Samuel Finney (1857 – 14 April 1935) was a Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Life and career

Born at Talk-o'-th'-Hill, Finney began working when he was ten years old, and later became a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

. In 1881, he was appointed as checkweighman, and he also became active in the

North Staffordshire Miners' Federation The North Staffordshire Miners' Federation was a trade union representing miners in the area of Stoke-on-Trent, located in Staffordshire, in England. The union was established in 1869 as an affiliate of the Miners' National Association (MNA). The ...

, serving as its president from 1888 to 1912, and then as its full-time secretary and agent. Finney was a supporter of the Labour Party, and was elected to

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Tunstall, Fenton, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in Staffordshire, England. It is often referred to as the "mother town" of Stoke on Trent. T ...

Town Council in 1903, and then to Stoke-on-Trent County Borough Council from its establishment. Finney first stood for parliament defending a Labour seat at Hanley in 1912, but came third, losing the seat to the Liberal candidate. He was elected as

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 North West Staffordshire at a by-election in 1916, following the death of Labour MP

Albert Stanley Albert Stanley may refer to: * Albert Stanley (Liberal politician) (1863–1915), British Member of Parliament, 1907–1915 * Albert Stanley, 1st Baron Ashfield (1874–1948), British Conservative MP, Managing Director & Chairman ...

. When that constituency was abolished at the 1918 general election, he was returned to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

for the new

constituency. He did not contest the 1922 general election, when Andrew MacLaren held the seat for the Labour Party. He had four daughters: the son of the eldest went on to become Baron Phillips of Ellesmere,

David Chilton Phillips David Chilton Phillips, Baron Phillips of Ellesmere, KBE, FRS (7 March 1924 – 23 February 1999) was a pioneering, British structural biologist and an influential figure in science and government. Research Phillips lead the team which determ ...

; the youngest son of the youngest daughter is Stephen R. L. Clark.

References

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External links

* 1857 births 1935 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs Trade unionists from Staffordshire UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1918–1922 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub