Robert Mark Gentry (1885 – 19 March 1951) was a British politician and

trade unionist A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

, who served as Mayor of Fulham and stood repeatedly for Parliament. Gentry completed an elementary education before becoming a baker and confectioner. He also joined the

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 ...

(ILP), becoming Chairman and Honorary Secretary of the

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

ILP. Active in the Amalgamated Union of Operative Bakers, he was appointed as the union's full-time London District Secretary, and was named by Paul Thompson as the ILP's leading London-based trade unionist in the 1900s. Through the ILP, Gentry was active in the Labour Party, and was elected to Fulham Metropolitan Borough Council, serving as the first Labour Mayor of Fulham, from 1919 to 1921. Following his stint as mayor, he became secretary of the Metropolitan Labour Mayor's and Ex-Mayor's Association. Gentry also stood for the Labour Party in Fulham West at general elections in 1918, 1922, 1923 and 1924, taking second place on each occasion.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gentry, Robert Mark 1885 births 1951 deaths English trade unionists Independent Labour Party politicians Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Mayors of places in Greater London People from Fulham