William Bromfield (24 January 1868 – 3 June 1950) was an English

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...

ist and Labour Party politician from

Leek The leek is a vegetable, a cultivar of ''Allium ampeloprasum'', the broadleaf wild leek ( syn. ''Allium porrum''). The edible part of the plant is a bundle of leaf sheaths that is sometimes erroneously called a stem or stalk. The genus ''Alli ...

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. He was the town's

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 all but four of the years between

1918 This year is noted for the end of the First World War, on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, as well as for the Spanish flu pandemic that killed 50–100 million people worldwide. Events Below, the events ...

and

1945 1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat. Events Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix. Januar ...

. Bromfield came to prominence in the local trade union movement in the early 1900s.

William Stubbs William Stubbs (21 June 182522 April 1901) was an English historian and Anglican bishop. He was Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford between 1866 and 1884. He was Bishop of Chester from 1884 to 1889 and Bishop of O ...

had been the leader of almost all the many small unions of silk workers in the town, but he was ageing, and by 1907, Bromfield had taken over from him as secretary of the Amalgamated Society of Winders, Fillers and Braid Makers, the Amalgamated Society of Silk Spinners and Throwsters, the Amalgamated Society of Female Silk Operatives, and the Leek Amalgamated Society of Silk and Cotton Dyers. He also succeeded James Cockersole as secretary of the Associated Trimming Weavers' Society. In 1907, all the unions led by Bromfield, with the Amalgamated Society of Silk Pickers, still led by Stubbs, affiliated to the new Leek Textile Federation. In an election to become general secretary of the federation, Bromfield defeated Stubbs. In 1919, the unions merged to form the

Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades The Amalgamated Society of Textile Workers and Kindred Trades (ASTWKT) was a trade union representing textile workers, principally silk manufacturing, in the United Kingdom. Leek Textile Federation By 1907, Leek had eight small trade unions rep ...

(ASTWKT), whose membership covered Staffordshire and South Cheshire, and Bromfield was elected as its secretary, serving until 1942.

Political career

At the post-war general election in December 1918, Bromfield was elected as the MP for the Leek division of Staffordshire, becoming the constituency's first Labour MP. He defeated Rear-Admiral Sir Guy Gaunt, a

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 ...

who supported the

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 ...

by 678 votes. He held the seat at the four elections in the 1920s, increasing his majority to 17% of the votes by

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 was narrowly defeated at the 1931 election, when there was a nationwide swing towards the National Government. He was returned to 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. ...

at the 1935 election, and held the seat until he stood down at the July 1945 election.

References

External links

* 1868 births 1950 deaths People from Leek, Staffordshire Trade unionists from Staffordshire Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1935–1945 {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub