A Manchester first ……… John Edward Sutton .... first Labour Councillor and Manchester MP

John Edward Sutton deserves to be remembered.

John Edward Sutton, MP

He was the first Labour candidate to be elected to the Manchester City Council, went on to become the first Labour MP for Manchester East in 1910, and later represented Manchester Clayton for a short period in 1922, and again between 1923 and 1931.

All the more remarkable given that he started work in a cotton mill at seven years of age in 1871, and at 14 began work at Bradford Colliery rising to the post of checkweighman.

His obituary in the Manchester Guardian records that he was first elected to the Bradford Ward as a City Councillor in 1894, continuing as such for nearly 20 years, and was “secretary and then agent for the Bradford lodge of the Lancashire and Cheshire Miner’s Federation”.*

Today when many defeated politicians go on to utilize their Parliamentary experience and contact to carve out jobs in the media and as lobbyist, it might surprise many that  Mr. Sutton returned after his election defeats to work at the coal mine.

He was according to the newspaper “of that school of Socialists that grew out of Liberal Nonconformity through the I.L.P.  He was never a revolutionary but a strong co-operator and temperance advocate.

Labour Party Poster, 1910

Physically a somewhat frail man he had the vigour of mind and expression that belied his quiet manner and a courage that put him among the pioneers in the workers’ cause at the end of the last century.  

He was not merely Manchester’s first Labour councillor but a firm advocate of municipal ownership of essential local services and one who did much to advance the municipalizing of the transport service”.

But this does little to highlight his progressive position on a raft of issues, from support for the extension of the franchaise to women,to the need for a minimum wage and his opposition to the position of Aldermen on the City Council.

And having opposed the practice of Aldermen, rightly he turned down the offer to become one in 1909.

In time I will find out more about this remarkable man.  I know his father was a cotton spinner and one of John Edward Sutton’s first homes was on London Road, that he married Hannah in 1880 when they were both just 19 years old.

Solidarity, Walter Crane, 1887

In 1911 the family were living in a five roomed house in Clayton a year after he was elected an MP and by 1939 he and his two children were living in Chorlton on Egerton Road.

Labour Party Poster, 1945

And that is it at present.  

There is one photograph of Mr. Sutton, but it is unclear if it can be used and so I have fallen back on a very poor copy from his obituary.

The next step will be visits to the Labour History Museum and Central Ref to trawl their records for more on his time as a councillor, MP and trade unionist, and if I am lucky there may be election material, correspondence and more pictures.

But I am pleased that he lived long enough to see the Labour Party returned to office in the July of 1945 with 393 MPs on a promise to carry out many of the policies he himself argued for.**

Reflecting on his his time as an elected representative he said "he had fought many municipal elections and nine Parliamentary elections and met with his first defeat in 23 years of public life".***

The occasion was a presentation at the Beswick Co-operative Society's Hall in Manchester to mark his retirement.  

Labour Poster, 1931

The hall was packed and amongst the speakers and well wishers there were many colleagues from the early days of the I.L.P.*** 

But consistent with his character, in 1939, eight years after his defeat in the 1931 General Election when Labour recorded one of its worst defeats, he listed his occupation as not former MP, but "Coal Miners Agent, Retired" 

Location; Manchester

Pictures; Solidarity, Walter Crane, 1887, Labour Party posters, 1910, 1931 & 1945, Mr. J.E. Sutton, date unknown

*Mr. J.E. Sutton, Manchester Guardian, November 30th, 1945

**The 1945 General Election was held in July 1945, and Mr. Sutton died in November of that year.

***Presentation to Mr. J.E.Sutton, 38 years of Public Service, Manchester Guardian, July 15th, 1932