Joseph Nicholas Bell (7 March 1864 – 17 December 1922) was a British
Labour politician and Justice of the Peace. He was elected
Member of Parliament for
Newcastle East in the
1922 General Election, but died a month later.
For many years Bell was General Secretary of the
National Amalgamated Union of Labour
The National Amalgamated Union of Labour (NAUL) was a general union in the United Kingdom.
History
The trade union was founded in Feb 1889 as the United Tyne and District Labourers Association and in March 1889 the Amalgamated Society of Shipya ...
.
In 1896, Bell married
Florence Harrison, a teacher and prominent
Independent Labour Party
The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...
activist.
He was first selected in 1914 as Labour candidate for
Leith Burghs to contest the by-election when he came third. In 1918 he was selected for the Edinburgh seat of
Leith
Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith.
The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...
, but was replaced later that year. He was then selected by the Labour Party to fight the
Newcastle East constituency at the 1922 General Election. Already ill, he was unable to travel from London to campaign in the seat, but was elected in his absence,
[''The Times'', 18 Dec. 1922] defeating the Coalition Liberal MP, Harry Barnes.
Bell died a month after his election, aged 58, and thus became one of only a handful of elected British MPs never to have taken their seats.
At the subsequent by-election
Arthur Henderson
Arthur Henderson (13 September 1863 – 20 October 1935) was a British iron moulder and Labour Party (UK), Labour politician. He was the first Labour Cabinet of the United Kingdom, cabinet minister, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934 and, uniqu ...
held the seat for Labour.
See also
*
List of United Kingdom MPs with the shortest service
This is an annotated list of the members of the United Kingdom Parliament since 1900 having total service of less than 365 days.
''Nominal service'' is the number of days that elapsed between the declaration (or deemed election) and the date of ...
References
Sources
*
External links
*
1864 births
1922 deaths
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1922–1923
Chairs of the Labour Party (UK)
British trade union leaders
Elected officials who died without taking their seats
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