Sir Horace Edwin Holmes (30 March 1888 – 9 September 1971) was a British Labour Party politician and trade union official. Born in

Royston, South Yorkshire Royston is a suburban village within the Metropolitan borough of Barnsley, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically, the village formed part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, but was incorporated into the Metropolitan borough of Barnsley in 1 ...

, Holmes received an elementary education before becoming a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

. 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 ...

, he served as a sergeant in the

Leeds Rifles The Leeds Rifles was a unit of the 19th century Volunteer Force of the British Army that went on to serve under several different guises in the World Wars of the 20th century. In World War I both battalions served as infantry on the Western Fron ...

, and received the

Distinguished Conduct Medal The Distinguished Conduct Medal was a decoration established in 1854 by Queen Victoria for gallantry in the field by other ranks of the British Army. It is the oldest British award for gallantry and was a second level military decoration, ranki ...

. After the war, he returned to mining, and from 1923 was secretary of his branch of the

Yorkshire Miners' Association The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union. It is now an integral part of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). History The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the ...

. From 1923 until 1946, he also served on Royston Urban District Council, and for eleven years, he additionally served on the

West Riding County Council West Riding County Council (WRCC) was the county council of the Administrative counties of England, administrative county of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1974. The council met at County Hall, Wakefield, County Hall i ...

. Sponsored by his union, Holmes was elected unopposed as

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 ...

for

Hemsworth Hemsworth is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the City of Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire and had a population of 13,311 at the 2001 census, ...

at a by-election in 1946 following the death of the sitting MP George Griffiths. Holmes held the seat at the next three general elections, each time with the largest Labour majority in the election. From 1947 until 1951, he was

Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...

to the successive Ministers of Fuel and Power,

Hugh Gaitskell Hugh Todd Naylor Gaitskell (9 April 1906 – 18 January 1963) was a British politician who served as Leader of the Labour Party and Leader of the Opposition from 1955 until his death in 1963. An economics lecturer and wartime civil servant, h ...

and

Philip Noel-Baker Philip John Noel-Baker, Baron Noel-Baker, (1 November 1889 – 8 October 1982), born Philip John Baker, was a British politician, diplomat, academic, athlete, and renowned campaigner for disarmament. He carried the British team flag and won a ...

. He then became the Labour Whip for the Yorkshire members. Holmes stood down at the 1959 general election. He was knighted in 1966, and died in 1971.

References

1888 births 1971 deaths West Yorkshire Regiment soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Military personnel from South Yorkshire Military personnel from Nottinghamshire English trade unionists Knights Bachelor Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs Recipients of the Distinguished Conduct Medal UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 People from Nottinghamshire (before 1974) {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub