# Owen Jacobsen

Thomas Owen Jacobsen (23 April 1864 – 15 June 1941) was a British businessman and Liberal politician. He was born in Richmond Terrace, Liverpool, on 23 April 1864, and was the son of a naturalised Dane. He was a master printer and the senior partner in the stationery company of Jacobsen, Welch and Company, whose paper mills were at Hyde, Cheshire.
In March 1916, Francis Neilson, MP for Hyde, resigned his seat. Jacobsen was chosen as the Liberal candidate and was endorsed by the Asquith led Coalition Government. He was elected at the ensuing by-election. He held the seat until the 1918 general election, when the constituency was abolished. In 1917, he was appointed as private secretary to Leo Chiozza Money, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping. In 1918, he contested the new seat of Stalybridge and Hyde and was defeated.
Jacobsen was a resident of Brixton in South London and, in 1919, he was elected as a member of the London County Council for Lambeth North. He was part of the Liberal-supported Progressive grouping on the council. In 1921, the MP for Southwark South East resigned and Jacobsen was chosen by the local Liberal Progressive and Radical Association to fight the by-election. He was not opposed by the Conservative Party but refused to describe himself as a Coalition Liberal, but as a "Liberal supporting the Coalition Government". The by-election took place on 14 December 1921 when Jacobsen was heavily defeated by Thomas Naylor, leader of the London Labour Party.
Jacobsen retired from the London County Council in 1922, and stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals at Lambeth Kennington at the 1923 general election. He was going to stand at the 1924 general election but withdrew. The 1929 election was his last electoral contest, when he failed to win the City of London for the Liberals.
Jacobsen retired from politics and was president of the Stationers Association of Great Britain and Ireland from 1929 to 1931. In 1935, the Jacobsen and Welch Company was sold. He died in Worthing, Sussex, in 1941, aged 77.

## Electoral record

1916 Hyde by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Liberal | Owen Jacobsen | 4,089 | 56.0 | +4.6 |
| | Independent | DP Davies | 3,215 | 44.0 | n/a |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 874 | 12.0 | +9.2 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 54.7 | −34.3 |
| | Liberal hold | Liberal hold | Swing | n/a | |
General election 1918: Stalybridge and Hyde :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % |
| | Unionist | John Wood | 13,462 | 51.4 |
| | Labour | Walter Fowden | 6,508 | 24.8 |
| | Liberal | Owen Jacobsen | 6,241 | 23.8 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 6,954 | 26.6 |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | | 60.0 |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | |
1919 London County Council election: Lambeth North (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Progressive | Owen Jacobsen | 2,656 | 38.1 | |
| | Independent | Rose Emma Lamartine Yates | 2,619 | 37.6 | n/a |
| | Municipal Reform | Louis Courtauld | 885 | 12.7 | |
| | Municipal Reform | Camac Wilkinson | 809 | 11.6 | |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 1,734 | 24.9 | |
| | Progressive hold | Progressive hold | Swing | | |
| | Independent gain from Municipal Reform | Independent gain from Municipal Reform | Swing | n/a | |
1921 Southwark South East by-election :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Thomas Naylor | 6,561 | 57.0 | 29.6 |
| | National Liberal | Owen Jacobsen | 2,636 | 22.9 | −49.7 |
| | Ind. Unionist | Horace Louis Petit Boot | 2,307 | 20.1 | n/a |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 3,925 | 34.1 | n/a |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 11,504 | 38.5 | −6.7 |
| | Labour gain from National Liberal | Labour gain from National Liberal | Swing | 39.6 | |
General election 1923: Kennington :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Labour | Thomas Williams | 8,292 | 39.2 | +3.1 |
| | Unionist | Reginald Blair | 7,782 | 36.8 | −10.5 |
| | Liberal | Owen Jacobsen | 5,075 | 24.0 | +7.4 |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 510 | 2.4 | n/a |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 21,149 | 57.6 | −0.8 |
| Registered electors | Registered electors | Registered electors | 36,729 | | |
| | Labour gain from Unionist | Labour gain from Unionist | Swing | +6.8 | |
General election 1929: City of London (2 seats) :
| Party | Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% |
| | Unionist | Vansittart Bowater | 16,149 | 43.9 | n/a |
| | Unionist | Edward Grenfell | 16,092 | 43.7 | n/a |
| | Liberal | Owen Jacobsen | 4,579 | 12.4 | n/a |
| Majority | Majority | Majority | 11,513 | 31.3 | n/a |
| Turnout | Turnout | Turnout | 46,469 | 45.2 | n/a |
| | Unionist hold | Unionist hold | Swing | n/a | |