Thomas Owen Jacobsen was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 businessman and Liberal

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. He was born in Liverpool

Liverpool

Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...

, and was the son of a naturalised Dane. He was a master printer and the senior partner in the stationery

Stationery

Stationery has historically meant a wide gamut of materials: paper and office supplies, writing implements, greeting cards, glue, pencil case etc.-History of stationery:...

 company of Jacobsen, Welch and Company, whose paper mills were at Hyde

Hyde, Greater Manchester

Hyde is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. As of the 2001 census, the town had a population of 31,253. Historically part of Cheshire, it is northeast of Stockport, west of Glossop and east of Manchester....

, Cheshire

Cheshire

Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...

.

In March 1916, Francis Neilson

Francis Neilson

Francis Neilson , was an accomplished actor, playwright, stage director, political figure avid lecturer, and author of more than 60 books, plays and opera librettos and a leader in the Georgist movement.-Early:Born as Francis Butters, the eldest of nine siblings, in the Claugton Road,...

, MP

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Hyde

Hyde (UK Parliament constituency)

Hyde was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1885 until 1918. It was based around the town of Hyde, Cheshire....

, resigned his seat. Jacobsen was chosen as Coalition Liberal candidate, and was elected at the ensuing by-election. He held the seat until 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...

, when the constituency was abolished. In 1917 he was appointed as private secretary to Leo Chiozza Money

Leo Chiozza Money

Sir Leo George Chiozza Money , born Leone Giorgio Chiozza, was an Italian-born economic theorist who moved to Britain in the 1890s, where he made his name as a politician, journalist and author. In the early years of the 20th century his views attracted the interest of two future Prime Ministers,...

, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping.

Jacobsen was a resident of Brixton

Brixton

Brixton is a district in the London Borough of Lambeth in south London, England. It is south south-east of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....

 in South London

South London

South London is the southern part of London, England, United Kingdom.According to the 2011 official Boundary Commission for England definition, South London includes the London boroughs of Bexley, Bromley, Croydon, Greenwich, Kingston, Lambeth, Lewisham, Merton, Southwark, Sutton and...

, and in 1919 he was elected as a member of the London County Council

London County Council

London County Council was the principal local government body for the County of London, throughout its 1889–1965 existence, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today known as Inner London and was replaced by the Greater London Council...

 for Lambeth North. He was part of the Liberal-supported Progressive

Progressive Party (London)

The Progressive Party was a political party based around the Liberal Party that contested municipal elections in the County of London.It was founded in 1888 by a group of Liberals and leaders of the labour movement. It was also supported by the Fabian Society, and Sidney Webb was one of its...

 grouping on the council. In 1921 the MP for Southwark South East

Southwark South East (UK Parliament constituency)

Southwark South East was a parliamentary constituency in the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark, in South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 resigned, and Jacobsen was chosen by the local Liberal Progressive and Radical Association to fight the by-election. He was not opposed by the Conservative Party

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...

, but refused to describe himself as a Coalition Liberal, but as a "Liberal supporting the Coalition Government". The contest

Southwark South East by-election, 1921

The Southwark South East by-election, 1921 was a parliamentary by-election held on 14 December 1921 for the British House of Commons constituency of Southwark South East, in the Metropolitan Borough of Southwark in London....

 took place on 14 December 1921, and Jacobsen was heavily defeated by Thomas Naylor, leader of the London Labour Party

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...

.

Jacobsen lost his seat on the London County Council in 1922, and stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals at Lambeth Kennington

Kennington (UK Parliament constituency)

Kennington was a borough constituency centred on the Kennington district of South London. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 at both the 1923

United Kingdom general election, 1923

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

 and 1924 general elections

United Kingdom general election, 1924

- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...

. The 1929 election

United Kingdom general election, 1929

-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...

 was his last electoral contest, when he failed to win the City of London

City of London (UK Parliament constituency)

The City of London was a United Kingdom Parliamentary constituency. It was a constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of England then of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1707 to 1800 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1950.-Boundaries and boundary...

 for the Liberals.

Jacobsen retired from politics, and was president of the Stationers Association of Great Britain and Ireland from 1929 to 1931. In 1935 the Jacobsen and Welch Company was sold. He died in Worthing

Worthing

Worthing is a large seaside town with borough status in West Sussex, within the historic County of Sussex, forming part of the Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton conurbation. It is situated at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of the county town of Chichester...

, Sussex

Sussex

Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...

, in 1941, aged 77.

External links