Albert Edward Martin (1876 – 26 July 1936) was an English merchant and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

, later

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

politician.

Date of birth

According to the source, Leigh Rayment's Peerage Page, Martin was born in 1875 but

Who was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

gives his date of birth as 1876.''Who was Who'', OUP 2007 According to the brief obituary in

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

newspaper, Martin was aged 59 years when he died, which supports the report of his date of birth as 1876.The Times, 28 July 1936 p16

Family

Martin married Edith Savory in 1909 and they had a son and two daughters.

Career

Martin was a successful merchant. He was head of a firm in

Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in south-eastern Essex, England. It lies on the nor ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

. He was also a member of the Territorial Army, rising to the rank of Honorary Colonel of the 52nd

Anti-Aircraft Anti-aircraft warfare (AAW) is the counter to aerial warfare and includes "all measures designed to nullify or reduce the effectiveness of hostile air action".AAP-6 It encompasses surface-based, subsurface ( submarine-launched), and air-ba ...

Brigade, (T.A) and he was responsible for raising the 156th Battery. Martin also served as a Justice of the Peace.

Politics

Parliamentary candidate, 1918

Martin was selected as Liberal candidate for

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

in Essex to fight the 1918 general election in succession to the sitting Liberal MP, Sir John Bethell who had transferred to the nearby seat of

East Ham North East Ham North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the East Ham district of London, which was in Essex until 1965. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, elected by t ...

. Both Martin and Bethell were awarded the

Coalition coupon The Coalition Coupon was a letter sent to parliamentary candidates at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, endorsing them as official representatives of the Coalition Government. The 1918 election took place soon after British victory in the ...

for the election and both were returned. In Romford, Martin faced a Labour opponent and one from the left-wing National Socialist Party. In the absence of a

, with the Labour vote split and with the endorsement of the coupon, Martin won the seat comfortably with a majority of 5,256 votes.

1922

At the 1922 general election Martin stood as a

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A serie ...

, that is to say as a supporter of outgoing

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

David Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

of whose

Coalition government A coalition government, or coalition cabinet, is a government by political parties that enter into a power-sharing arrangement of the executive. Coalition governments usually occur when no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an ...

he had been a supporter. Again without a Conservative opponent, Martin was involved in a straight fight against Labour. He held his seat by a majority of 4,103 votes.F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949''; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p355

1923

Martin's years of working with the Conservatives in Parliament and presumably at a local level, must have played a part in his decision in 1923 to leave the Liberals and join the

Tories A Tory () is an individual who supports a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalist conservatism which upholds the established social order as it has evolved through the history of Great Britain. The T ...

. As the 1923 general election approached Martin was adopted by the Romford Conservatives as their candidate for the contest. However this move was resented by some in the constituency and this bitterness could have proved problematic for Martin's election campaign. In the event the potential difficulties never presented themselves as Martin withdrew from the fray on the grounds that his health had broken down. The Conservatives selected another candidate Charles Rhys to represent them and Rhys went on to win the seat, holding it until

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

Local politics

Martin continued to enjoy a political career at

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

level. He was charter

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of the new

Municipal Borough of Barking Barking was a local government district, and later civil parish and borough, in southwest Essex, England from 1882 to 1965. It was known as Barking Town from 1882 to 1931. The district included the town of Barking, eastern Beckton and the south ...

in 1931 and was re-elected mayor in November 1932. He was sometime chairman of Barking Education Committee and of the Food Control Committee. He was also an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

of the Borough.

Death

Martin died at his home, Oak Hall, The Leas,

Westcliff-on-Sea Westcliff-on-Sea (previously known as Milton, often abbreviated to Westcliff, and in the past spelt as Westcliffe-on-Sea) is a suburb of the city of Southend-on-Sea, located within the ceremonial county of Essex, England. It is on the north sh ...

, Essex, on 26 July 1936.

Honours

In July 1933, Martin was given the Freedom of the Borough of

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Albert Edward 1876 births 1936 deaths English merchants UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Conservative Party (UK) councillors Politics of Essex Mayors of places in Greater London National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians