Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

Basil Kelsey Barton MC (1879 – 2 July 1958) was a British

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

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

politician from Hull. He held a seat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

from 1931 to 1935. Barton was educated at

Oundle Oundle () is a market town on the left bank of the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England, which had a population of 5,735 at the time of the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. It is north of London and south-west of Peterborough ...

, and was admitted as a

in November 1903, practising in Hull. He served during

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 ...

as a

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

with the

Royal Field Artillery The Royal Field Artillery (RFA) of the British Army provided close artillery support for the infantry. It came into being when created as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery on 1 July 1899, serving alongside the other two arms of t ...

, winning a

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level pre-1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth countries. The MC i ...

in 1917, and attaining the rank of

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

. On the Roll of Honour in St Helens Church in Welton, he is listed as having been a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

. After the war he resumed practise as a solicitor in Hull. Barton was elected at the 1931 general election as the

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 Hull Central. The seat had been held since 1919 by Lieutenant-Commander Hon. Joseph Kenworthy, who had first been elected as a

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. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

and had been comfortably returned in 1926 when he sought re-election after joining the Labour Party. Kenworthy's share of the votes had never fallen below 52%, and in three-way contests in 1926 and 1929 this had given him generous majorities over his Liberal and Conservative opponents. However, the Liberals did not contest any of Hull's four seats in 1931, and ''

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 ...

'' newspaper reported during the campaign that despite vigorous campaigning by Kenworthy, who was personally very popular, Barton was winning "the support of many Liberals". When the votes were counted, Barton won with a majority of 3,660 votes (10.2%) over Kenworthy. Kenworthy succeeded to the peerage in 1934 as

Baron Strabolgi Baron Strabolgi (pronounced "Strabogie") is a title in the Peerage of England supposedly created in 1318 for Scottish lord David of Strathbogie, 10th Earl of Atholl. Despite lack of evidence supporting its existence, it was called out of abeyan ...

, and at the 1935 general election Barton defended his seat against the Labour candidate

Walter Windsor Walter Windsor (18 July 1884 – 29 June 1945) was a British Labour Party politician. A native of Bethnal Green in the East End of London, he held a seat in the House of Commons from 1923 to 1929, and from 1935 to 1945, when he died. Bethnal Gr ...

. Windsor was a former

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

who had been MP for Bethnal Green North East in the 1920s, and he defeated Barton with an 8% swing. Barton did not stand for Parliament again. He died aged 79 on 2 July 1958, at his home in Brough-on-Humber, near Hull.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barton, Basil 1879 births 1958 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1931–1935 People educated at Oundle School Recipients of the Military Cross British Army personnel of World War I Royal Artillery officers English solicitors Politicians from Kingston upon Hull Military personnel from Kingston upon Hull