Herbert Mellor Gibson (22 February 1896 – 27 March 1954) was a member of the

British co-operative movement The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started wit ...

and a Labour politician. Gibson was the youngest of five children, who was brought up in poverty after his mother was widowed. He first gained employment as an office boy at

Manchester Town Hall Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian, Neo-gothic municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local government departments. The building faces Albert Square to th ...

, and worked for many years in

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loca ...

. He studied economics and political history at the Co-operative College, Holyoake House. At the 1929 general election he was nominated as the

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated Labour Co-op; cy, Llafur a'r Blaid Gydweithredol) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidat ...

candidate for the Mossley constituency and successfully unseated the sitting MP,

Austin Hopkinson Austin Hopkinson JP (24 June 1879 – 2 September 1962) was a British industrialist and Member of Parliament (MP) who represented Mossley as an Independent from 1918 to 1929 and 1931 to 1945. He was also a noted benefactor to local causes, and ...

. His membership of parliament was short-lived, and Hopkinson regained the seat at the next election in 1931. Gibson continued his involvement with co-operatives, becoming a director of the

Co-operative Wholesale Society A co-operative wholesale society, or CWS, is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives. According to co-operative economi ...

in 1936, at the same time leaving the employment of the local council. He subsequently held the post of chairman of the English and Scottish Joint Co-operative Society, was a director of the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the Mersey Estuary at Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it generally follows the original routes of the river ...

Company. He was appointed a member of the Joint Industrial Council of the Soap, Candle and Edible Fats Industries and a director of the

Colonial Development Corporation British International Investment, (formerly CDC Group plc, Commonwealth Development Corporation, and Colonial Development Corporation) is the development finance institution of the UK government. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office ...

. He died in March 1954 aged 58. ''Obituary: Mr Herbert M Gibson'', The Times, 29 March 1954, p.8

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* 1896 births 1954 deaths Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub