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

Hard won elections ……. and disappointing results ….. Manchester …. 1894-98

It is of course an obvious observation that political fortunes wax and wane, and the mould breaking gains of one year become the pit of electoral despair the following year.

ILP logo, 1893-1975

And so it was with the Independent Labour Party, which shortly after its formation won two seats in the 1894 elections to Manchester City Council.  The real significance of which was that they were the first two Labour councillors.

In what were fiercely fought contests in which the Conservative were not above using scare tactics, the ILP won the Bradford and Openshaw wards.  In Bradford John Edward Sutton took 54% of the vote, and in Openshaw Jessie Butler gained a narrow majority with 50% of the total vote.

Across the city the ILP had put up candidates in eleven of the fifteen seats and in total  got just over 10,000 votes, coming a decent second in Harpurhey, racking up an impressive 1,261 in New Cross and four figure results in another six wards, with only St John’s falling below the trend with just 83 votes.

ILP share of the vote, 1895

But anyone who follows local elections  will know that there can be wide variations from one year to the next, and the fortunes of the ILP  prove testimony to the rule.

In 1895, they contested just five of the 15 seats, gained none and returned shares of the total vote ranging from 37% in Harpurhey down to 11% in Miles Platting, while in Bradford they sank to just 21% and in Openshaw got a marginally better 26%.

And while they contested more seats in the following  year, achieving four figure results in five of the seven wards, it would not be until 1897 that ILP candidates were returned.

ILP & SDF results, 1897

In Bradford, John Edward Sutton was reelected, and was joined by another ILP candidate in Harpurhey, and a member of Social Democratic Federation in St George’s Ward.

Of course, what is missing from these elections results is the politics behind them, and to judge the significance of what happened you have to fall back on the national as well as the local scene to provide a context.

And that I have yet to do.

But the victories in 1894 were in part a response to the way the ILP had organized in the working-class areas in the city and in particular to the bitter coal strike in 1893 which commentators at the time thought was decisive in the ILP gaining Bradford and Openshaw, many of whose electors worked at Bradford Colliery, and who also identified with Mr. Sutton and Mr. Butler who were miners.

John Edward Sutton, date unknown

Equally we know that in 1878 which saw the election of the two ILP and one SDF councilor, local factors came into play.  In the case of Bradford, John Edward Sutton was a respected councillor who was defending his seat, and was reelected but with a reduced share of the vote.

In Harpurhey the ILP had achieved consistent good results over the previous two years, and in Openshaw Jessie Butler who failed to regain his seat lost because the Labour vote was split.

Mr. Butler according to the Manchester Guardian “came out this time simply on Labour lines, having severed his connection with the Independent Labour Party for various reason, and had to meet the opposition of many of his old supporters and the solid body of Conservatives”.*

And while the ILP did not put up a candidate, he achieved just 40% of the vote.

I wish there were more local detail but that will have to wait till Iam next in Central Ref  and I can look through the local media, which  I am confident will provide the background to what was happening in the city between 1894 and 1897 and is also a nudge to me to delve deeper into the national political scene.

For now, that is it.

Pictures; logo of the ILP, 1893-1975, John Edward Sutton date unknown, election results from the Manchester Guardian, 1894-98

*The Municipal Elections, The Manchester Guardian, November 2nd, 1897

Drama on election night in Manchester ……………. new Party makes gains and threatens the Establishment ………..

It is the sort of headline the media delights to run, and will follow up with acres of “in depth investigation”, penetrating discussion, and of course soundbites from members of the public.

Solidarity, 1887

Back in 1894, the Manchester Guardian was less dramatic, more measured and a tad dismissive of the election of the first two Labour candidates to the city council.

They were John Edward Sutton and Jessie Butler, both worked in the coal industry, and both were members of the recently formed Independent Labour Party which had been established to campaign for the election of working class candidates at local and Parliamentary elections.

The Manchester Guardian was quick to point out both men were the outsiders.  

Mr. Sutton who was standing in the Bradford Ward was up against a sitting councillor who had been elected unopposed since 1888, “when he defeated Liberals and independent candidates by a majority of considerably more than a thousand.”

In Openshaw which was the other Labour gain the seat had been won by the Liberals the previous year with a majority of over 700 votes.

Labour makes gains, 1894

But as ever the devil is in the detail, and the Bradford branch of the ILP had in the words of the Manchester Guardian “practically grown from nothing to its present strength in the course of the past three years”

Moreover, some of the working families in both wards would have owed their livelihood to the Bradford Colliery, and the year before the industry had faced a major national strike following the employer’s decision to cut coal miners wages by one quarter, while the Miner’s Federation demanded a “living wage” for the workforce.

ILP logo, 1893-1975

The industrial conflict grew bitter, troops were dispatched to some of the coalfields, and as tensions grew strikers at Featherstone in Yorkshire were fired on, with sixteen hit and two killed, while in Llanelly, in Wales “police  armed with cutlasses” guarded the colliery after the cavalry had been withdrawn.**

The strike ran through the summer of 1893, and concluded in the November, and it appears to have played a major part in both Mr. Sutton and Mr. Butler becoming involved in politics.  John Edward Sutton joined the ILP during the strike and by its end, was “has been one of the principle leaders at the Bradford branch of the Independent Labour Party”.

While for Mr. Butler who was an assistant to the secretary of the Miner’s Federation , it “was in part the action taken by the Labour Party on behalf of the miners which [led him] to become a member”. 

The ILP arrives, Manchester, 1894

Both contests were hard fought with the Conservatives in the Openshaw ward distributing leaflets which branded the ILP as a vote for “Socialism and Anarchy”, but as the Manchester Guardian observed “It is improbable, however that the working class electors in the ward, who are perfectly familiar with Mr. Butler were in the slightest  degree influenced by an appeal exhibiting such a limited amount of intelligence”.***

And in Bradford Ward, despite the Conservatives  having “for some years occupied a strong position in this ward, holding all three seats ……. A large section of the working men, however, have expressed dissatisfaction with [the Tory candidate] and they gave effect to their feeling by nominating Mr. Sutton and working energetically in his behalf”.

ILP gain, Bradford, Manchester, 1894

A degree of confidence which saw them continue to elect him to the City Council for almost 20 years and followed that up with electing him as the MP in 1910, again in 1922 and from 1923 through to 1931.

But for many on that night of November 1894 the ILP’s entry on to the Manchester electoral scene was something to savour.  

In total they got just over 10,000 votes spread out across the eleven wards they contested, and racked up some very decent three figure results, some of which like at Harpurhey brought them close to being the second party.

John Edward Sutton, date unknown

All of which were promises for the future, while at Bradford and Openshaw the promise had arrived.

John Edward Sutton secured 2072 votes, ahead of his Tory rival who achieved 1,757, which gave the ILP a majority of 335, and 54% share of the vote.

In Openshaw it was a closer contest with Labour winning by 22 votes, but that is not to diminish the result.

Such can be election dramas.

Location; Manchester, 1894

Pictures; Solidarity, Walter Crane, 1887, extract from the Manchester Guardian, November 2nd, 1894, Logo of the ILP, 1893-1975, Manchester election results, November, November 2nd, 1894, and John Edward Sutton, date unknown

*The Municipal Elections, Manchester, the Manchester Guardian, November 2nd, 1894

**The Coal Strike, the Manchester Guardian, September 26, 1893

***Salford Eccles A General survey of the elections, the Manchester Guardian, November 2nd, 1984