Harry Barnes

Who was Harry Barnes?

Harry Barnes was a United Kingdom Liberal Party politician.

At the 1918 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament for the new constituency of Newcastle upon Tyne East, standing as a Coalition Liberal. At the 1922 election, he lost his seat to the Labour Party candidate Joseph Bell. After Bell's death in December 1922, Barnes contested the resulting by-election in January 1923, but lost to Labour's Arthur Henderson.

He stood in Tynemouth at the 1923 general election, losing by 604 votes to the Conservative Sir Alexander Russell. He contested Tynemouth again at the 1924 election, when Russell increased his majority to over 4,000.

In 1928, Barnes contested a July by-election in the West Yorkshire seat of Halifax, following the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Henry Whitley, who had represented the seat as Liberal since 1900. Barnes lost by nearly 5,000 votes to Labour's Arthur Longbottom, and did not stand for Parliament again.