Arthur Richardson

Who was Arthur Richardson?

Arthur Richardson was a British merchant and Liberal-Labour politician from Nottingham. He sat in the House of Commons between 1906 and 1918.

He was born in East Bridgeford, Nottinghamshire, the son of William Richardson. He was educated at East Bridgeford National School, and at Magnus Grammar School in Newark-on-Trent, and became a tea merchant in the firm of Arthur Richardson and Sons.

Richardson was elected at the 1906 general election as the Member of Parliament for Nottingham South, defeating the sitting Unionist MP Lord Henry Cavendish-Bentinck. Although described as Liberal-Labour, he was not a Trade Union sponsored MP, so was not required to join the Labour Party in 1910. Richardson held the seat until the January 1910 election, when he was defeated by Cavendish-Bentinck, and he was unsuccessful when he stood again in December 1910.

He returned to Parliament seven years later, when he was elected unopposed as MP for Rotherham at a by-election in February 1917 after the Liberal MP Jack Pease was elevated to the peerage. He held that seat until the 1918 general election, when he stood unsuccessfully as a Liberal Party candidate in Nottingham West. He then contested the next three general elections in the Melton division of Leicestershire. After a clear defeat by the sitting Conservative Party MP Sir Charles Yate in 1922, he lost to Yate by only 44 votes in 1923, but by over 5,000 votes in 1924.