Thomas Fielden (politician)

For other people named Thomas Fielden, see Thomas Fielden (disambiguation).

Fielden in 1895.

Thomas Fielden (1854 – 5 October 1897)[1] was a British Conservative Party politician.

He was born at Todmorden, Lancashire, in 1854, eldest son of Joshua Fielden.[2] His father, his grandfather John Fielden of Todmorden, and brother Edward Brocklehurst Fielden were also Members of Parliament.

Fielden was educated at Wellington College and at Trinity College, Cambridge.

In 1878 he married Martha, daughter of Thomas Knowles of Darn Hall, Cheshire, who was Member of Parliament for Wigan[2] Coincidentally, his brother, Edward, married another daughter of Knowles, Mary Ellen, later on in 1884.[3]

He was a director of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company, and a J.P. for the county of the West Riding of Yorkshire, where his home was at Grimston Park, near Tadcaster.[2]

He was elected at the 1886 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for the Middleton division of Lancashire, a constituency that included his ancestral home at Todmorden, having unsuccessfully contested the seat in 1885. He was narrowly defeated in 1892 (by only 116 votes), but was re-elected to the House of Commons in 1895.[4] He died in office in 1897, aged 43, having died suddenly while grouse shooting in North Amulree, Perthshire, Scotland.[5]

  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 3 May 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ^ a b c Who Was Who, 1897-1916. A and C Black. 1920. p. 243 – via Internet Archive.
  3. ^ Who Was Who, 1941-1950. A and C Black. 1952. p. 384.
  4. ^ Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [First published 1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 322. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  5. ^ Venn, J.A. (1952). Alumni Cantabrigienses, Part II, From 1752 to 1900. Cambridge University Press. p. 492.