page_title: Fred Brocklehurst
hierarchical_section_title: Fred Brocklehurst
caption_attribution_description: English: Fred Brocklehurst, British socialist activist
context_page_description: Frederick Brocklehurst was a British political activist best known for his early involvement in the socialist movement.
  Brocklehurst began working in a silk mill when only ten years old. He subsequently worked at the presses of the Manchester Courier newspaper, before obtaining a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated in law. An activist in the Labour Church, he returned to Manchester after John Trevor passed the church leadership to him. He was a founder member of the Independent Labour Party, and in 1894 was elected to its national council.
  Brocklehurst stood for the ILP in Bolton at the 1895 general election. In 1896, Brocklehurst was arrested and imprisoned for giving a speech at Boggart Hole Clough Park, on behalf of the ILP. This was in contravention of a controversial new bylaw prohibiting public speaking in Manchester's parks. However, public opinion was with Brocklehurst and in 1897, he was elected to Manchester City Council, defeating the chairman of the parks committee. He was also elected to the Manchester School Board, on which he campaigned against school fees and subsidies for religious schools.
context_section_description: Frederick Brocklehurst (1866–1926) was a British political activist best known for his early involvement in the socialist movement.
  Brocklehurst began working in a silk mill when only ten years old.  He subsequently worked at the presses of the Manchester Courier newspaper, before obtaining a scholarship to Queens' College, Cambridge, where he graduated in law.  An activist in the Labour Church, he returned to Manchester after John Trevor passed the church leadership to him.  He was a founder member of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), and in 1894 was elected to its national council.
  Brocklehurst stood for the ILP in Bolton at the 1895 general election.  In 1896, Brocklehurst was arrested and imprisoned for giving a speech at Boggart Hole Clough Park, on behalf of the ILP.   This was in contravention of a controversial new bylaw prohibiting public speaking in Manchester's parks.  However, public opinion was with Brocklehurst and in 1897, he was elected to Manchester City Council, defeating the chairman of the parks committee.  He was also elected to the Manchester School Board, on which he campaigned against school fees and subsidies for religious schools.  He became well known for proposing improved sporting and recreational facilities for the city.
  The ILP was one of the organisations which founded the Labour Representation Committee (LRC) in 1900; this organisation later became the Labour Party.  Brocklehurst was initially proposed as its secretary, but he withdrew as he was unwilling to move to London, where the LRC 
  would be based.  Instead, the less experienced Ramsay MacDonald was chosen.  At the 1900 general election, Brocklehurst stood for the Labour Representation Committee in Manchester South West.  Brocklehurst advocated for a British victory in the Second Boer War, and this concerned many in the ILP.  He was enthusiastically supported by the Manchester Guardian, but not by the official Liberal Party, and was not elected.  He threatened to sue any opponent claiming that he was an atheist.
  Later in the 1900s, Brocklehurst qualified as a barrister.  He defected from the ILP to the Conservative Party, for which he stood unsuccessfully in Prestwich at the December 1910 general election.  In 1917, he started a local anti-semitic group named "Britain for the British".
caption: Brocklehurst in 1895
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2976", "Image ImageLength": "3968", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image ImageDescription": "dav", "Image Make": "HUAWEI", "Image Model": "BLN-L21", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "BLN-L21C432B377", "Image DateTime": "2018:11:13 15:53:40", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "268", "Image DeviceSettingDescription": "[105, 112, 112, 0]", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "384", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "512", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "0", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1158", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4037", "EXIF DocumentName": "[]", "EXIF ExposureTime": "3/100", "EXIF FNumber": "11/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:11:13 15:53:40", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:11:13 15:53:40", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "298973/10000", "EXIF ApertureValue": "227/100", "EXIF BrightnessValue": "0", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Daylight", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "383/100", "EXIF SubSecTime": "964398", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "964398", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "964398", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2976", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "3968", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "986", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "26", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "-7370"}