John Wadsworth

John Wadsworth MP, circa 1906

John Wadsworth (1850 – 10 July 1921) was a British trade unionist and Liberal or Lib-Lab politician.

Born in West Melton in the West Riding of Yorkshire, Wadsworth worked as a coal miner and was elected checkweighman. He joined the Yorkshire Miners Association, a constituent part of the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), rising to become the Yorkshire Association's General Secretary, then in 1904 its President.

General Election 1906: Hallamshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	John Wadsworth	8,375	55.2
	Conservative	Frederic Kelley	6,807	44.8
Majority			1,568	10.4
Turnout				83.9
	Liberal hold		Swing

In 1909, with the other MFGB-sponsored MPs, he joined the Labour Party, retaining his seat in his new colours.

General Election January 1910: Hallamshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Wadsworth	10,193	62.2
	Conservative	Thomas Sutton Timmis	6,185	37.8
Majority			4,008	24.4
Turnout				82.2
	Labour gain from Liberal		Swing

General Election December 1910: Hallamshire
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	John Wadsworth	8,708	59.9
	Conservative	David Thurston Smith	5,837	40.1
Majority			2,871	19.8
Turnout				73.0
	Labour hold		Swing

In 1915 he resigned the Labour whip and re-joined the Liberals.^[1] He continued as MP until the seat's abolition for the 1918 general election.

References

Michael Stenton and Stephen Lees, Who's Who of British MPs: Volume II, 1886–1918

Trade union offices
Preceded by George Cragg	Vice-President of the Yorkshire Miners' Association 1889–1904	Succeeded by Herbert Smith
Preceded by Edward Cowey	President of the Yorkshire Miners' Association 1904–1906	Succeeded by Herbert Smith
Preceded by William Parrott	General Secretary of the Yorkshire Miners' Association 1906–1921	Succeeded by Samuel Roebuck
Preceded by John Hodge and David Shackleton	Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour 1908 With: Herbert Skinner	Succeeded by J. R. Clynes and Alfred Henry Gill
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Frederick Mappin	Member of Parliament for Hallamshire 1906–1918	Constituency abolished

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