Arthur Bottomley

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Jump to: navigation, search

Arthur George Bottomley, Baron Bottomley, generally known as Arthur Bottomley (1907 - 1995) was a British Labour politician, MP and minister. His wife was Dame Bessie Bottomley.

Before entering parliament he was a trade union organiser of the National Union of Public Employees (which later became part of UNISON). From 1929 to 1949 he was a councillor in Walthamstow Borough Council, and in 1945-1946 he was Mayor of Walthamstow.

He was first elected to parliament in the 1945 general election for the Chatham division of Rochester and he held the seat (later renamed Rochester and Chatham) until losing it in the 1959 general election. He returned to parliament by winning Middlesbrough East in a by-election in 1962 and holding the seat (later renamed Teesside Middlesbrough) until his retirement in 1983.

He was a junior minister in Clement Atlee's governments, being Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominions (1946-47) and Secretary for Overseas Trade at the Board of Trade (1947-51). In Harold Wilson's governments he was Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs (1964-66) - during which time he sought to deal with the consequences of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence - and Minister of Overseas Development (1966-67).

He was created a life peer in the 1984 New Year's Honours as Baron Bottomley of Middlesbrough in the County of Cleveland. He died on 3 November 1995.

Personal tools