James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds, {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|commas=on|MC|PC}} (12 August 1889 – 16 July 1967), was a British Labour Party politician.

Biography

Milner was educated at the University of Leeds and became a solicitor. He was a major in World War I and was wounded, awarded the Military Cross and bar for his service. He was a Leeds City Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1928, and was also Chairman of Leeds Labour Party and President of Leeds Law Society. He later became deputy-lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.

He was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Leeds South East at a by-election in August 1929,{{cite book

|last=Craig

|first=F. W. S.

|author-link= F. W. S. Craig

|title=British parliamentary election results 1918–1949

|orig-year=1969

|edition=3rd

|year=1983

|publisher= Parliamentary Research Services

|location=Chichester

|isbn= 0-900178-06-X

|page = 164

}} and served until 1951. He became Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker{{Cite Hansard|house=House of Commons |title=Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy-Chairman |url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1943/mar/10/chairman-of-ways-and-means-and-deputy |date=10 March 1943 |column=699}} and led the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1945.

In 1951, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Douglas Clifton Brown, had stepped down. As Chairman of Ways and Means, Milner wanted to be Labour's first-ever Speaker. However, the Conservatives, now the majority party, nominated William Morrison. The vote went along party lines – the first time the post had been contested in the 20th century – and Milner lost.

As some compensation, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Milner of Leeds, of Roundhay in the City of Leeds, on 20 December 1951.{{London Gazette |issue=39414 |date=21 December 1951 |page=6650}} Denis Healey replaced him in the subsequent by-election.

Honours

Military Cross and Bar (MC)
1914–15 Star
British War Medal
WWI Victory Medal
Member of His Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council (PC) (1945)
Freedom of the City of Leeds (1967)

{{Infobox COA wide

|escutcheon = Gules on a chevron Ermine between in chief two bits Or and in base a rose Argent barbed and seeded Proper a teazel Sable.

|crest = Perched on a sword with point to the dexter Proper and hilt and pommel Or an owl also Proper gorged with a collar Sable thereon three mullets Argent pendent therefrom a pair of scales and resting on the dexter claw a portcullis chained Or.

|supporters = On either side an owl Proper gorged with a collar Sable thereon three mullets Argent pendent therefrom a portcullis chained Or.

|motto = Do Right And Fear Nothing{{cite book|title=Debrett's Peerage |date=2019 |page=3645}}}}

Personal life

Milner married Lois Tinsdale Brown on 10 February 1917. They had three children:[http://thepeerage.com/p51340.htm#i513391 The peerage.com, entry for 1st Lord Milner of Leeds]

Hon. (Lois Elizabeth Florence) Zaidée Milner (born 9 January 1919, died 1980)
(Arthur James) Michael Milner, 2nd Baron Milner of Leeds (born 12 September 1923, died 20 August 2003)
Hon. Shelagh Mary Margaret Milner (born 8 March 1925)

Milner died in 1967 at the age of 77 and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, Michael. His remains are interred in the Garden of Remembrance at St John the Evangelist Church, Moor Allerton, Leeds.

References

Sources

{{cite book | title=The Times House of Commons 1929, 1931, 1935 | publisher=Politico's (reprint) | year=2003 | editor=Iain Dale | isbn=1-84275-033-X }}
{{cite book | title=The Times House of Commons 1945 | year=1945 }}
{{cite book | title=The Times House of Commons 1950 | year=1950 }}