Edge Rewrite
everything Source code View original
// HTMLRewriter · presentation

This page was redesigned at the edge.

Cloudflare fetched the original article and streamed it through HTMLRewriter to apply an entirely new visual system without rebuilding the source page.

// request.cf · coarse context

A page that knows where it met you.

Only coarse request metadata is shown. This demo does not display or persist visitor IP addresses.

Country
US
Cloudflare location
CMH
Connection
HTTP/2
Language
Not provided

Ray ID: a259ddeda883ad68

Jump to content

Sir John Benn, 1st Baronet

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from John Benn)

Sir
John Williams Benn
Bt DL JP
MP for Devonport
In office
20 June 1904 – 15 January 1910
Preceded byJohn Lockie
Succeeded bySir John Jackson
MP for Tower Hamlets, St. George Division
In office
4 July 1892 – 13 July 1895
Preceded byCharles Ritchie, 1st Baron Ritchie of Dundee
Succeeded byHarry Marks
Leader of the Progressive Party (for London County Council)
In office
1908–1918
Preceded byT. McKinnon Wood
Succeeded byRev. J. Scott Lidgett
Chairman of the London County Council[1]
In office
1904–1905
Preceded byLord Monkswell
Succeeded bySir Edwin Cornwall
Vice Chairman of the London County Council[2]
In office
1895–1896
Preceded byCharles Harrison
Succeeded by Dr William Collins
Councillor (London County Council)
In office
1889–1922
Constituency
Personal details
Born(1850-11-13)13 November 1850
Died10 April 1922(1922-04-10) (aged 71)
PartyLiberal
Other political
affiliations
Progressive Party
SpouseElizabeth Pickstone m. 1874
Children
Parent(s)Rev. Julius Benn
Ann Taylor
Relatives
FamilyBenn

Sir John Williams Benn, 1st Baronet, DL (13 November 1850 – 10 April 1922) was a British politician, particularly associated with London politics. He was the father of the politician William Benn and the grandfather of the politician Tony Benn.

Life and career

[edit]

Benn was born in Gerrards, Cheshire,[5][6] which is now part of Gee Cross, Hyde, Greater Manchester,[7] but his parents moved the family to east London the following year, where they opened an institute for homeless boys. Benn was largely homeschooled and at the age of seventeen, he joined a furniture company.[citation needed] He later (1880) established a trade journal, The Cabinet Maker, which eventually became the furniture trade's leading publication: when politics became his main interest, the family's publishing business, Benn Brothers, was taken over by his eldest son Ernest Benn (1875–1954), who later renamed it Ernest Benn Limited. His niece was actress Margaret Rutherford; she was the daughter of Benn's younger brother William Rutherford Benn, who was put into a lunatic asylum following his murder of their father, the Rev. Julius Benn.

When the London County Council was established in January 1889, Benn accepted an invitation to stand as a Progressive Party candidate for East Finsbury and was elected. Like his contemporary Will Crooks, Benn was active in the London Dock Strike of 1889, and, as an increasingly prominent local politician, was invited in 1891 to stand for Parliament as the Liberal Party candidate for St George Division of Tower Hamlets. He won election from the constituency the following year.[8][9][10][5]

John Benn, 1904

He was later narrowly defeated at the general election in 1895,[10][5] but he concentrated on his continuing work as a London councillor, helping introduce electric trams to London's streets in 1903. A year later, he returned to Parliament after winning a by-election at Devonport,[11] a seat he retained until being defeated in 1910.[9][10] In the meantime his son, 28-year-old William Wedgwood Benn, had also been elected to Parliament, winning Benn's former seat at St. George in 1906.[10][5] Benn senior was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the County of London in February 1905.[12]

For his work as an MP, he was knighted in 1906[13] and created a baronet in 1914.[14]

Benn unsuccessfully stood as a candidate for Parliament 3 times over this period, for Deptford in its 1897 by-election, for Bermondsey in the 1900 general election and for Clapham in the December 1910 general election.[10][5]

Benn led the Progressive Party from 1908 until ill-health forced him to relinquish the role in 1918[15] however he remained a member of the London County Council until his death in 1922.[16] In his final election campaign he was victorious, defeating the Labour Group Leader.

