J. Walton Newbold

John Turner Walton Newbold (8 May 1888–20 February 1943), known as Walton Newbold, was the first of the four Communist Party of Great Britain members to be elected as MPs in the United Kingdom.

John Turner Walton Newbold was born in Culcheth, Lancashire, on 8 May 1888, and was educated at Buxton College and the University of Manchester.

On leaving university, Newbold lectured in history and politics, and was engaged in industrial and economic research. In 1908, he joined the Fabian Society, connected with the Labour Party, and then the Independent Labour Party (ILP) in 1910. In line with the ILP's pacifist position on World War I, he joined the No Conscription Fellowship, and was a conscientious objector, although he was in any case found physically unfit for military service. He did a great deal of research into the arms trade and its international connections in the late 19th/early 20th centuries.

In 1917 Newbold joined the Labour educational Plebs' League and the British Socialist Party. By 1920, he was a committed communist, stating "my loyalty, at any rate, is now - as it has been for two and a half years - first and foremost to the position of the Third International". In 1921 he resigned from the ILP and joined the Communist Party of Great Britain, becoming a member of its first central committee.

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