Herbert Mellor Gibson (22 February 1896 – 27 March 1954) was a member of the

British co-operative movement The United Kingdom is home to a widespread and diverse co-operative movement, with over 7,000 registered co-operatives owned by 17 million individual members and which contribute £34bn a year to the British economy. Modern co-operation started w ...

and a Labour politician. Gibson was the youngest of five children, who was brought up in poverty after his mother was widowed. He first gained employment as an office boy at

Manchester Town Hall Manchester Town Hall is a Victorian era, Victorian, Gothic Revival architecture, Neo-gothic City and town halls, municipal building in Manchester, England. It is the ceremonial headquarters of Manchester City Council and houses a number of local ...

, and worked for many years in

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...

. He studied economics and political history at the Co-operative College, Holyoake House. At the 1929 general election he was nominated as the

Labour and Co-operative Labour and Co-operative Party (often abbreviated to Labour Co-op; ) is a description used by candidates in United Kingdom elections who stand on behalf of both the Labour Party and the Co-operative Party. Candidates contest elections under an e ...

candidate for the Mossley constituency and successfully unseated the sitting MP, Austin Hopkinson. His membership of parliament was short-lived, and Hopkinson regained the seat at the next election in 1931. Gibson continued his involvement with co-operatives, becoming a director of the

Co-operative Wholesale Society A cooperative wholesale society (CWS) is a form of cooperative federation (that is, a cooperative in which all the members are cooperatives), in this case, the members are usually consumer cooperatives. The theory, practice and history of th ...

in 1936, at the same time leaving the employment of the local council. He subsequently held the post of chairman of the English and Scottish Joint Co-operative Society, was a director of the

Manchester Ship Canal The Manchester Ship Canal is a inland waterway in the North West England, North West of England linking Manchester to the Irish Sea. Starting at the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary at Eastham, Merseyside, Eastham, near Ellesmere Port, Cheshire, it ...

Company. He was appointed a member of the Joint Industrial Council of the Soap, Candle and Edible Fats Industries and a director of the Colonial Development Corporation. He died in March 1954 aged 58. ''Obituary: Mr Herbert M Gibson'', The Times, 29 March 1954, p.8

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* 1896 births 1954 deaths Labour Co-operative MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub