Joseph King (31 March 1860 – 25 August 1943), was a British

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

politician who later joined the Labour Party.

Background

He was the eldest son of Joseph King of

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

and his wife Phoebe (née Powell). He was educated at

Uppingham School Uppingham School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils 13–18) in Uppingham, Rutland, England, founded in 1584 by Robert Johnson, the Archdeacon of Leicester, who also established Oakham School. ...

Trinity College, Oxford Trinity College (full name: The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity in the University of Oxford, of the foundation of Sir Thomas Pope (Knight)) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in E ...

, (where he was awarded a BA in 1883 and an MA in 1886) Airedale College, Bradford,

University of Giessen University of Giessen, official name Justus Liebig University Giessen (), is a large public research university in Giessen, Hesse, Germany. It is one of the oldest institutions of higher education in the German-speaking world. It is named afte ...

and University, Berlin. He married, in 1887, Maude Egerton. They had one daughter. He was

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at the

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in 1889. Maude died in 1927. He married for a second time in 1928, to Helena G. Martins.

Political career

King was Liberal candidate for the

New Forest The New Forest is one of the largest remaining tracts of unenclosed pasture land, heathland and forest in Southern England, covering southwest Hampshire and southeast Wiltshire. It was proclaimed a royal forest by William the Conqueror, featu ...

Division of Hampshire at the 1892 General Election, coming second. He did not contest the 1895 and 1900 General Elections. In 1904 he contested the 1904 Isle of Thanet by-election as a Liberal Party candidate, coming second. At the 1906 General Election he was Liberal candidate again at

Thanet Thanet may refer to: * Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England * Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College * Thanet Ca ...

, coming second. At the January 1910 General Election, King was elected Liberal MP for

North Somerset North Somerset is a unitary authorities of England, unitary authority in the ceremonial county of Somerset, England. The council is based in Weston-super-Mare, the area's largest town. The district also contains the towns of Clevedon, Nailsea ...

, holding a seat for the party that was gained from the Conservatives in 1906. He was re-elected in December 1910. Following the outbreak of World War I, King joined the

Union of Democratic Control The Union of Democratic Control was a British advocacy group, pressure group formed in 1914 to press for a more responsive foreign policy. While not a pacifism, pacifist organisation, it was opposed to military influence in government. World Wa ...

, a group of Liberal and Labour politicians who were critical of the secret diplomacy that they blamed for the conflict. He argued that Britain was obliged to protest at the German invasion of Belgium but not to go to Belgium's aid. He was a pacifist and opposed military conscription. His constituency was abolished as part of the 1918 boundary changes.

Support for the Soviet Union

He was sympathetic to the Bolsheviks, raising the matter of Trotsky's 1917 detention in a debate in 1918:

"Mr. KING asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that after the Russian revolution Mr. Trotsky was arrested by British authorities and placed in a camp with German prisoners at Halifax; that he was charged with being a German agent; and whether, in order to remove any ground for suspicion or he will now instruct our Ambassador or Chargé d'Affaires in Petrograd to convey to Mr. Trotsky the British Government's regret for this incident? "Mr. BALFOUR: Mr. Trotsky was detained at Halifax on suspicion of being a German agent. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative."

In 1919 he published a pamphlet called ''Three Bloody Men'', in which he blamed the Whites for starting the violence and condemned the British government for encouraging them. Denounced the Whites for having removed the lawful Provisional Government and alienated many anti-Bolsheviks. Ilford1918

In 1920 he contested the

1920 Ilford by-election The Ilford (UK Parliament constituency), Ilford by-election of 25 September 1920 was held after the death of the Coalition Unionist Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament Sir William Peter Griggs. The Coalition retained the s ...

as a Labour Party candidate. At the 1923 General Election King was Labour candidate at

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, coming second.British parliamentary election results 1918-1949, Craig In 1933 he published ''The German revolution, its meaning and menace'', warning about Hitler.

Arts

King played a key role in the Peasant Arts movement in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south-west Surrey, England, around south-west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill (Hindhead, Surrey), Beacon Hill, they comprise ...

, Surrey. A number of the items produced are in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

Bibliography

* ''The School Manager'' (1903) * ''Electoral Reform: An Inquiry into our System of Parliamentary Representation'', T. Fisher Unwin (1908) * ''Chapter 1. Houses, The Management of Private Affairs, King, Bigham, Gwyer, Cannan, Bridge & Latter'', Clarendon Press (1908) * ''Filius Nullius (Nobody's Child)'' (1913), Pamphlet
''The Russian Revolution: The First Year''
Union of Democratic Control (1918), Pamphlet * ''Soviets and Soviet Government, How it Arose in Russia, How it Works There, How it has been Imitated Elsewhere, and the Chances of Success for Soviets in Other Countries'' (1919), Pamphlet * ''Three bloody men: Mannerheim, "the Butcher" Denikin, the K.C.B., Koltchak, "the Bloody One"'' (1919) * ''Russia and her allies: An account of British policy towards Russia, and of the military intervention of the allies, against the Soviet government, with…now ranged against it'' (1919), Pamphlet * ''The collapse of Germany'' (1923) * ''Peasant Arts'' (1927) * ''The German revolution, its meaning and menace'', Williams and Norgate (1933) * ''Invasion today'', London: Watts & Co. (1941)

External links

British Pathe has newsreel footage of King standing outside the Ilford election count.
Election At Ilford 1920
- British Pathé
The Russian Revolution: The First Year
- photo-reproduction of the pamphlet
Three bloody men
- photo-reproduction of the pamphlet

Sources

* * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Joseph 1860 births 1943 deaths Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies People from Haslemere Politicians from Liverpool UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Alumni of Trinity College, Oxford English socialists People educated at Uppingham School