Lewis Haslam

File:Lewis Haslam MP 1906.jpg

Lewis Haslam (25 April 1856 – 12 September 1922), was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament (MP) in Wales, representing Monmouth Boroughs from 1906 to 1918 and then Newport from 1918 until his death in 1922.

Family and education

Haslam was the son of John Haslam of Gilnow House in Bolton in Lancashire. He was educated at University College School and University College, London. In 1893, he married Helen Norma Dixon of Watlington, Oxfordshire.Who was Who, OUP 2007

Career

Haslam was the director of cotton spinning and manufacturing companies.http://lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk/resources/sites/84.234.17.197-4611481cc83403.08117414/Welsh+Liberal+MPs+elected+in+1906.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205000929/http://www.lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk/resources/sites/84.234.17.197-4611481cc83403.08117414/Welsh+Liberal+MPs+elected+in+1906.pdf |date=5 December 2008 }} {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}} He has been classified as a genuinely second generation self-made man and was among the most wealthy MPs of his time.W. D. Rubinstein, Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution; Taylor & Francis, 1981 p86 He also served as a Justice of the Peace for the county of Lancaster.

Politics

At the 1892 general election he contested the Westhoughton Division of Lancashire, in opposition to Lord Stanley reducing the Conservative majority by 500 votes. He does not appear to have been a candidate in 1895 but in 1900 he stood in Stamford in Lincolnshire, again without success.

He was eventually returned to the House of Commons at the 1906 Liberal landslide at Monmouth.

{{Election box begin | title=General election 1906 Monmouth BoroughsBritish parliamentary election results, 1885-1918 (Craig)

Electorate 11,207}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Liberal Party (UK)

|candidate = Lewis Haslam

|votes = 4,531

|percentage = 44.7

|change = -3.4

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Conservative Party (UK)

|candidate = E E Micholls

|votes =3,939

|percentage = 38.8

|change = -13.1

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Labour Representation Committee (1900)

|candidate = James Whinstone

|votes =1,678

|percentage = 16.5

|change = n/a

}}

{{Election box majority|

|votes = 592

|percentage = 5.9

|change = 7.7

}}

{{Election box turnout|

|votes =

|percentage = 90.6

|change =

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{{Election box gain with party link|

|winner = Liberal Party (UK)

|loser = Conservative Party (UK)

|swing = +4.8

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{{Election box begin |

|title=General election January 1910 Monmouth BoroughsDebrett's House of Commons 1916

Electorate 12,934}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Liberal Party (UK)

|candidate = Lewis Haslam

|votes = 6,496

|percentage = 54.8

|change = +10.1

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Conservative Party (UK)

|candidate = Sir Charles William Cayzer

|votes = 5,391

|percentage = 45.2

|change = +6.4

}}

{{Election box majority|

|votes =

|percentage = 9.6

|change = 3.7

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File:Lewis Haslam.jpg

{{Election box begin |

|title=General election December 1910 Monmouth Boroughs

Electorate 12,934}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Liberal Party (UK)

|candidate = Lewis Haslam

|votes = 6,154

|percentage = 54.9

|change = +0.1

}}

{{Election box candidate with party link|

|party = Conservative Party (UK)

|candidate = Gerald de La Pryme Hargreaves

|votes = 5,056

|percentage = 45.1

|change = -0.1

}}

{{Election box majority|

|votes = 1,098

|percentage = 9.8

|change = +0.2

}}

{{Election box turnout|

|votes =

|percentage = 86.7

|change =

}}

{{Election box hold with party link|

|winner = Liberal Party (UK)

|loser =

|swing = -0.0

}}

He was a supporter of the coalition government of David Lloyd George and at the 1918 was a recipient of the government coupon, gaining the support of the local Conservative and Liberal Associations.

Along with fellow Coalition Liberal Edgar Rees Jones of the Merthyr constituency, Haslam played a minor role in the discussions behind the Government of Ireland Bill.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=izWk161vc9sC&q=Edgar+Rees+Jones&pg=PA75|author=Tanner, Duncan|title=Debating nationhood and governance in Britain, 1885-1945: perspectives from the 'four nations'|publisher=Manchester University Press|page=75|year=2006|isbn=0-7190-7166-6}} Haslam in particular was strongly opposed to giving the Irish Parliament control of its own taxes.

The 1922 Newport by-election held after his death marked the end of the Lloyd George Coalition Government.C Cook & J Ramsden, By-elections in British Politics; UCL Press, 1997 p19ff

References

{{cite book |last=Craig |first=F. W. S. |authorlink= 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}}
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