Sir Joseph Jackson Cleary, JP (26 October 1902 – 9 February 1993) was a British Labour Party politician.

Early life

Joseph Cleary was born in the

West Derby West Derby ( ) is an affluent suburb of Liverpool, England. It is located East of the city and is also a Liverpool City Council ward. At the 2011 Census, the population was 14,382. History West Derby Mentioned in the ''Domesday Book'', West ...

district of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

26 October 1902 . He was educated at Holy Trinity School,

Anfield Anfield is a football stadium in Anfield, Liverpool, Merseyside, England, which has a seating capacity of 53,394, making it the seventh largest football stadium in England. It has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since their formation in 1892. ...

and at

Skerry's College Skerry's College was a series of colleges which primarily prepared candidates for Civil Service examinations. History 1878-1885 Skerry’s College was inaugurated as a small training centre in Edinburgh in 1878 by George Skerry,Skerry's Colleg ...

, Liverpool.

Career

Cleary was appointed a Liverpool

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 ...

in 1927. A member of the Labour Party, he contested the 1929 East Toxteth by-election and fought the seat again at the general election later that year, performing creditably in a safe

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 ...

seat. In the 1931 general election Cleary fought the West Derby division of Liverpool. This was a terrible year for Labour and his Conservative opponent trounced him by over 23,000 votes. He was the councillor for Garston ward from 1927 to 1941. In 1934,

Liverpool Wavertree Liverpool Wavertree is a borough constituency of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1997 and every election since has been won by a Labour Party candidate. An earlier constituency of the same name existed between 1918 and ...

's 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) Ronald Nall-Cain succeeded to the peerage, and Cleary was selected as the Labour candidate for the resulting by-election on 6 February 1935. With the Conservative vote split by the presence of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 Winston Churchill in the Second World War, dur ...

's son Randolph as an independent Conservative candidate, Cleary won the seat with the largest swing ever recorded between the Conservative and Labour parties. At 30% (from Conservative to Labour) it remains unsurpassed to this day. Cleary's victory was to last just 281 days, making him one of the shortest-serving MPs of the 20th century. At the general election in November 1935, he lost by almost 8,000 votes in a straight fight with the Conservatives.

Later life

Cleary was made an

Alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

of Liverpool in 1941 and leader of the Labour group from 1935 to 1948. He undertook lecture-tours to British Forces in the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

in 1945. Later that year he married Ethel McColl. He was

Lord Mayor of Liverpool The office of Lord Mayor of Liverpool has existed in one form or another since the foundation of Liverpool as a borough by the Royal Charter of King John in 1207, simply being referred to as the Mayor of Liverpool. The position is now a most ...

1949–50. Twenty years after losing his seat in 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 re-entered the fray to contest

Liverpool Walton Liverpool, Walton is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 2017 by Dan Carden of the Labour Party. Carden won the highest percentage share of the vote in June 2017 of 650 constituencies, 85.7%. It is t ...

in the 1955 general election. This is the longest gap recorded of any former MP in trying to return to Parliament. He was unsuccessful, but did obtain a small swing against the national trend. He was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in the 1965 Queen's Birthday Honours List and made a

Freeman Freeman, free men, or variant, may refer to: * a member of the Third Estate in medieval society (commoners), see estates of the realm * Freeman, an apprentice who has been granted freedom of the company, was a rank within Livery companies * Free ...

of the City of Liverpool in 1970. Cleary served as a director of the

Mersey Docks and Harbour Board The Mersey Docks and Harbour Company (MDHC), formerly the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board (MDHB), owns and administers the dock facilities of the Port of Liverpool, on the River Mersey, England. These include the operation of the enclosed north ...

until 1970. He died in Garston on 9 February 1993, aged 90. Sir Joseph Cleary enjoyed one of the longest post-service lifespans of any former MP, at 57 years and 87 days. This record was broken in October 2002 by

Horace Trevor-Cox Horace Brimson Trevor-Cox (14 June 1908 – 30 October 2005) was a British farmer, landowner and politician who served from 1937 to 1945 as a Conservative Member of Parliament (MP), but left the Conservatives in the 1960s and subsequently joined t ...

. Joseph Sweeney was elected

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gri ...

member for West Donegal in 1918, aged 21. He did not take his seat in the

, but sat in the

Dáil Éireann Dáil Éireann ( , ; ) is the lower house, and principal chamber, of the Oireachtas (Irish legislature), which also includes the President of Ireland and Seanad Éireann (the upper house).Article 15.1.2º of the Constitution of Ireland read ...

. He died in 1980, some 58 years after the last occasion in 1922 that he could have taken his seat.

Notes and references

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cleary, Joseph Jackson 1902 births 1993 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1931–1935 Mayors of Liverpool People educated at Skerry's College Knights Bachelor

Early life

Career

Later life

See also

Notes and references