Joseph Frederick Green (5 July 1855 – 1 May 1932) was a British politician. He sat in the House of Commons from 1918 to 1922 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

Leicester West Leicester West is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2010 by Liz Kendall of the Labour Party. Along with the other two Leicester seats, it was held by Labour at the 2017 general election. Since its cr ...

. Green worked as a

curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure'' (''cura'') ''of souls'' of a parish. In this sense, "curate" means a parish priest; but in English-speaking countries the term ''curate'' is commonly used to describe clergy w ...

in his youth, but later left the church.Martin Crick, ''The History of the Social-Democratic Federation'', p.305 He became involved in politics through the Liberal Party, serving as secretary of the St George's Hanover Square Liberal Association, and on the committee of the

National Liberal Club The National Liberal Club (NLC) is a London private members' club, open to both men and women. It was established by William Ewart Gladstone in 1882 to provide club facilities for Liberal Party campaigners among the newly enlarged electorate f ...

. In the 1890s, he instead joined the Independent Labour Party and the Fabian Society, serving on its executive in 1899/1900. Around this time, he also served as secretary of the International Arbitration Association, and of the Friends of Russian Freedom. In the 1900s, Green joined the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

(SDF), serving as its treasurer for a time. He resigned in 1911 in protest at

H. M. Hyndman Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist. Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's '' Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing ...

's calls for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

to be enlarged. However, his views changed dramatically with the outbreak of

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 ...

, and he joined the

Socialist National Defence Committee The Socialist National Defence Committee also known as the Socialist National Defence League was a pro First World War socialist faction. The party's origins lay in the 1915 split by the right-wing of the British Socialist Party, led by Victor ...

, a pro-war split from the SDF's successor, the

British Socialist Party The British Socialist Party (BSP) was a Marxist political organisation established in Great Britain in 1911. Following a protracted period of factional struggle, in 1916 the party's anti-war forces gained decisive control of the party and saw t ...

. A supporter of

Victor Fisher Frederick Victor Fisher (10 July 1870 – 30 January 1954) was a British political activist. Fisher was born in London; his mother was English, and his father was Hungarian. He was privately educated in London and Paris, then worked in journalism ...

, he followed him into the

British Workers League The British Workers League was a 'patriotic labour' group which was anti-socialist and pro-British Empire. Founded originally as the ''Socialist National Defence Committee'', the league operated fro''May 1916''to 1927. The league's origins lay ...

, before joining the

National Democratic and Labour Party The National Democratic and Labour Party, usually abbreviated to National Democratic Party (NDP), was a short-lived political party in the United Kingdom. History The party's origins lay in a split by the right wing of the British Socialist Part ...

(NDP). Standing as a candidate of the NDP, with support of the

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 ...

-led and Conservative-dominated

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

, Green contested the newly created Leicester West constituency at the 1918 general election. His only opponent was the Labour Party candidate

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

, a sitting MP for the two-seat

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

constituency until it was divided for this election. With coalition support, Green won 76% of the votes, defeating MacDonald. However, at the 1922 general election, without coalition support, Green stood as a National Liberal Party candidate. He won only 28.4% of the votes, and lost his seat to the Labour Party candidate Alfred Hill. Green did not stand again. Instead, he joined the Conservative Party, and found work at its headquarters.

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* 1855 births 1932 deaths Conservative Party (UK) politicians Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for English constituencies National Democratic and Labour Party MPs National Liberal Party (UK, 1922) politicians Social Democratic Federation members UK MPs 1918–1922 {{England-UK-MP-stub