George Toulmin
Encyclopedia
Sir George Toulmin was an English journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

, newspaper proprietor
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...

 and Liberal Party
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.

Family and education

George Toulmin was born in Bolton
Bolton
Bolton is a town in Greater Manchester, in the North West of England. Close to the West Pennine Moors, it is north west of the city of Manchester. Bolton is surrounded by several smaller towns and villages which together form the Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, of which Bolton is the...

, 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...

, the son of Councillor George Toulmin JP
Justice 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...

 of Preston. He was educated at the Grammar School
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 in Preston. In 1882 he married Mary Elizabeth Edelston from Preston, the daughter of a local Alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...

; they had two sons and two daughters. In religion Toulmin was a Wesleyan.

Career

Toulmin began as a journalist but eventually rose to the top of his profession. From 1860 he took over the ownership of the Preston Guardian
Farmers Guardian
Farmers Guardian is a weekly newspaper aimed at the British farming industry. It provides comprehensive and topical news with Livestock, Arable and Machinery sections; as well as business information and latest market prices. It is sold nationally and publishes on a Friday...

newspaper. In 1886 he founded the Lancashire Daily Post, becoming its managing director. With the help of his brother he had also established the Blackburn Times and the Warrington
Warrington
Warrington is a town, borough and unitary authority area of Cheshire, England. It stands on the banks of the River Mersey, which is tidal to the west of the weir at Howley. It lies 16 miles east of Liverpool, 19 miles west of Manchester and 8 miles south of St Helens...

 Examiner.
He was Chairman of the Press Association
Press Association
The Press Association is the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland, supplying multimedia news content to almost all national and regional newspapers, television and radio news, as well as many websites with text, pictures, video and data content globally...

 from 1919-1920, was sometime Hon. Treasurer of the Newspaper Society as well as a Fellow of the Institute of Journalists
Chartered Institute of Journalists
The Chartered Institute of Journalists is a professional association for journalists and is the senior such body in the UK and the oldest in the world. It was founded as the National Association of Journalists at a meeting at the Grand Hotel in Birmingham in October 1884, to promote and advance...

.

Politics

Toulmin first stood for Parliament
Parliament of the United Kingdom
The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

 at the 1900 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1900
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1900*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

 when he represented the Liberal Party at Bury
Bury (UK Parliament constituency)
Bury was a borough constituency centred on the town of Bury in Lancashire. It returned one Member of Parliament ) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 standing under the description of Radical. Two years later he got the chance to contest the seat again when the sitting 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...

 MP, James Kenyon
James Kenyon (MP)
James Kenyon was an English woollen manufacturer and Conservative Party politician from Bury in Lancashire.- Early life :...

 resigned causing a by-election in Bury
Bury by-election, 1902
The Bury by-election, 1902 was a by-election held in England on 10 May 1902 for the House of Commons constituency of Bury in Lancashire.It was the first by-election gain by the Liberal Party from the ruling Conservatives in the Parliament of 1900–1906 and it can arguably be said to have set in...

. Toulmin was re-adopted by Bury Liberal Association and he gained the seat at the by-election which was held on 10 May 1902 turning a Tory
Tory
Toryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...

 majority of 849 into a Liberal one of 414.

Toulmin held his seat at the general elections of 1906
United Kingdom general election, 1906
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the United Kingdom general election, 1906*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-External links:***-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...

, January 1910 and December 1910. However in 1918
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...

, despite supporting the coalition government
Coalition Government 1916-1922
The Coalition Government of David Lloyd George came to power in the United Kingdom in December 1916, replacing the earlier wartime coalition under H.H. Asquith, which had been held responsible for reverses during the Great War. Those Liberals who continued to support Asquith served as the Opposition...

 of David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George
David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor OM, PC was a British Liberal politician and statesman...

 and being awarded 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...

, he lost Bury to the Conservatives in a three-cornered contest. He did not stand for the House of Commons
British 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...

 again.

Interests, honours and other appointments

Like many Liberals of the day, Toulmin was pre-occupied with social questions and the need for social reform and improvement. In February 1908, he introduced a Bill into the House of Commons designed to establish wages boards to fix minimum wages
Minimum wage
A minimum wage is the lowest hourly, daily or monthly remuneration that employers may legally pay to workers. Equivalently, it is the lowest wage at which workers may sell their labour. Although minimum wage laws are in effect in a great many jurisdictions, there are differences of opinion about...

 in certain trades. Among the Parliamentary bodies Toulmin sat on were the National Health Insurance Joint Committee, set up under the National Insurance Act 1911
National Insurance Act 1911
The National Insurance Act 1911 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Act is often regarded as one of the foundations of modern social welfare in the United Kingdom and forms part of the wider social welfare reforms of the Liberal Government of 1906-1914...

  and the Select Committee on London Motor Traffic to look into the increasing number of fatal traffic accidents due to motor omnibus
Bus
A bus is a road vehicle designed to carry passengers. Buses can have a capacity as high as 300 passengers. The most common type of bus is the single-decker bus, with larger loads carried by double-decker buses and articulated buses, and smaller loads carried by midibuses and minibuses; coaches are...

 and other power-driven vehicles
Motor vehicle
A motor vehicle or road vehicle is a self-propelled wheeled vehicle that does not operate on rails, such as trains or trolleys. The vehicle propulsion is provided by an engine or motor, usually by an internal combustion engine, or an electric motor, or some combination of the two, such as hybrid...

, of which he was Chairman. His committee recommended setting up a new traffic authority, increased powers to control traffic by County Councils, special speed limits
Speed limit
Road speed limits are used in most countries to regulate the speed of road vehicles. Speed limits may define maximum , minimum or no speed limit and are normally indicated using a traffic sign...

 and greater education and awareness for schoolchildren of traffic dangers.

Toulmin was knighted in 1911. He was also a Justice of the Peace
Justice 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 Borough of Preston
County Borough of Preston
Preston was a local government district coterminate with the town of Preston in Lancashire, northwest England from 1835 to 1974.Preston was one of only a few industrial towns in Lancashire to have a functioning corporation in 1835, its charter dating to 1685, and was reformed as a municipal borough...

(1897) and for Lancashire (1906).

External links

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