Jennie Adamson

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Janet Laurel Adamson

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Jennie Adamson.jpg

| caption = Adamson in 1945

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1882|05|09}}

| birth_name = Janet Laurel Johnston

| birth_place = Kilmarnock, Scotland

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1962|04|25|1882|05|09}}

| death_place =

| office = Member of Parliament
for Bexley

| term_start = 5 July 1945

| term_end = 21 July 1946

| predecessor = Constituency established

| successor = Ashley Bramall

| office1 = Member of Parliament
for Dartford

| term_start1 = 7 November 1938

| term_end1 = 15 June 1945

| predecessor1 = Frank Edward Clarke

| successor1 = Norman Dodds

| office2 = Chair of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party

| term_start2 = 1935

| term_end2 = 1936

| predecessor2 = William Albert Robinson

| successor2 = Hugh Dalton

| office3 = Member of London County Council
for Lambeth North

| term_start3 = 8 March 1928

| term_end3 = 5 March 1931

| predecessor3 = Richard Charles Powell

| successor3 = Ida Samuel

| parliament = United Kingdom

| party = Labour Party

| spouse = William Murdoch Adamson (died 1945)

| children =

| nationality = British

| alma_mater =

}}

Janet Laurel Adamson (née Johnston; 9 May 1882 – 25 April 1962) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1938 to 1946, and as a junior minister in Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government.

Early life and family

Janet Laurel Johnston was born on 9 May 1882, the daughter of Thomas Johnston of Kirkcudbright. She married, in 1902, to William Murdoch Adamson, a Transport and General Workers' Union official who became Labour MP for Cannock.Stenton and Lees Who's Who of British Members of Parliament vol. iv p. 1

Political career

From 1928 to 1931, Adamson was a member of London County Council for Lambeth North. She served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party from 1927 to 1947, which she chaired from 1935 to 1936.{{cite web

| url = http://www.qub.ac.uk/cawp/UK%20bios/UK_bios_30s.htm#jennie

| title = Jennie Adamson

| work = Observatory

| publisher = Centre for Advancement of Women in Politics, Queen's University Belfast

| access-date = 17 May 2014

| archive-date = 13 October 2013

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131013080429/http://www.qub.ac.uk/cawp/UK%20bios/UK_bios_30s.htm#jennie

| url-status = live

}}

Adamson unsuccessfully contested Dartford at the 1935 general election, when the sitting Conservative MP Frank Clarke held the seat with a significantly reduced majority.{{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=383

}}

However, Clarke died in July 1938, and at the resulting by-election in November 1938, Adamson won the seat on a swing of 4.2%. With her husband, they became the only husband and wife in the House of Commons.{{cite news|title=LABOUR GAINS|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15405528/dartford_byelection_1938_won_by/|newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald|date=9 November 1938|page=17|via=Newspapers.com|access-date=December 2, 2017|archive-date=13 August 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180813044027/https://www.newspapers.com/clip/15405528/dartford_byelection_1938_won_by/|url-status=live}} {{free access}}

The constituency was divided in boundary changes for the 1945 general election, when Adamson was elected with a large majority (27% of the votes) for the new Bexley constituency.Craig, op cit, page 76 She served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1940 to 1945 and Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Pensions from 1945 to 1946, under minister Wilfred Paling.

Adamson resigned from Parliament in 1946, becoming Deputy Chair of the Unemployment Assistance Board from 1946 to 1953. Her resignation precipitated a by-election in July 1946 which was narrowly won by the Labour candidate Ashley Bramall. At the next general election, in 1950, the seat was won by future Prime Minister Edward Heath.

Adamson died on 25 April 1962.Stenton and Lees Who's Who of British Members of Parliament vol. iv p. 2

References

=Citations=

=Bibliography=

Stenton, M., Lees, S. (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament, volume iv (covering 1945-1979). Sussex: The Harvester Press; New Jersey: Humanities Press. {{ISBN|0-391-01087-5}}