Corn Law League. He was one of the greatest orators of his generation, and a strong critic of British foreign policy...
decided to stand down at the next election and Barton was selected to replace him as candidate. The next election came in January 1910 and Barton was comfortably elected as Oldham’s second Liberal member alongside Alfred Emmott
Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott
Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott GCMG, GBE, PC was a British businessman and Liberal Party politician.-Background and education:...
the Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons who had held his seat since a by-election in 1899
Oldham by-election, 1899
The Oldham by-election of 1899 occurred in the summer of that year, and involved a by-election to fill both seats in the two-member Oldham Parliamentary borough. The block voting method allowed each elector to vote for two candidates...
, when one of the defeated Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidates was Winston Churchill
Winston Churchill
Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill, was a predominantly Conservative British politician and statesman known for his leadership of the United Kingdom during the Second World War. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest wartime leaders of the century and served as Prime Minister twice...
.
Barton had a majority of 5,378 votes over his nearest Conservative rival in January 1910. He held the seat at the December 1910 election with a reduced but still substantial majority of 3,501 with Emmott again winning the other seat.
Rupture with Oldham Liberals
However in 1913 Barton had a falling out with his local party in Oldham, although he continued to describe himself as a Liberal and notified the press that he did not intend to stand down as a Member of Parliament. The issue which caused his break with his local Liberal Association erupted in December 1913 when he presided over a meeting in Oldham addressed by Liberal prime minister H H Asquith. In view of the recent arrest of suffragetteSuffragette
"Suffragette" is a term coined by the Daily Mail newspaper as a derogatory label for members of the late 19th and early 20th century movement for women's suffrage in the United Kingdom, in particular members of the Women's Social and Political Union...
leader Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst
Emmeline Pankhurst was a British political activist and leader of the British suffragette movement which helped women win the right to vote...
there was a high level of security for the meeting, which was one of three events in Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
at which Asquith was speaking. The issue which incensed Barton was the refusal of Oldham Liberals, without letting him know in advance, to admit any women to the prime minister’s meeting except certain ladies in the platform parties of Lord Sheffield
Edward Stanley, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley
Edward Lyulph Stanley, 4th Baron Sheffield, 4th Baron Stanley of Alderley and 3rd Baron Eddisbury PC was an English peer.He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford....
and Alfred Emmott. This included refusing admission to a delegation of Liberal women who had been active in support of Barton and the Liberal Party in the constituency and who had been asked by Barton to attend.
Votes for Women
The rupture appears to have been over what Barton regarded as a lack of courtesy to him and the women Liberals who worked for him politically rather than on any matter of policy associated with the issue of women’s suffrage itself. Barton supported votes for women. In 1911 he is recorded as having voted for woman suffrage in the House of CommonsBritish House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
, although he also voted in protest at the growing campaign of so-called organized rowdyism which the suffragettes were waging as likely to hinder the passing of favourable legislation. He must have been forgiven this transgression however as in 1912 and again in 1914 he was invited to speak at the annual demonstration at the Albert Hall
Albert Hall
Albert P. Hall is an American actor.Born in Brighton, Alabama, Hall graduated from the Columbia University School of the Arts in 1971. That same year he appeared Off-Broadway in The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and on Broadway in the Melvin Van Peebles musical Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death...
organised by the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies
The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies , also known as the Suffragists was an organisation of women's suffrage societies in the United Kingdom.-Formation and campaigning:...
. This was at a time when Liberal speakers at NUWSS events were hard to come by. At the 1914 meeting Millicent Fawcett
Millicent Fawcett
Dame Millicent Garrett Fawcett, GBE was an English suffragist and an early feminist....
moved a resolution condemning Asquith for refusing to meet a delegation of any of the large number of male supporters of women’s suffrage who had come to London for the event and this was seconded by Barton who nevertheless told the rally that he thought of himself as a supporter of the prime minister and refused to regard Asquith as ‘a hopeless case’ on the issue, although he clearly was.
Asquith and Lloyd George
Barton’s relationship with Asquith blew hot and cold over the course of many years. During the First World War, Barton decided to support David Lloyd GeorgeDavid Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...
after he replaced Asquith as prime minister in 1916. In 1917, Barton was rewarded with a knighthood in the King’s Birthday Honours List. At the 1918 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1918
The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...
Barton seems to have received the Coalition Coupon
Coalition Coupon
The ‘Coalition Coupon’, often referred to as ‘the coupon’, refers to the letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the United Kingdom general election, 1918 endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place in the heady atmosphere of victory in...
as he stood as a Coalition Liberal in Oldham in that contest. He was elected, as was a Coalition Conservative candidate, against Labour
Labour Party (UK)
The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...
and Asquithian Liberal opposition with a majority of 11,076 votes. Clearly Barton’s little local difficulty with his constituency Liberal Association had not been resolved given that they were prepared to put up a Wee Free candidate against him. Barton was not very forgiving as he told a colleague that his Asquithian opponent Walter Rea
Walter Rea, 1st Baron Rea
Walter Russell Rea, 1st Baron Rea , was a British merchant banker and Liberal politician.Rea was the son of Russell Rea. He was elected to the House of Commons for Scarborough in 1906, a seat he held until 1918, and served under H. H. Asquith as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1915 to 1916...
, a former Junior Lord of the Treasury
Lord of the Treasury
In the United Kingdom, there are at least six Lords of the Treasury who serve concurrently. Traditionally, this board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of the Treasury, and four or more junior lords .Strictly they are commissioners for exercising the office of Lord...
in the Asquith administration, ‘counted for nothing’ and that he was all for teaching the local Liberal Association its place. The only thing that mattered in the election was supporting Lloyd George, the hero of the war.
By 1921 however the troubles of a divided Liberal Party were impinging more pressingly on Barton’s political consciousness and he was now less firmly in the Lloyd George camp. He was still reluctant to re-commit to Asquith observing: “I am not keen on joining Asquith, who seems to me in misfortune.” But by the following year he was more kindly disposed telling the Manchester Guardian that Asquith expressed the “true Liberal position”.
By 1922 however, Barton - now aged sixty - decided he did not wish to continue his political career. He stood down at the general election of that year
United Kingdom general election, 1922
The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...
and did not stand for election to Parliament again.
Other appointments
Barton was a Justice of the PeaceJustice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
for the County of Lancaster, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and sometime Vice-President of the British Cotton Growers Association.