Richard Collingham Wallhead (28 December 1869 – 27 April 1934), known as R. C. Wallhead, was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 Member of Parliament

Member of Parliament

A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

.

Beginning his career as a decorator

Decorator

Decorator can refer to:*a house painter and decorator*Interior decoration*Decorator pattern in object-oriented programming*Function decorators, in Python*The Decorator, a 1920 film starring Oliver Hardy...

, Wallhead joined the Independent Labour Party

Independent Labour Party

The Independent Labour Party was a socialist political party in Britain established in 1893. The ILP was affiliated to the Labour Party from 1906 to 1932, when it voted to leave...

 (ILP) and later became a journalist

Journalist

A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...

 and lecturer

Lecturer

Lecturer is an academic rank. In the United Kingdom, lecturer is a position at a university or similar institution, often held by academics in their early career stages, who lead research groups and supervise research students, as well as teach...

. A committed opponent of World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, he was detained in 1917 under the Defence of the Realm Act.

Wallhead unsuccessfully contested Coventry

Coventry (UK Parliament constituency)

Coventry was a borough constituency which was represented in the House of Commons of England and its successors, the House of Commons of Great Britain and the House of Commons of the United Kingdom....

 in the 1918 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1918

The United Kingdom general election of 1918 was the first to be held after the Representation of the People Act 1918, which meant it was the first United Kingdom general election in which nearly all adult men and some women could vote. Polling was held on 14 December 1918, although the count did...

 for the Labour Party

Labour Party (UK)

The Labour Party is a centre-left democratic socialist party in the United Kingdom. It surpassed the Liberal Party in general elections during the early 1920s, forming minority governments under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and 1929-1931. The party was in a wartime coalition from 1940 to 1945, after...

, to which the ILP was affiliated. He was elected to Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council

Manchester City Council is the local government authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. It is composed of 96 councillors, three for each of the 32 electoral wards of Manchester. Currently the council is controlled by the Labour Party and is led by...

 in 1919, a position he held for three years.

At the 1922 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1922

The United Kingdom general election of 1922 was held on 15 November 1922. It was the first election held after most of the Irish counties left the United Kingdom to form the Irish Free State, and was won by Andrew Bonar Law's Conservatives, who gained an overall majority over Labour, led by John...

, Wallhead gained Merthyr

Merthyr (UK Parliament constituency)

Merthyr was a borough constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Wales. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....

 from the Liberals. As the politics of the South Wales coalfield radicalised, this turned into a safe Labour seat, which he was to hold until his death. He was one of only five ILP MPs to retain their seats in the 1931 general election

United Kingdom general election, 1931

The United Kingdom general election on Tuesday 27 October 1931 was the last in the United Kingdom not held on a Thursday. It was also the last election, and the only one under universal suffrage, where one party received an absolute majority of the votes cast.The 1931 general election was the...

, after Labour withdrew their support, and initially supported their disaffiliation from Labour. However, in September 1933 he resigned from the ILP and rejoined Labour. He died the following year.

His daughter Muriel Nichol

Muriel Nichol

Muriel Edith Nichol JP , née Wallhead, was a Labour Party politician in England....

 was also a Labour politician, and served as MP for Bradford North

Bradford North (UK Parliament constituency)

Bradford North was a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Until it was abolished for the 2010 general election, it elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election....

from 1945 to 1950.