Wilfred Paling 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...

 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...

 politician.

He was born at Marehay, near Ripley

Ripley, Derbyshire

Ripley is a town in the Amber Valley area of Derbyshire in England.- Earliest history :Not much information is available as to when Ripley was founded, but it existed at the time of the Domesday Book, when it was held by a man called Levenot....

, Derbyshire

Derbyshire

Derbyshire is a county in the East Midlands of England. A substantial portion of the Peak District National Park lies within Derbyshire. The northern part of Derbyshire overlaps with the Pennines, a famous chain of hills and mountains. The county contains within its boundary of approx...

, one of eight children of a coalminer. Paling left Ripley Elementary School at the age of 13, and entered casual employment with local plumbing and building companies. When the family moved to Huthwaite

Huthwaite

Huthwaite is a small village in Nottinghamshire, England, located to the west of Mansfield, close to the Derbyshire border. Before 1907 the village was known as Hucknall-under-Huthwaite and also Dirty Hucknall.-Derivation of Name:...

 in Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire

Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

 he started work in New Hucknall Colliery, also attending night classes organised by the Workers Educational Association in politics, economics and trade union history. He subsequently won a scholarship to study mining at University College Nottingham

University of Nottingham

The University of Nottingham is a public research university based in Nottingham, United Kingdom, with further campuses in Ningbo, China and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia...

. Returning to the Nottinghamshire Coalfield, he became an official in the local miners' federation and a member of the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

.

In 1912 he left Nottinghamshire as his union and political activities meant that he could not find employment in the area. He moved to the West Riding of Yorkshire

West Riding of Yorkshire

The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of the three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county, County of York, West Riding , was based closely on the historic boundaries...

 to work at Bullcroft Colliery

Bullcroft Colliery

Bullcroft Colliery was a coal mine situated by the village of Carcroft north of Doncaster. The Bullcroft Colliery Company was formed in April 1908 and sinking of the shafts commenced immediately...

 near Doncaster

Doncaster

Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...

. He was soon after elected to the committee of the Yorkshire Miners' Association, and in 1917 became colliery checkweighman. He entered local politics in 1919 when he was elected to the West Riding County Council

County council

A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries.-United Kingdom:...

 and to Bentley with Arksey

Bentley with Arksey

Bentley with Arksey was a civil parish and urban district adjacent to the town of Doncaster in the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1866 to 1974.-Civil parish:The civil parish was formed in 1866 by the grouping of the two townships of Arksey and Bentley...

 Urban District Council

Urban district

In the England, Wales and Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected Urban District Council , which shared local government responsibilities with a county council....

.

At the 1922 general election

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...

 Paling was elected member of parliament

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,...

 (MP) for Doncaster

Doncaster (UK Parliament constituency)

Doncaster was a Parliamentary constituency covering the town of Doncaster in England. The constituency was created in 1885 and abolished in 1983.- Boundaries :...

, and was re-elected in 1923

United Kingdom general election, 1923

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

, 1924

United Kingdom general election, 1924

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

 and 1929

United Kingdom general election, 1929

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

. Paling was a 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...

 1929-1931. He was defeated at the 1931 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

, when the Labour Party lost many seats to candidates of the National Government.

In 1933 he returned to the Commons when he was returned unopposed at a by-election at Wentworth

Wentworth (UK Parliament constituency)

Wentworth was a parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire. Originally created in 1918 and was abolished in 1950, the name was revived when a new constituency was created from 1983 to 2010. Throughout its history, Wentworth was a safe seat for the Labour Party.-Boundaries:Wentworth constituency...

. He was re-elected at the general elections of 1935

United Kingdom general election, 1935

The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...

 and 1945

United Kingdom general election, 1945

The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...

. He had the largest majority of any MP in the 1945 general election: 35,410.

He joined the wartime coalition government as a Lord Commissioner 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 1940 and was Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions from 1941–1945. . He was appointed a Privy Counsellor

Privy Council of the United Kingdom

Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, usually known simply as the Privy Council, is a formal body of advisers to the Sovereign in the United Kingdom...

 in 1944. In the labour Government formed after the war he was Minister of Pensions, from 1945 – 1947; and Postmaster-General from 1947 – 1950.

The Wentworth constituency was abolished by the Representation of the People Act 1948

Representation of the People Act 1948

The Representation of the People Act 1948 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that altered the law relating to parliamentary and local elections...

 with effect from the 1950 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1950

The 1950 United Kingdom general election was the first general election ever after a full term of a Labour government. Despite polling over one and a half million votes more than the Conservatives, the election, held on 23 February 1950 resulted in Labour receiving a slim majority of just five...

. Paling was elected for the new seat of Dearne Valley

Dearne Valley (UK Parliament constituency)

Dearne Valley was a Parliamentary constituency in South Yorkshire. The constituency was created in 1950 and abolished in 1983.-Members of Parliament:*1950 - 1959: Wilfred Paling, Labour*1959 - 1983: Edwin Wainwright, Labour-Election results:...

, and was re-elected in 1955

United Kingdom general election, 1955

The 1955 United Kingdom general election was held on 26 May 1955, four years after the previous general election. It resulted in a substantially increased majority of 60 for the Conservative government under new leader and prime minister Sir Anthony Eden against Labour Party, now in their 20th year...

. He retired from parliament at the 1959 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1959

This United Kingdom general election was held on 8 October 1959. It marked a third successive victory for the ruling Conservative Party, led by Harold Macmillan...

.

Paling married Elizabeth Hunt of Huthwaite, and they had two children. He died at his home in Scawthorpe, near Doncaster, in April 1971.

External links