John Snowdon Henry (30 September 1824 – 30 October 1896) was a British businessman 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.

Family life

He was the eldest son of Alexander Henry, founder of A & S Henry & Co, a Manchester-based firm of cotton merchants, who was a 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

South Lancashire South Lancashire is a geographical county area, used to indicate the southern part of the historic county of Lancashire, today without any administrative purpose. The county region has no exact boundaries but generally includes areas that form t ...

from 1847 to 1852. His younger brother was

Mitchell Henry Mitchell Henry (1826 – 22 November 1910) was an English financier, politician and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was MP for County Galway from 1871 to 1885, and ...

who later became 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 ...

parliamentarian. He married Annie Wood of

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, and they had two daughters. A resident of

Crumpsall Crumpsall is an outer suburb and Wards of the United Kingdom, electoral ward of Manchester, England, north of Manchester city centre, bordered by Cheetham Hill, Blackley, Harpurhey, Broughton, Greater Manchester, Broughton, and Prestwich. The po ...

, near

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 ...

, in 1865 Henry purchased ''East Dene'',

Bonchurch Bonchurch is a small village to the east of Ventnor, now largely connected to the latter by suburban development, on the southern part of the Isle of Wight, England. One of the oldest settlements on the Isle of Wight, it is situated on Undercliff ...

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, the childhood home of the poet

Algernon Charles Swinburne Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...

Volunteering

During the invasion scare of 1859, he recruited a company of

Rifle Volunteers The Rifle Volunteers was a regiment of the British Territorial Army. In 2007, it was re-designated as 6th Battalion, The Rifles. History The ''Rifle Volunteers'' were formed in 1999 by the amalgamation of the 6th (Volunteer) Battalion, The Ligh ...

from employees of the family firm, which was soon joined by other companies to form the

3rd Manchester Rifles The 3rd Manchester Rifles, later the 7th Battalion, Manchester Regiment was a unit of Britain's Volunteers and Territorial Force raised in Manchester. It served at Gallipoli and on the Western Front in World War I. Volunteer Force The enthusias ...

. Henry served as

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 ...

and first commanding officer of the unit before handing over to the Hon

Algernon Egerton The Honourable Algernon Fulke Egerton (31 December 1825 – 14 July 1891), known as Algernon Leveson-Gower until 1833, was a British Conservative politician from the Egerton family. Background Egerton was the third son of Francis Egerton, 1st Ea ...

, MP for South Lancashire and younger son of the

Earl of Ellesmere Earl of Ellesmere ( ), of Ellesmere in the County of Shropshire, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1846 for the Conservative politician Lord Francis Egerton. He was granted the subsidiary title of Viscount Brac ...

Political career

At the 1868 general election, Henry was selected by the Conservatives to contest the newly created South-Eastern Division of Lancashire, which would return two

Members 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 ...

(MPs) to 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. ...

. He was elected along with his party colleague, Algernon Egerton. He held the seat until the 1874 general election, when he did not seek re-election. Henry died at ''East Dene'' in October 1896, aged 72.

References

External links

* 1824 births 1896 deaths Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1868–1874 Place of birth missing {{England-Conservative-UK-MP-1820s-stub