Herbert Holdsworth

Sir Herbert Holdsworth (1890 - 8 July 1949) was a British Liberal Party politician and businessman.

Early life and business

Holdsworth was born in Liversedge in Yorkshire. He was educated at Batley Grammar School. In June 1914 he married Beatrice Lee of Bradford and they had one daughter. In business, Holdsworth was a director of Holdsworth Bros. (Waste Material Dealers), a director the Provincial Building Society and of Jackson’s Ltd. West Riding Realty Company ["Who was Who", OUP 2007] .

Liberal candidate

Holdsworth first tried to enter Parliament in 1929 unsuccessfully contesting the Rothwell division of Yorkshire. He was however elected to represent Bradford South as a Liberal at the 1931 general election, holding the seat until 1945. At the 1935 general election Holdsworth secured a straight fight against Labour in Bradford South, which one historian of the Liberal Party has suggested was a strong indication that some kind of collusive arrangement with the Conservatives had been entered into [Roy Douglas, "Liberals and Liberal Democrats"; Hambledon and London, 2005 p239] .

Liberal National

Douglas' suspicion is strengthened by Holdsworth’s decision in 1938 to join the Liberal Nationals the political group led by Sir John Simon. In his letter of resignation to the leader of the official Liberals, Sir Archibald Sinclair he gave as his principal reason his wish to continue supporting the foreign policy of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and his efforts to bring peace by direct negotiation and personal contact with the European dictators. Holdsworth had been one of four official Liberals who had supported Chamberlain over the Munich Conference [Richard S Grayson, "Liberals, International Relations and Appeasement"; Frank Cass, 2001 p.178] and had for some time been at variance with official Liberal foreign policy [The Times, 26.10.38] . Soon afterwards the Bradford South Liberal Association, while thanking him for his work as their MP, voted not to re-adopt him as their candidate at the next election. However Holdsworth decided not to fight Bradford South when the 1945 general election came, possibly on grounds of ill-health. He became Chief Whip of the Liberal Nationals in 1940 but resigned in 1942 for reasons of ill-health [The Times, 5.12.42] . He served an Assistant Government Whip over the same period. In 1943, he was appointed to act as adviser to the Ministry of Supply on the general waste reclamation industry [The Times, 27.4.43] and in 1944 he was appointed to a Select Committee set up to scrutinize delegated legislation.

Holdsworth also served as a Justice of the Peace in Bradford ["Who was Who", OUP 2007] and was knighted for political and public services in the 1944 New Year’s Honours List [The Times, 1.1.44] .

References

ee also

*List of Liberal Party (UK) MPs
*List of National Liberal Party (UK) MPs