Walter Windsor
Encyclopedia
Walter Windsor was a British Labour Party
politician. A native of Bethnal Green
in the East End of London
, he held a seat in the House of Commons from 1923 to 1929, and from 1935 until his death.
as the Member of Parliament
(MP) for Bethnal Green North East
, an area where his family had lived for six generations. Through the 1920s it was a marginal seat
between the Liberal Party
and Labour Parties, and Windsor won it narrowly at two elections, holding the seat from 1923 to 1929.
He had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 1922
as a "Labour" candidate, even though he had been nominated by the Communist Party
, and had not received the endorsement of the Labour Party. He was beaten in 1922 by the Liberal
Garnham Edmonds
, a former Mayor of Bethnal Green, who had won the seat in a 4-way contest with a majority of only 115 (0.8%) votes over Windsor. However, in a three-way contest in 1923 Windsor was an official Labour candidate and took the seat with a majority of 625 votes (3.9%). The Conservative Party
candidate Robert Tasker had fought an unconventional campaign, proclaiming that he was "without any organisation or the usual machinery", and won only 12.5% of the votes.
On 15 January 1924, as peers and MPs assembled for the State Opening of Parliament
, Windsor and fellow MPs Clement Attlee
and John Scurr
joined a demonstration outside Temple Gardens on the Victoria Embankment
which had been organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement
. Windsor marched with a contingent of workers from Bethnal Green.
Defending the seat at the 1924 general election
, Windsor was opposed only by Edmonds, who hoped to win the support of the Conservative voters who had backed Tasker in 1923. However, on polling day the turnout increased from to 68% from 1923's 59%, and Windsor held the seat by a majority of 95 votes (0.4% of the total).
Windsor continued to press the case of the unemployed. In December 1927, he stressed the casual nature of much employment in Bethnal Green, where poor relief
had risen from £752 in 1912 to £137,000 in 1926–27. To allocate work more fairly on a national basis, he suggested that men over 60 and under 14 should be taken out of work, in order to free up jobs for those with dependants.
, both workers and for rate-payers, who had seen high rates to pay for relief for those out of work, leading to closure of factories. The Conservative campaign of Captain Alan Bell focused on de-rating, and the Liberal candidate Major Harry Nathan
stressed the employment-generating prospects of LLoyd George's plans to cut armaments and boost road-building. Bell and Nathan blamed each other for splitting the anti-Socialist vote, but when the votes were counted Bell's 7.7% was low enough to allow Nathan to take the seat from Windsor with a majority of 589 votes (2.5%).
, Windsor did not contest Bethnal Green. He stood instead in Nottingham East
, a Liberal Conservative marginal seat
where Labour had not even fielded a candidate for most of the 1920s. However, J.H. Baum had stood in 1929, coming a close third with 28% of the votes. In a bad year for Labour, Windsor won only 15.4% of the votes, and the Conservative barrister Louis Gluckstein won the seat from the sitting Liberal MP Norman Birkett.
, when he was elected as MP for Hull Central
, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Basil Barton.
In 1937 he introduced a private member's bill
which would allow a court to make provisions out of the estate
of a deceased person for the benefit of surviving spouse or child, to protect against widows and children being left destitute.
The Inheritance (Family Provision) Bill was founded on the report of a joint committee
of the Lords
and Commons, and was the third such bill to be introduced that decade: previous bills had failed in 1931 and 1934. The bill was opposed by some Conservatives, but supported by several Conservative and labour MPs, including Eleanor Rathbone
who told the House that she did not know "any women's organisation that has not petitioned in favour of the Bill over and over again". It was granted a second reading on 22 January 1937, and after scrutiny by a standing committee
, it failed to pass into law because not time was found for the report stage before the end of that session of Parliament. In a heated debate on the adjournment in June 1937, William Wedgwood Benn
complained that the bill was "to be defeated, not on its merits, but because the Government have seen fit to suppress the only chance which it has of being discussed in the House at all".
In August 1943 he pressed for an increased supply of utility furniture
.
, Windsor had been nominated as the Labour candidate for Hull Central, and was conducting his election campaign from a hotel in Hull. He had been ill for a few weeks, and confined to bed, but had left his sick room to campaign, and on 29 June he was found dead on a chair in his hotel room by a maid.
His death, at the age of 60, meant that all nominations for Hull Central were treated as invalid. The poll was deferred, and was re-run on 19 July, two weeks after polling in most other constituencies, when the seat was held for Labour by Captain Mark Hewitson
. The result was declared on 9 August; it was the last result to be declared in the general election.
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...
politician. A native of Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green
Bethnal Green is a district of the East End of London, England and part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, with the far northern parts falling within the London Borough of Hackney. Located northeast of Charing Cross, it was historically an agrarian hamlet in the ancient parish of Stepney,...
in the East End of London
East End of London
The East End of London, also known simply as the East End, is the area of London, England, United Kingdom, east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames. Although not defined by universally accepted formal boundaries, the River Lea can be considered another boundary...
