Fielding Reginald West (November 1892 – 6 October 1935) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

Labour Party politician.

Early life

West was born in

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a market town in the Kirklees district in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confluence into t ...

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. Following elementary education at the age of 12, he initially worked in a coal mine before becoming a clerk in a Bradford textile factory. During the First World War he was a clerk in the

Army Pay Corps The Royal Army Pay Corps (RAPC) was the corps of the British Army responsible for administering all financial matters. It was amalgamated into the Adjutant General's Corps in 1992. History The first "paymasters" have existed in the army before ...

. In 1916 he married Lily Noble and had one son. However, she died in childbirth. Later on, he married Peggy Reece and had two children, the first of whom died at one year old. Following the war he moved to London where he attended the

Regent Street Polytechnic , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

and London Day Training College, before taking up employment as a schoolteacher at the

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

West Kensington Central School.

MP for Kensington North

At the 1929 general election, West contested the seat of

Kensington North Kensington North was a parliamentary constituency centred on the Kensington district of west London. It returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom The Parliament of the United K ...

as a Labour Party candidate, and was elected, unseating the sitting

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

MP,

Percy Gates Percy George Gates (died 31 March 1940) was a British solicitor and Conservative MP for Kensington North. The son of Philip Chasemore Gates, KC, Recorder of Brighton, Gates was educated at Wellington College. Having practised for many years as ...

. Following the election a minority Labour government was formed. However this collapsed in 1931, and a

National Government A national government is the government of a nation. National government or National Government may also refer to: * Central government in a unitary state, or a country that does not give significant power to regional divisions * Federal governme ...

was formed. There was also a split in the Labour Party, with supporters of the Prime Minister, Ramsay MacDonald, forming a

National Labour Organisation The National Labour Organisation, also known as the National Labour Committee or simply as National Labour, was a British political group formed after the 1931 creation of the National Government to co-ordinate the efforts of the supporters of t ...

. The remainder of the party found itself in opposition to the government. The National Government called an election in October 1931, which they won by a landslide. West was among many Labour MPs who lost their seats, defeated by the government candidate, James Duncan of the Conservative Party.

MP for Hammersmith North

In March 1934 the Conservative MP for Hammersmith North died. West was chosen to contest the resulting by-election for the Labour Party. In a three-cornered contest with Conservative and

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

opponents, West was elected with a majority of 3,516 votes. Fielding West died while in office of cancer at Hammersmith Hospital in October 1935.

References

External links

* 1892 births 1935 deaths Alumni of the UCL Institute of Education Alumni of the University of Westminster Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 People from Huddersfield People educated at Belle Vue Boys' Grammar School, Bradford {{England-Labour-UK-MP-stub