Arthur Ratcliffe

Who was Arthur Ratcliffe?

Arthur Ratcliffe was a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament for the Leek division of Staffordshire from 1931 to 1935.

Ratcliffe stood for Parliament only once, at the 1931 general election, when he overturned the comfortable majority of Leek's sitting Labour Party, William Bromfield, winning the seat with a majority of 2.8%. Ratcliffe did not defend the seat at the next election, in 1935, when Bromfield was returned in a two-person contest with a National Labour Party candidate.

In 1933 had a house built for himself on a hill at Ecton in Staffordshire, about 12 miles from the town of Leek. It was known as "Copper Folly" because of its copper spire, which had been salvaged from a disused chapel.