Henry Broadhurst MP (1840 - 1911)

Born 13 Apr 1840 in Littlemore, Oxfordshire, England, United Kingdom

Ancestors

Died 11 Oct 1911 at age 71 in Cromer, Norfolk, England

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Henry Broadhurst MP is Notable.

Biography

Henry was born in 1840. He passed away in 1911.

Henry Broadhurst was a leading early British trade unionist and a Lib-Lab politician who sat in the House of Commons for various Midlands constituencies between 1880 and 1906.

1880 to 1885 MP for Stoke on Trent.

1885 to 1886 MP for Birmingham Bordesley.

1886 to 1892 MP for Nottingham West.

1894 to 1906 MP for Leicester.

Timeline

Broadhurst was born in Littlemore, Oxford, the fourth son and youngest child of Thomas Broadhurst, a journeyman stonemason and his wife Sarah, born Sarah Jessop. ^{[1] [2]}

He followed his father into stonemasonry at the age of thirteen and during the late 1850s spent a considerable period travelling the south of England, attempting to find work.

In 1872, Broadhurst was elected as the Chair of a Masons' Committee during an industrial dispute. After achieving a major victory, Broadhurst began working full-time for the Stonemasons Union. He also became the union's delegate to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) and was elected to its Parliamentary Committee.

At the 1880 general election, Broadhurst was elected as the Liberal–Labour Member of Parliament for Stoke-upon-Trent. Within the House of Commons, he pushed through legislation enabling working men to act as Justices of the Peace, and for all Government contracts to include a "fair wage" clause. In 1884, he was appointed to the Royal Commission on the housing of the working class.

In 1885 general election, Broadhurst moved to represent Birmingham Bordesley. He was appointed as Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department in the Liberal government, the first person from a working-class or labour movement background to hold a ministerial post.

Broadhurst died in Cromer in 1911.

Sources

1. ↑ Thus the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. However, he seems to have a younger sister called Ann in the 1851 census
2. ↑ General Register Office, birth registration index online (https://www.gro.gov.uk/); accessed 18 July 2020: BROADHURST, [male; no first name] GRO Reference: 1840 Apr-Jun Quarter in ABINGDON registration district; Volume 06 Page 141; mother's maiden name: JESSOP

Primary

• https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-henry-broadhurst/index.html
• Probate: "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995"
  Ancestry uk Record 1904 #17572776 (accessed 25 May 2022)
  Henry Broadhurst probate on 8 Dec 1911 in London, England. Died 11 Oct 1911 in Cromer.

Secondary

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: J. R. MacDonald and Marc Brodie, "Broadhurst, Henry (1840–1911), trade unionist and politician" in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (29 May 2014. Oxford University Press) https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/32078 (subscription site, but free access available to most U.K. public library members)
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Broadhurst