Kennington in the London County area 1918–49
1922 London County Council election: Kennington[17] Electorate 31,838
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Municipal Reform Green tickY Harold Swann 5,728 31.8 +12.5
Progressive Green tickY John Benn 4,805 26.7 −4.6
Labour Harry Gosling 4,275 23.7 −7.9
Labour Charles Gibson 3,212 17.8 n/a
Majority 530 3.0 −9.0
Municipal Reform gain from Labour Swing
Progressive hold Swing

Arms

[edit]
Coat of arms of Benn baronets of the Old Knoll, Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham
Crest
On a rock a spear erect proper, flowing therefrom a pennon azure, charged with the word "Onward", letters or.
Escutcheon
Argent, two barrulets indented gules, between in chief as many dragons' heads erased and in base a pencil and a pen in saltire proper, tied with a lace azure, pendent therefrom a torteau, charged with a figure "1914" or.
Motto
Deo Favente (By God's favour).[18]

References

[edit]
  1. ↑ "London County Council". The Times. 16 March 1904. p. 4.
  2. ↑ "London County Council". The Times. 13 March 1895. p. 10.
  3. ↑ "Casualty Details: Captain OLIVER WILLIAMS BENN". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 21 June 2026.
  4. ↑ "Being the Names of those reported killed in action, or as having died of wounds, etc, while on active service, or by direct act of war, since the commencement of the war". debretts.com. Retrieved 18 June 2026.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 National Liberal Federation, Liberal Central Association (Great Britain) (1908). The Liberal Year Book. New York Public Library. Liberal Publication Department. pp. 38, 241, 243 & 350-1.
  6. ↑ "View map: Ordnance Survey, Cheshire XI (includes: Bredbury and Romiley; Chisworth; Hyde; Longendale; Marple.) - Ordnance Survey Six-inch England and Wales, 1842-1952". maps.nls.uk. Ordnance Survey via the National Library of Scotland. 31 March 1882 [Surveyed: 1872]. Archived from the original on 27 May 2025. Retrieved 25 June 2026.
  7. ↑ OpenStreetMap contributors (25 June 2026), "Gerrads, Gee Cross" (Map), OpenStreetMap, OpenStreetMap, retrieved 25 June 2026[self-published source]
  8. ↑ "No. 26311". The London Gazette. 29 July 1892. p. 4311.
  9. 1 2 "Mr John Benn (Hansard)". api.parliament.uk. Hansard. Archived from the original on 14 May 2025. Retrieved 19 June 2026.
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 Craig, F. W. S. (18 June 1974). British Parliamentary Election Results: 1885-1918. Springer. ISBN 978-1-349-02298-4.
  11. ↑ "No. 27689". The London Gazette. 24 June 1904. p. 4032.
  12. ↑ "No. 27768". The London Gazette. 24 February 1905. p. 1399.
  13. ↑ "No. 27937". The London Gazette. 3 August 1906. p. 5341.
  14. ↑ "No. 28854". The London Gazette. 31 July 1914. p. 5962.
  15. ↑ Gibbon, Gwilym (1939). History of the London County Council, 1889-1939. Internet Archive. London, Macmillan.
  16. ↑ ""Father" Of The L.C.C. Death Of Sir John Benn". The Times. 11 April 1922. p. 16.
  17. ↑ London Municipal Notes – Volumes 18–23, London Municipal Society
  18. ↑ Burke's Peerage and Baronetage (107 ed.). Burkes Peerage & Gentry LLC. 2003. pp. 342 and 3722. ISBN 0971196621.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Sir_John_Benn,_1st_Baronet&oldid=1364859398"