Fred Longden

Who was Fred Longden?

Fred Longden was a British Labour Co-operative politician.

Brought up in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, he joined the Independent Labour Party and was elected to its National Council. In the First World War he became active in the Union of Democratic Control, and was arrested for making a speech appealing for immediate peace negotiations. In 1916 he was offered the chance of exemption from military service on trade and health grounds, but preferred to take his stand as a conscientious objector. Refused exemption in that category, he was forcibly enlisted, and sentenced to two years imprisonment for disobeying an order; he then accepted the Home Office Scheme, and was transferred to Princetown Work Centre in the erstwhile Dartmoor Prison.

Fred Longden was elected Member of Parliament for Birmingham Deritend, 1929-1931 and 1945-1950, and then in 1950 for Birmingham Small Heath, which he retained until his death in 1952.