Alfred Edwards

Alfred Edwards (23 March 1888 – 17 June 1958) was a British politician who served for fifteen years as a Member of Parliament (MP). His origins were as a company director in the foundry industry in Middlesbrough, which led him into conflict with the Labour Party when it proposed to nationalise the iron and steel industries; profoundly unable to support the party, he crossed the floor and became an active Conservative Party supporter. Family and business Edwards' father Thomas was from Middlesbrough and he was brought up in the town. He was only educated to elementary school level, leaving to work as a labourer in the Diamond grit works foundry. His obituary in The Times said that "by ability and sheer hard work he rose to become a director of an old-established local ironworks", this being Messrs. Harrison Bros. (England) Ltd. As a director, he had time to pursue other business interests in the town, and also farmed in Guisborough. He was also a frequent visitor to the United States on lecture tours. Middlesbrough politics In 1931 Edwards joined the Labour Party, and the next year he was elected to Middlesbrough Town Council. He was chosen as the party's candidate for Middlesbrough East, and in the 1935 general election he fought a tense three-way contest against the sitting Liberal Party Member and a Conservative Party challenger. In the event the sitting Member's vote collapsed, and Edwards was elected with a tiny majority of 67 over the Conservative candidate. Parliament Edwards began his Parliamentary career by moving a motion calling for the location of industry to be planned, in which he called for an area of 40 miles around London to be closed to new industry. He was concerned about a government proposal to help the iron and steel industry in Jarrow, arguing that it would become a competitor to his own constituency. In April 1937 he opposed the Conservative government's proposal for assistance to 'special areas', complaining that it had the deliberate intention of depriving Middlesbrough of the advantages other areas were to have. He made a failed attempt to get Middlesbrough included during the passage of the Bill, in which he was joined by the Middlesbrough West MP Frank Kingsley Griffith.