John Dumphreys

Who was John Dumphreys?

John Molesworth Thomas Dumphreys was a British Conservative politician. He was elected Member of Parliament for Bermondsey in a 1909 by-election, but weeks later lost the seat to the Liberals at the January 1910 General Election.

Dumphreys was born in Bermondsey in 1844. Of humble origins, he worked as a journeyman leather dresser. He was active in local politics most of his adult life, elected to the Borough Council, the School Board and County Council. He had also stood in Birmingham West in 1885, against Joseph Chamberlain, on a Fair Trade platform. He was something of a rarity, in being a "Conservative working man." In 1907 he became Mayor of Bermondsey. He was a supporter of Tariff Reform.

Aged almost 65, he was selected as Conservative candidate for the by-election caused by the death of the sitting Liberal MP George Joseph Cooper. The seat had alternated between Liberal and Conservative in recent elections, although the Liberals had secured a convincing victory in 1906.

Dumphreys was critical of the Liberal government's failure to act on the recommendation of the Poor Law Commission, which had been initiated by the previous Conservative government. In particular, he pressed for wholesale reform of the workhouse system, for better treatment of the deserving poor, and removal of the taint of pauper from children. "For every child a chance" was his philosophy.