Albert Braithwaite

Who was Albert Braithwaite?

Sir Albert Newby Braithwaite DSO was a British Conservative Party politician. He was the son of Albert Braithwaite, one time Lord Mayor of Leeds and Patti Braithwaite.

He was educated at Woodhouse Grove School, Leeds Grammar School and the University of Leeds. He served in the Yorkshire Hussars during World War I and was appointed a member of the British Military Commission to the USA. He was awarded a DSO in 1918.

He was elected as Member of Parliament for the Buckrose constituency in East Yorkshire at a by-election in 1926, following the resignation of the Conservative MP Guy Gaunt. He held the seat until the 1945 general election, when the Labour Party did not contest the seat and he was defeated by the Liberal Party candidate George Wadsworth. He was knighted in that year and was director of a number of companies.

Braithwaite returned to the House of Commons at a by-election in 1951, as MP for Harrow West, succeeding the Conservative Norman Bower, who had resigned. He held the seat until his death by suicide in 1959.