Percy Alden
|
Sir Percy Alden |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Member of Parliament for Tottenham |
|
|
In office 1906–1918 |
|
| Preceded by | Joseph Howard |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Member of Parliament for Tottenham South |
|
|
In office 1923–1924 |
|
| Preceded by | Patrick Bernard Malone |
| Succeeded by | Patrick Bernard Malone |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
6 June 1865 Oxford |
| Died | 30 June 1944 (aged 79) London |
| Nationality | British |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Other political affiliations |
Labour |
| Relations | Isaac Alden (father) Harriet Kemp (mother) |
| Alma mater | Balliol College, Oxford |
| Profession | Social worker |
Sir Percy Alden (6 June 1865 – 30 June 1944) was a British social worker, land reformer and radical Liberal Party politician.
Born in Oxford, he was the third son of Isaac Alden, a master butcher and Harriet née Kemp. After serving twice as a Member of Parliament, he was killed in June 1944 by a German V1 flying bomb.
At the age of 15, while working as a messenger for the local examinations board, he met the philosopher T. H. Green. Green encouraged him to enter the University of Oxford. In 1884 he was admitted to Balliol College, graduating with a thirds in classical moderations in 1886 and literae humaniores in 1888. He subsequently began studies for the Congregational ministry at Mansfield House, Oxford. Here, he became involved in social work, and was appointed in 1891 as the first warden of the Mansfield House settlement in Canning Town, West Ham, a post he held until 1901, later serving as honorary warden and vice-president.
From 1892 to 1901, he was a member of the West Ham Borough Council, serving as deputy mayor in 1898. He was a supporter, but not a member, of the Independent Labour Party group that controlled the council West Ham was one of the most deprived areas in London with high unemployment and Alden was the instigator of a petition from the borough council to parliament seeking government action on the problem. He married Dr Margaret Pearse, senior resident physician of the Canning Town Medical Mission Hospital, in 1899 and they had three daughters. He was co-opted onto the London School Board in 1903.
Following his resignation from the Mansfield House Settlement, Alden remained involved in radical politics. In 1902 he became secretary of the National Unemployed Committee, and in 1903 joined The Rainbow Circle, a progressive discussion group of Liberals and Socialists. In the following year he was among a group of Circle members who helped form the British Institute of Social Service. In addition to being a member of the Liberal Party, Alden was a member of both the Fabian Society.
...
Wikipedia