Arthur Wellesley Willey (1868 – 2 July 1923) was an English

solicitor A solicitor is a legal practitioner who traditionally deals with most of the legal matters in some jurisdictions. A person must have legally-defined qualifications, which vary from one jurisdiction to another, to be described as a solicitor and ...

and racehorse owner, who was briefly the Conservative

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Leeds Central Leeds Central is a constituency recreated in 1983 represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 1999 by Hilary Benn of the Labour Party. A former guise of the seat spanned 1885 to 1955. Boundaries 1885–1918: The Municip ...

. Willey was born in

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

in 1868 and became one of the most successful solicitors in the West Riding of

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

. He married Maud Evelyn Ellicott in 1894. He entered politics, serving on

Leeds City Council Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...

. He was elected MP for Leeds Central at 1922 general election, defeating the incumbent

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

MP, Robert Armitage. While campaigning in his election he regularly tipped his audiences to bet on his horse "Leeds United" in an upcoming race; the horse won, at 5-1 odds, the day before the election. The tip was popular, and the ''Yorkshire Evening Post'' estimated that Leeds bookmakers had had to pay out around £20,000 in winnings. Willey was not very active in

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

owing to his commitments as a solicitor, although he intended to increase his Parliamentary work in the near future, and had taken a particular interest in the Criminal Justice Bill during his first session as an MP. He intended to make his maiden speech during the debate on the bill, but it was delayed. On the morning of Sunday, 1 July 1923, Willey prepared to go to church with his wife Maud. It was the anniversary of the death of his son Tom, killed at the age of 18 at the

Battle of the Somme The Battle of the Somme ( French: Bataille de la Somme), also known as the Somme offensive, was a battle of the First World War fought by the armies of the British Empire and French Third Republic against the German Empire. It took place bet ...

exactly seven years previously. Willey was taken by a sudden seizure, and never regained consciousness. He died early the following morning, aged 54. That same day, a notice that Willey had already placed in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'' "In Memoriam" section appeared:

WILLEY – In proud and loving memory of SEC. LIEUT. TOM WILLEY, Leeds Pals Division, killed in the Somme attack on 1 July 1916. – MAUD AND ARTHUR WILLEY, "The Grove", Roundhay, Leeds.

At Willey's funeral, thousands of mourners lined the streets of Leeds, and a large number of public bodies and institutions were represented, together with representatives of the north country jockeys. At northern race meetings that day, jockeys wore crepe in memory of Willey. All three of his children pre-deceased him and his wife died in December 1939.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Willey, Arthur Wellesley 1868 births 1923 deaths British racehorse owners and breeders Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Councillors in Leeds English solicitors Politicians from Leeds UK MPs 1922–1923

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