Richard Collingham Wallhead (28 December 1869 – 27 April 1934), known as R. C. Wallhead, was a 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 ...

. Beginning his career as a decorator, Wallhead joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP) and later became a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

lecturer Lecturer is an List of academic ranks, academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. T ...

. A committed opponent 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 ...

, he was detained in 1917 under the

Defence of the Realm Act The Defence of the Realm Act (DORA) was passed in the United Kingdom on 8 August 1914, four days after it entered the First World War and was added to as the war progressed. It gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war, such as the p ...

. Wallhead unsuccessfully contested

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

in the 1918 general election for the Labour Party, to which the ILP was affiliated. He was elected to

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

in 1919, a position he held for three years. At the 1922 general election, Wallhead gained

Merthyr Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

from the Liberals. As the politics of the South Wales coalfield radicalised, this turned into a safe Labour seat, which he was to hold until his death. He was one of only five ILP MPs to retain their seats in the 1931 general election, after Labour withdrew their support, and initially supported their disaffiliation from Labour. However, in September 1933 he resigned from the ILP and rejoined Labour. He died the following year. His daughter

Muriel Nichol Muriel Edith Nichol JP (born 2 February 1893 Wilmslow, Cheshire - died 28 May 1983 Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire), née Wallhead, was a Labour Party politician in England. Early life The daughter of Richard Wallhead (Independent Lab ...

was also a Labour politician, and served as MP for

Bradford North Bradford North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until it was abolished for the 2010 general election, it elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post sy ...

from 1945 to 1950.

References

*Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, ''Who's Who of British MPs: Volume III, 1919-1945'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallhead, R. C. 1869 births 1934 deaths Councillors in Manchester Independent Labour Party MPs Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Welsh Labour Party MPs UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 Welsh socialists Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International