, he held a seat in the House of Commons from 1923 to 1929, and from 1935 until his death.
Bethnal Green
Windsor was elected at the 1923 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1923
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
as the 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,...
(MP) for Bethnal Green North East
Bethnal Green North East (UK Parliament constituency)
Bethnal Green North East was a parliamentary constituency in London, which returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom...
, an area where his family had lived for six generations. Through the 1920s it was a marginal seat
Marginal seat
A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....
between the Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
and Labour Parties, and Windsor won it narrowly at two elections, holding the seat from 1923 to 1929.
He had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 1922
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...
as a "Labour" candidate, even though he had been nominated by the Communist Party
Communist Party of Great Britain
The Communist Party of Great Britain was the largest communist party in Great Britain, although it never became a mass party like those in France and Italy. It existed from 1920 to 1991.-Formation:...
, and had not received the endorsement of the Labour Party. He was beaten in 1922 by the Liberal
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Garnham Edmonds
Garnham Edmonds
Garnham Edmonds was a British Liberal politician.Edmonds was a butcher in Bethnal Green, East London, trading as Edmonds and Mears tripe dressers. He was a religious and social worker and president of the local Liberal association. In 1902 he was a member of Bethnal Green Metropolitan Borough...
, a former Mayor of Bethnal Green, who had won the seat in a 4-way contest with a majority of only 115 (0.8%) votes over Windsor. However, in a three-way contest in 1923 Windsor was an official Labour candidate and took the seat with a majority of 625 votes (3.9%). The Conservative Party
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
candidate Robert Tasker had fought an unconventional campaign, proclaiming that he was "without any organisation or the usual machinery", and won only 12.5% of the votes.
On 15 January 1924, as peers and MPs assembled for the State Opening of Parliament
State Opening of Parliament
In the United Kingdom, the State Opening of Parliament is an annual event that marks the commencement of a session of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It is held in the House of Lords Chamber, usually in November or December or, in a general election year, when the new Parliament first assembles...
, Windsor and fellow MPs Clement Attlee
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, KG, OM, CH, PC, FRS was a British Labour politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951, and as the Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955...
and John Scurr
John Scurr
John Scurr , born John Rennie, was an English Labour Party politician and trade union official who served as Member of Parliament for Mile End from 1923 to 1931....
joined a demonstration outside Temple Gardens on the Victoria Embankment
Victoria Embankment
The Victoria Embankment is part of the Thames Embankment, a road and river walk along the north bank of the River Thames in London. Victoria Embankment extends from the City of Westminster into the City of London.-Construction:...
which had been organised by the National Unemployed Workers' Movement
National Unemployed Workers' Movement
The National Unemployed Workers' Movement was a British organisation set up in 1921 by members of the Communist Party of Great Britain. It aimed to draw attention to the plight of unemployed workers during the post World War I slump, the 1926 General Strike and later the Great Depression, and to...
. Windsor marched with a contingent of workers from Bethnal Green.
Defending the seat at the 1924 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1924
- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
, Windsor was opposed only by Edmonds, who hoped to win the support of the Conservative voters who had backed Tasker in 1923. However, on polling day the turnout increased from to 68% from 1923's 59%, and Windsor held the seat by a majority of 95 votes (0.4% of the total).
Windsor continued to press the case of the unemployed. In December 1927, he stressed the casual nature of much employment in Bethnal Green, where poor relief
English Poor Laws
The English Poor Laws were a system of poor relief which existed in England and Wales that developed out of late-medieval and Tudor-era laws before being codified in 1587–98...
had risen from £752 in 1912 to £137,000 in 1926–27. To allocate work more fairly on a national basis, he suggested that men over 60 and under 14 should be taken out of work, in order to free up jobs for those with dependants.
Defeat
Unemployment remained a major issue in Bethnal Green at the 1929 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1929
-Seats summary:-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987*-External links:***...
, both workers and for rate-payers, who had seen high rates to pay for relief for those out of work, leading to closure of factories. The Conservative campaign of Captain Alan Bell focused on de-rating, and the Liberal candidate Major Harry Nathan
Harry Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan
Harry Louis Nathan, 1st Baron Nathan, PC was a Liberal politician, who later joined the Labour Party....
stressed the employment-generating prospects of LLoyd George's plans to cut armaments and boost road-building. Bell and Nathan blamed each other for splitting the anti-Socialist vote, but when the votes were counted Bell's 7.7% was low enough to allow Nathan to take the seat from Windsor with a majority of 589 votes (2.5%).
Nottingham
At the next general election, in October 1931United 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...
