William Edward Robinson
{{Short description|English politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2017}}
{{for|the baseball player|Eddie Robinson (baseball)}}
File:William_Edward_Robinson.jpg
William Edward Robinson (1863 – 10 May 1927) was an English merchant and Liberal Party politician.
Family and career
Robinson was born in Burslem, Staffordshire the son of William Robinson of Stoke on Trent. He married in 1892.Who was Who, OUP 2007 By profession he was a potter's merchant and in religion he was a member of the United Methodist Church.The Times, 7 December 1923 p6 His grandson was Neville Robinson physicist.
Local politics
Parliament
He stood for Parliament only once being elected Liberal MP for Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem at the 1923 general election. In a straight fight (apparently with Unionist support) The Times, 14 October 1924 p7 he defeated the sitting Labour MP, Andrew MacLaren by the narrow margin of 63 votes, just 0.2% of the total poll.F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p251
Robinson, perhaps mindful of his local arrangement with the Conservatives, voted against his own party in the division which brought in the first Labour government.Chris Cook, The Age of Alignment Electoral Politics in Britain 1922-1929; Macmillan, 1975 p196n Robinson was also one of a minority of Liberal MPs who voted with the Tories to force a debate on unemployment in May 1924 The Times, 24 May 1924 p14 and again on an employment issue in August.The Times, 1 August 1924 p12 He decided not to defend his Burslem seat in 1924 when Labour was opposed by a Constitutionalist candidate, the former Liberal William Allen.The Times, 29 October 1924 p6 Allen later won election in Burslem at the 1931 general election. Constitutionalist was a label used by some anti-socialist candidates in UK general elections in the early 1920s. Most of the candidates were former Liberal Party members, and many of them joined the Conservative Party soon after being elected. The best known Constitutionalist candidate was Winston Churchill.Chris Cook, Sources in British Political History 1900-1951, Volume 1; Macmillan, 1975 p73
Robinson did not try to re-enter the House of Commons.
Death
Robinson died on 10 May 1927 aged 63 years.{{cite web |url=http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Bcommons6.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090810231313/http://www.leighrayment.com/commons/Bcommons6.htm |archive-date=10 August 2009 |title=Data|url-status=usurped |website=leighrayment.com}}
References
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| title = Member of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent, Burslem
| before = Andrew MacLaren
| after = Andrew MacLaren
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Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies