Arthur Laban Bates (June 6, 1859 – August 26, 1934) was a Republican politician, lawyer, and businessman from the

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. Born in

Meadville, Pennsylvania Meadville is a city in Crawford County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 13,050 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. The first permanent settlement in Northwestern Pennsylvania, Meadville is withi ...

, he was the nephew of

John Milton Thayer John Milton Thayer (January 24, 1820March 19, 1906) was a general in the Union Army during the American Civil War and later a United States Senator from Nebraska, Governor of Wyoming Territory, and Governor of Nebraska. Early life Thayer wa ...

, a U.S. Senator and Governor of Nebraska. Bates received his early education through tutors before graduating from

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

in 1880. He studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1882, later attending

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

in England from 1882 to 1883. Bates began practicing law in Meadville in 1884 and also ventured into newspaper publishing in 1899. He served as the city solicitor of Meadville from 1889 to 1896. His political career took off when he was elected to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

as a Republican to the Fifty-seventh and to the five succeeding Congresses. During his time in Congress, he represented Pennsylvania's 26th district and was involved in international diplomacy, attending the International Peace Conference in Brussels in 1905 and Rome in 1911. After leaving Congress in 1913, having declined to run for another term, Bates returned to law and publishing. He was also involved in the banking sector and continued to serve his party as a delegate to the

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

. He died in Meadville in 1934 and was interred at Greendale Cemetery.

Sources

The Political Graveyard
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bates, Arthur L. 1859 births 1934 deaths People from Meadville, Pennsylvania Baptists from Pennsylvania Allegheny College alumni Pennsylvania lawyers Alumni of the University of Oxford Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Pennsylvania American expatriates in England 19th-century American newspaper publishers (people) Burials at Greendale Cemetery 20th-century members of the United States House of Representatives