Joseph Watson Sidebotham

Joseph Watson Sidebotham (April 29, 1857 - June 10, 1925) was a British colliery owner and Conservative politican.

He was the eldest son of Joseph Sidebotham and Anne Coward of Bowdon, Cheshire. He was educated privately and at Owens College, before receiving a Bachelor of Music degree from Trinity College, Cambridge. He married Marian Dowling in 1886."Biographies of Candidates", June 30, 1886, p.5]

His family company, Messrs J W Sidebotham and Brothers were the owners of a number of coal mines. In January 1889 an explosion at the company's Hyde Colliery caused the death of twenty-three miners. ["Terrible Colliery Explosion", The Times, January 19, 1889]

He was elected as Conservative MP for the Hyde Division of Cheshire at the 1886 general election, and held the seat until 1900, when he announced his retirement for "private and personal" reasons. ["Election Intelligence", The Times, January 13, 1900]

Sidebotham's interest in music led him to introduce a bill in the House of Commons to regulate and register music teachers. Although the bill was unsuccessful, he was elected as a convocation member to the Senate of the University of London, and worked to reform the reform the university's system of accreditation of music degrees. ["University Intelligence", The Times, October 15, 1900, p.8] [F M L Thompson, "The University of London and the World of Learning, 1836-1986", London, 1990]

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