Alfred Barton (30 July 1868 – 9 December 1933) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

socialist politician.

Early life

Born in

Kempston Kempston is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Bedford, Bedfordshire, England. It had a population of 19,330 in the 2011 census. Kempston is part of Bedford's built-up area and is situated directly south-west of Bedford proper. The River ...

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

, Barton began working in a library at the age of twelve. He joined the Socialist League at some point in the 1880s, then in about 1890, he moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where he quickly found work at the

John Rylands Library The John Rylands Research Institute and Library is a late-Victorian neo-Gothic building on Deansgate in Manchester, England. It is part of the University of Manchester. The library, which opened to the public in 1900, was founded by Enriquet ...

. At this time, Alf was on the

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and movement that is skeptical of all justifications for authority and seeks to abolish the institutions it claims maintain unnecessary coercion and hierarchy, typically including, though not neces ...

wing of the Socialist League, and was prominent in the protests following the police provocations against Walsall Anarchists. Although he was arrested several times for making speeches, he was firmly opposed to violence in the anarchist cause.Helen Mathers, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.VI, pp.21-24

Later life

Barton married Eleanor Stockton in 1894, who was to become prominent in the

co-operative movement The history of the cooperative movement concerns the origins and history of cooperatives across the world. Although cooperative arrangements, such as mutual insurance, and principles of cooperation existed long before, the cooperative movement bega ...

, and the two moved to Sheffield in 1897. Alf joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP) and quickly became prominent locally through his opposition to the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

; he later also joined the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

. He joined the Shop Assistants' Union and was its delegate to

Sheffield Federated Trades Council The Sheffield Trades and Labour Council, usually known as the Sheffield Trades Council, is a labour organisation uniting trade unionists in Sheffield. Precursors The earliest recorded attempt to found an alliance of trade unions in the city is th ...

, and within it campaigned for it to affiliate to the Labour Representation Committee. It did so, but resulting disagreements about local candidates led the council to split, Barton being prominent on the local Labour Representation Committee. In 1907, he was elected to

Sheffield City Council Sheffield City Council is the city council for the metropolitan borough of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It consists of 84 councillors, elected to represent 28 wards, each with three councillors. It is currently under No Overall Contr ...

for the renamed Labour Party, representing Brightside. In 1907, Barton was appointed as secretary of the Sheffield ILP, and he also edited its weekly newspaper, the ''Sheffield Guardian''. However, he lost his council seat in 1910, and in 1911 he resigned from the ILP entirely due to disagreements between himself and

Joseph Pointer Joseph Pointer (12 June 1875 – 19 November 1914) was a patternmaker who became a British Labour Party Member of Parliament. Born in the Attercliffe district of Sheffield, Pointer became a convinced socialist early in his life, and joined the ...

. The Labour Party would not endorse him in that year's local elections, so he instead ran for the SDF in

Heeley Heeley is a former cluster of villages. Which all now form a suburb in the south of the City of Sheffield, England. The village has existed at least since 1343, its name deriving from ''Heah Leah'', ''High Lea'' then ''Hely'', meaning a high, w ...

, and was not successful. He persuaded Labour not to stand against him in Brightside in following years, and won his seat back in 1913. The SDF became the

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw t ...

(BSP) and in 1914 affiliated to the Labour Party, Barton becoming an official part of its group on the council once more. He was shortlisted as the party's candidate for the 1914 Sheffield Attercliffe by-election, but was not selected. Barton supported British involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, but he remained in the BSP rather than joining one of its pro-war splits. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Sheffield Park at the 1918 general election, then briefly joined the

Communist Party of Britain The Communist Party of Britain (CPB) is a communist party in Great Britain which emerged from a dispute between Eurocommunists and Marxist-Leninists in the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1988. It follows Marxist-Leninist theory and s ...

(CPGB) on its formation, but resigned after less than a month, to rejoin the ILP and, by extension, the Labour Party. He stood in

Harwich Harwich is a town in Essex, England, and one of the Haven ports on the North Sea coast. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the north-east, Ipswich to the north-west, Colchester to the south-west and Clacton-on- ...

at the 1922 general election, losing his deposit, and the same year also lost his council seat, although he won a seat in Hillsborough in 1926. In 1929, he moved to represent

Owlerton Owlerton () is a suburb of the city of Sheffield, it lies northwest of the city centre near the confluence of the River Don and River Loxley. Owlerton was formerly a small rural village with its origins in the Early Middle Ages; it became par ...

, also becoming an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

, and served until his death in 1933.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Alf 1868 births 1933 deaths British Socialist Party members Communist Party of Great Britain councillors Councillors in Sheffield English socialists Trade unionists from Bedfordshire Independent Labour Party politicians Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Kempston Social Democratic Federation members Socialist League (UK, 1885) members