, Windsor did not contest Bethnal Green. He stood instead in Nottingham East
Nottingham East (UK Parliament constituency)
Nottingham East is a borough constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...
, a Liberal Conservative marginal seat
Marginal seat
A marginal seat, or swing seat, is a constituency held with a particularly small majority in a legislative election, generally conducted under a single-winner voting system. In Canada they may be known as target ridings. The opposite is a safe seat....
where Labour had not even fielded a candidate for most of the 1920s. However, J.H. Baum had stood in 1929, coming a close third with 28% of the votes. In a bad year for Labour, Windsor won only 15.4% of the votes, and the Conservative barrister Louis Gluckstein won the seat from the sitting Liberal MP Norman Birkett.
Hull
After a six-year absence, Windsor was returned to the House of Commons at the 1935 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1935
The United Kingdom general election held on 14 November 1935 resulted in a large, though reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Conservative Stanley Baldwin. The greatest number of MPs, as before, were Conservative, while the National Liberal vote held steady...
, when he was elected as MP for Hull Central
Kingston upon Hull Central (UK Parliament constituency)
Kingston upon Hull Central was a parliamentary constituency in the city of Kingston upon Hull in East Yorkshire. It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom....
, defeating the sitting Conservative MP Basil Barton.
In 1937 he introduced a private member's bill
Private Member's Bill
A member of parliament’s legislative motion, called a private member's bill or a member's bill in some parliaments, is a proposed law introduced by a member of a legislature. In most countries with a parliamentary system, most bills are proposed by the government, not by individual members of the...
which would allow a court to make provisions out of the estate
Estate (law)
An estate is the net worth of a person at any point in time. It is the sum of a person's assets - legal rights, interests and entitlements to property of any kind - less all liabilities at that time. The issue is of special legal significance on a question of bankruptcy and death of the person...
of a deceased person for the benefit of surviving spouse or child, to protect against widows and children being left destitute.
The Inheritance (Family Provision) Bill was founded on the report of a joint committee
Joint committee
A Joint Committee is a term in politics that is used to refer to a committee made up of members of both chambers of a bicameral legislature. In other contexts, it refers to a committee with members from more than one organization.-Republic of Ireland:...
of the Lords
House of Lords
The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....
and Commons, and was the third such bill to be introduced that decade: previous bills had failed in 1931 and 1934. The bill was opposed by some Conservatives, but supported by several Conservative and labour MPs, including Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Rathbone
Eleanor Florence Rathbone was an independent British Member of Parliament and long-term campaigner for women's rights. She was a member of the noted Rathbone family of Liverpool.-Life:...
who told the House that she did not know "any women's organisation that has not petitioned in favour of the Bill over and over again". It was granted a second reading on 22 January 1937, and after scrutiny by a standing committee
Standing Committee
In the United States Congress, standing committees are permanent legislative panels established by the United States House of Representatives and United States Senate rules. . Because they have legislative jurisdiction, standing committees consider bills and issues and recommend measures for...
, it failed to pass into law because not time was found for the report stage before the end of that session of Parliament. In a heated debate on the adjournment in June 1937, William Wedgwood Benn
William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate
Air Commodore William Wedgwood Benn, 1st Viscount Stansgate PC, DSO, DFC was a British Liberal politician who later joined the Labour Party. He was Secretary of State for India between 1929 and 1931 and Secretary of State for Air between 1945 and 1946...
complained that the bill was "to be defeated, not on its merits, but because the Government have seen fit to suppress the only chance which it has of being discussed in the House at all".
In August 1943 he pressed for an increased supply of utility furniture
Utility furniture
Utility furniture refers to furniture produced in the United Kingdom during and just after World War II, under a Government scheme which was designed to cope with shortages of raw materials and rationing of consumption...
.
1945 election
At the 1945 general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1945
The United Kingdom general election of 1945 was a general election held on 5 July 1945, with polls in some constituencies delayed until 12 July and in Nelson and Colne until 19 July, due to local wakes weeks. The results were counted and declared on 26 July, due in part to the time it took to...
, Windsor had been nominated as the Labour candidate for Hull Central, and was conducting his election campaign from a hotel in Hull. He had been ill for a few weeks, and confined to bed, but had left his sick room to campaign, and on 29 June he was found dead on a chair in his hotel room by a maid.
His death, at the age of 60, meant that all nominations for Hull Central were treated as invalid. The poll was deferred, and was re-run on 19 July, two weeks after polling in most other constituencies, when the seat was held for Labour by Captain Mark Hewitson
Mark Hewitson
Captain Mark Hewitson was a British trade union official and Labour Party politician. He was chosen at the very last minute to stand for Parliament, and eventually served as a Member of Parliament for nineteen years. He was described as a member of the 'old school' of trade union leaders, and...
. The result was declared on 9 August; it was the last result to be declared in the general election.