Thomas Raven Ackroyd (7 August 1861 – 26 April 1946) was an English bank manager and

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Family and education

Ackroyd was the son of William and Elizabeth Ackroyd. He attended Chancery Lane, Wesleyan School in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and the Manchester Mechanics’ Institute. He attended

Manchester University , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

as an evening student. Later in life he was awarded the

honorary degree An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hono ...

of MA from Manchester. He married Emily Woffenden in 1893.''Who was Who'', OUP 2007 They had a least one son, Charles Winstanley Ackroyd, born in 1894 who emigrated to Australia in 1916 and served in the armed forces, being killed in action in October 1917. In religion Ackroyd was a prominent member of the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charles W ...

Methodist Church and acted as a

lay preacher Lay preacher is a preacher or a religious proclaimer who is not a formally ordained cleric Clergy are formal leaders within established religions. Their roles and functions vary in different religious traditions, but usually involve presidi ...

Career

Ackroyd went into

banking A bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital markets. Because ...

. In 1878 he entered service as a junior clerk in the Union Bank of Manchester. He ended up as a bank manager. He also served as 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 ...

. He retired from banking to devote himself to social and educational work on behalf of neglected children.

Politics and public life

Public life

Ackroyd took an active part in the religious and social life of the city of Manchester. He was Chairman of the Manchester and

Salford Salford () is a city and the largest settlement in the City of Salford metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. In 2011, Salford had a population of 103,886. It is also the second and only other city in the metropolitan county afte ...

Ragged School Ragged schools were charitable organisations dedicated to the free education of destitute children in 19th century Britain. The schools were developed in working-class districts. Ragged schools were intended for society's most destitute children ...

Union and Chairman (for 1924) of the Shaftesbury Society, founded by

Lord Shaftesbury Earl of Shaftesbury is a title in the Peerage of England. It was created in 1672 for Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 1st Baron Ashley, a prominent politician in the Cabal then dominating the policies of King Charles II. He had already succeeded his fa ...

and of the London Ragged School Union. Ackroyd also served for a time as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

and

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

Local and regional politics

Ackroyd was also involved in Manchester politics, being a member, later 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 the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

. He also acted as representative for Lancashire and for Lancashire and Cheshire on the

National Liberal Federation The National Liberal Federation (1877–1936) was the union of all English and Welsh (but not Scottish) Liberal Associations. It held an annual conference which was regarded as being representative of the opinion of the party's rank and file and ...

Parliament

He first stood for Parliament at the 1922 general election, as Liberal candidate in Manchester Moss Side. He came second to the sitting

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 ...

MP, Gerald Berkeley Hurst in a three-cornered contest with

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

’s T W Mercer in third.F W S Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949''; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p190 He was again the candidate in 1923 when Liberal reunion improved his prospects. This time Labour did not intervene and, although there was an Independent candidate (who lost his deposit), Ackroyd took the seat from Hurst with a majority of 3,113 votes. By

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

however the

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

Party had revived and in a straight fight with Hurst, Ackroyd lost his seat by a majority of 4,009. He tried to regain the seat in

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

but in a three-cornered contest with Hurst and Labour candidate A A Purcell, he came third. He did not attempt to re-enter 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. ...

again.

Death

Ackroyd died on 26 April 1946 aged 84 years.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ackroyd, Thomas Raven 1861 births 1946 deaths English bankers English Methodists UK MPs 1923–1924 Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Manchester YMCA leaders