Joseph Crook (1809 - 8 December 1884) was a

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 ...

British

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

Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...

. Joseph Crook was born in 1809 and was the eldest son of Joshua Crook. He married Mary Biggs in 1856, with whom he had at least one son. He succeeded his father as the owner of J. & J. Crook, cotton spinners and manufacturers, which was based at Spring Mills and was the second-largest employer in

. Crook was elected to one of the two Bolton parliamentary seats in the general election of 1852, along with his fellow Liberal, Thomas Barnes, who polled slightly more votes. While Barnes lost his seat in

1857 Events January–March * January 1 – The biggest Estonian newspaper, ''Postimees'', is established by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. * January 7 – The partly French-owned London General Omnibus Company begins operating. * Janua ...

, Crook was again successful, being returned with the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

William Gray. Both Crook and Gray retained their seats in 1859, being the only two candidates, but in 1861 Crook resigned and Barnes replaced him in an unopposed election. The resignation was because he lacked time to attend to his business interests. In 1860, Crook authored and successfully proposed the Bleachers' Short Time Act in Parliament, having first attempted to achieve such legislation in 1853. This gave rights to people working in the bleaching industry similar to those given to various other industrial workers by the

Factories Acts The Factory Acts were a series of acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to regulate the conditions of industrial employment. The early Acts concentrated on regulating the hours of work and moral welfare of young children employed ...

. He supported causes such as

women's suffrage Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the start of the 18th century, some people sought to change voting laws to allow women to vote. Liberal political parties would go on to grant women the right to vot ...

manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the slog ...

, equal electoral constituencies,

Irish Home Rule The Irish Home Rule movement was a movement that campaigned for Devolution, self-government (or "home rule") for Ireland within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was the dominant political movement of Irish nationalism from 1 ...

direct taxation Although the actual definitions vary between jurisdictions, in general, a direct tax or income tax is a tax imposed upon a person or property as distinct from a tax imposed upon a transaction, which is described as an indirect tax. There is a dis ...

, and annual parliaments. He was for some time chairman of the

United Kingdom Alliance The United Kingdom Alliance (UKA) was a temperance movement in the United Kingdom, temperance movement in the United Kingdom founded in 1853 in Manchester to work for the prohibition of the trade in alcohol (drug), alcohol in the United Kingdom. ...

and was involved with the

Peace Society The Peace Society, International Peace Society or London Peace Society originally known as the Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace, was a pioneering British Pacifism, pacifist organisation that was active from 1816 until the ...

. He had opposed the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

. Retirement from Parliament did not end Crook's interest in politics: he was a member of Bolton Council between 1868 and 1871, as well as being a

Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

and serving on the

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

. He was also involved in the running of Bolton Liberal Club and in 1869 he founded the local branch of the

National Education League The National Education League was a political movement in England and Wales which promoted elementary education for all children, free from religious control. The National Education League, founded 1869, developed from the Birmingham Education Lea ...

. Among his other roles, he was a trustee of the Bank Street Unitarian Chapel, where a tablet in his memory was erected, although the '' Bolton Advertiser'' noted that "He didn't care much for 'parsons' as such, and entertained strong repugnance to the interference of these gentlemen in political or commercial affairs." He was himself a Unitarian. Crook, who earlier lived at Chamber Hall in Bolton, died at his home, Oakfield in Heaton, on 8 December 1884.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Crook, Joseph 1809 births 1884 deaths Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1852–1857 UK MPs 1857–1859 UK MPs 1859–1865 19th-century English people People of the Victorian era Date of birth unknown People from Bolton Textile manufacturers of England English temperance activists English Unitarians