Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott

The Right Honourable
The Lord Emmott
GCMG, GBE, PC
"The Deputy Speaker"
As depicted in Vanity Fair, 19 October 1910
Chairman of Ways and Means
In office
1906–1911
Monarch Edward VII
George V
Preceded by Sir John Grant Lawson, Bt
Succeeded by John Henry Whitley
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
In office
23 October 1911 – 6 August 1914
Monarch George V
Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
Preceded by The Lord Lucas of Crudwell
Succeeded by The Lord Islington
First Commissioner of Works
In office
6 August 1914 – 25 May 1915
Monarch George V
Prime Minister H. H. Asquith
Preceded by The Earl Beauchamp
Succeeded by Lewis Vernon Harcourt
Personal details
Born 8 May 1858 (1858-05-08)
Died 13 December 1926 (1926-12-14)
London
Nationality British
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Mary Lees
Alma mater University of London

Alfred Emmott, 1st Baron Emmott GCMG, GBE, PC (8 May 1858 - 13 December 1926) was a British businessman and Liberal Party politician.

Contents

Background and education

The eldest surviving son of Thomas Emmott, of Brookfield, Oldham, he was educated at Grove House, Tottenham, and at the University of London. He became a partner in Emmott and Walshall, cotton spinners, of Oldham.[1]

Political career

In 1881, Emmott entered the Oldham Municipal Borough Council and was mayor of the town between 1891 and 1892.[1] In 1899 he was elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Oldham, a seat he held until 1911.[2] It was a two-member seat, and Winston Churchill, who started his political career there, was the other MP from 1900 to 1906.[2] He served as Chairman of Ways and Means (Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons) from 1906 to 1911 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1908.[1][3] In October 1911 he was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies by H. H. Asquith[1] and the following month he was raised to the peerage as Baron Emmott, of Oldham in the County Palatine of Lancaster.[4] He remained at the Colonial Office until 1914 and was then a member of Asquith's cabinet as First Commissioner of Works between 1914 and 1915.[1]

Emmott was also Director of the War Trade Department between 1915 and 1919, chaired the Royal Commission on Decimal Coinage between 1918 and 1920 and was President of the Royal Statistical Society between 1922 and 1924.[1] He was a churchman, but his education at the Friends' School and his ancestry led him to sympathize with nonconformists. He was appointed a GCMG in 1914 and a GBE in 1917.[1]

Family

Lord Emmott married Mary Gertrude, daughter of J. W. Lees, in 1887. They had two daughters. Lady Emmott was a Justice of the Peace for London. Lord Emmott died very suddenly in February 1926, aged 67,[1] from angina pectoris, at his home in London, the day on which he was engaged to speak at a Liberal Party rally. The barony became extinct on his death as he had no male issue.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i thepeerage.com Alfred Emmott, 1st and last Baron Emmott
  2. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. ISBN 0-900178-27-2. 
  3. ^ leighrayment.com Privy Counsellors 1836-1914
  4. ^ London Gazette: no. 28547. p. 7952. 3 November 1911.

External links

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Robert Ascroft
James Francis Oswald
Member of Parliament for Oldham
1899–1911
With: Walter Runciman 1899–1900
Winston Churchill 1900–1906
John Albert Bright 1906–1910
Andrew Barton 1910–1911
Succeeded by
Edmund Bartley-Denniss
Andrew Barton
Preceded by
Sir John Grant Lawson, Bt
Chairman of Ways and Means
1906–1911
Succeeded by
John Henry Whitley
Political offices
Preceded by
The Lord Lucas of Crudwell
Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies
1911–1914
Succeeded by
The Lord Islington
Preceded by
The Earl Beauchamp
First Commissioner of Works
1914–1915
Succeeded by
Lewis Vernon Harcourt
Academic offices
Preceded by
R. Henry Rew
President of the Royal Statistical Society
1922–1024
Succeeded by
Udny Yule
Peerage of the United Kingdom
New creation Baron Emmott
1911–1926
Extinct