Following Labour’s victory at the recent election local historian David Croom has been looking into the history of the Barnard Castle MP who was one of Labour’s founding members
LABOUR have just won an historic victory at the recent General Election on the 100th anniversary of the Labour Party forming it’s very first Government in 1924.
But did you know that a former MP for Barnard Castle was one of the founding members of the party and went on to achieve great things in UK politics and on the world stage?
You may be familiar with the names James Keir-Hardie and James Ramsay MacDonald both of whom are credited with being founder members of the Labour Party with Ramsay MacDonald going on to be the first Labour Prime Minister. But there was a third, lesser known founder member called Arthur Henderson who between 1903 and 1918 was Labour MP for Barnard Castle.
Arthur Henderson was born in Glasgow in 1863, his mother Agnes was a domestic servant and his father David was a textile worker. Arthur’s father died when he was ten years old and the family moved from Scotland to Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
At the age of 12 Arthur was taken on as an apprentice iron moulder at Robert Stephenson and Sons General Foundry Works in Newcastle. He completed his apprenticeship aged 17 and then moved to Southampton but one year later returned to Newcastle and took up a job as an iron moulder.
In 1879 Arthur became a Methodist having formerly been a Congregationalist and became a part time Methodist local preacher.
In 1884 aged 21 Arthur lost his job and concentrated on preaching.
In 1892 he entered the world of trade union politics after being elected a paid organiser of the Friendly Society of Iron Founders, he also became a representative on the North East Conciliation Board.
Arthur believed that strikes caused more harm than good and tried to avoid them wherever possible.
In 1900 Arthur Henderson along with 129 trade union and socialist delegates from the Trades Union Congress supported a motion put forward by former coal miner and trade union organiser James Keir-Hardie to create the Labour Representation Committee.
Its aim was to create a distinct political voice for the working class in Britain and sponsor MPs to represent the working class in Parliament.
In 1903 Arthur was appointed treasurer of the committee and in the same year stood as candidate for the Labour Representation Committee in the Barnard Castle by-election following the death of Liberal MP Joseph Pease who Arthur had previously acted as agent for.
The Barnard Castle constituency was much larger than its name suggests covering much of West Durham including the coalfields of Evenwood, Toft Hill and Crook where Arthur would expect to gain many votes from miners. He held many public meetings throughout the area to gain support.
In his address to the voters published in the Teesdale Mercury on July 8, 1903 Arthur Henderson set out his vision for the future if he was elected. Notably the letter was addressed ‘Gentlemen’ as women did not yet have the vote. He advocates for a National System of Education, unsectarian and free to all, he also recommends the establishment of Local Legislatures for England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales (devolution didn’t take place until the 1990s), more power for parish and district Councils to build houses and keep rents affordable, more security for tenant farmers and a universal system of old age pensions and, probably due to his religious background, he was in favour of Sunday closing.
Arthur won the seat narrowly beating the Conservative candidate by only 47 votes and became only the third Member of Parliament representing the Labour Representation Committee in the House of Commons.
The other two elected MPs were James Keir-Hardie and Richard Bell both of whom had been elected in the General Election of 1900 where the committee had fielded 15 candidates with only two being successful.
Between 1903 and 1904 Arthur Henderson also served as Mayor of Darlington.
Arthur was popular with his socialist colleagues in the Labour Party gaining the affectionate name of ‘Uncle Arthur’ in acknowledgement of his integrity, devotion to the cause and imperturbability.
In 1906 the Labour Representation Committee changed its name to the Labour Party and won 29 seats at the General Election held the same year. Arthur retained his Barnard Castle seat increasing his majority to 1,652.
After the 1906 Election James Keir-Hardie was elected leader of the Labour Party but he resigned two years later in 1908 and Arthur Henderson was elected to replace him.
Arthur led the Labour Party through the January 1910 General Election where Labour nationally increased their seats from 29 to 40 with Arthur once again retaining his Barnard Castle seat but he resigned as leader of the party shortly after the election. He was succeeded by George Barnes who led the party into another General Election later the same year where the results were almost identical to the election in January with Arthur Henderson once again retaining his seat. Less than a year later George Barnes was replaced as leader by James Ramsay MacDonald.
The Liberal Party led by HH Asquith had narrowly won both 1910 elections and were in power in 1914 when the First World War broke out.
James Ramsay MacDonald resigned as leader of the Labour Party in protest to the war which led to Arthur Henderson being elected to replace him. The two became enemies.
In 1915 Asquith decided to create a wartime coalition government and invited Arthur Henderson as leader of the Labour Party to join the Cabinet as President of the Board of Education. He was the first ever member of the Labour Party to hold a Government position.
In 1916 Asquith was replaced as Prime Minister by David Lloyd George and Arthur Henderson became a member of the War Cabinet and held the position of Minister without Portfolio.
In 1917 Arthur resigned from the Cabinet after his proposal for an International Conference on the war was rejected.
The next General Election was called shortly after the war ended in 1918 and was won by a Liberal and Conservative coalition. Labour won 57 seats under its new leader William Adamson but Arthur Henderson did not contest his Barnard Castle seat.
Arthur returned to Parliament in 1919 after winning a by-election in Widnes but lost the seat in the General Election of 1922.
He won another by-election in Newcastle East but lost this seat in the General Election in 1923 and won a third by-election in Burnley two months later.
The 1922 General Election was won by the Conservatives with Labour coming second winning 142 seats under its leader JR Clynes but less than one month later Ramsay MacDonald successfully challenged Clynes for the leadership of the party.
In December 1923 another General Election was held following the death of Conservative leader Andrew Bonar-Law which again was won by the Conservatives but Labour under Ramsay MacDonald increased its number of seats to 191. Labour combined forces with the Liberals to produce a hung Parliament. Realising that he would not be able to govern successfully with a minority Government Conservative leader Stanley Baldwin asked King George V to send for Ramsay MacDonald to form a Labour Government supported by the Liberals.
Labour took power in January 1924 with Arthur Henderson being appointed Home Secretary. However following a vote of no confidence later in the year another General Election was held in October where the Conservatives won power with an increased majority over Labour and the Liberals.
Labour’s share of the vote dropped to 151 seats.
The Conservatives governed until the 1929 General Election when once again Labour took control albeit as a minority Government, Arthur Henderson was appointed Foreign Secretary.
This minority Government only lasted two years and another General Election was held in 1931. Arthur Henderson was once again leading the Labour Party but Ramsay MacDonald had broken away to form a three way national coalition with the Conservatives and Liberals, this resulted in a landslide victory for the National Government.
The Labour Party was reduced to 52 seats. Arthur Henderson lost his Burnley seat and the following year relinquished the leadership of the Labour Party.
Arthur won his final by-election for Labour in 1933 for Clay Cross in Derbyshire but he died two years later in 1935 aged 72. He holds the record for most comebacks having been elected five times at by-elections where he had not previously been the MP. He had also been leader of the Labour Party three times in three separate decades.
From his time as Foreign Secretary in 1929 to his death Arthur Henderson worked tirelessly to halt the gathering storm that was to eventually lead to the Second World War. He worked with the World League of Peace and chaired the Geneva Disarmament Conference and in 1934 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts.
