Joseph Johnstone

Joseph Johnstone
Joseph Johnstone
Member of Parliament; for East Renfrewshire
	In office; 14 December 1918 – 26 October
Preceded by	John Gilmour
Succeeded by	Robert Nichol
Personal details
Born	1860; Salford, Greater Manchester, England
Died	13 January 1931 (aged 70–71)
Political party	Liberal
Spouses	Jane Clerk (m. 1882; died 1917)

Joseph Johnstone (1860 – 13 January 1931) was a Scottish Liberal politician.

Family and education

Johnstone was born in

manufacturer. He was educated at Crummock School in Beith in Ayrshire, a town renowned for its furniture making industries. In 1882 he married Jane Clerk, the daughter of Alexander Muir of Beith and they had two sons and three daughters. Johnstone was widowed in 1917 and did not remarry.^[1]

Career

Jonhstone followed his father into the furniture business, going on to become head of his own furniture manufacturing concern with works situated at Lochwinnoch.^[2]

Local government service

Johnstone was first elected as a member of

National Insurance Committee, Chairman of Renfrewshire Tuberculosis Committee and Chairman of Renfrewshire Joint Sanatorium Board.^[3]

Parliament

Johnstone also had parliamentary ambitions and was adopted as Liberal candidate for the constituency of East Renfrewshire. Reflecting his interest in promoting effective business activity, he successfully moved a resolution encouraging the creation of joint industrial councils as a means of promoting cooperation between capital and labour and avoiding industrial strife, at a conference of the Council of the Scottish Liberal Association in Glasgow in November 1918.^[4]

In

MP for Renfrewshire East in a straight fight with the Labour candidate Robert Spence. The seat had been Conservative held at the two previous general elections of January and December 1910 but the Tories did not oppose Johnstone in 1918, presumably indicating that he had received the Coalition Coupon.^[5]

But Johnstone, while one of those Liberals who supported

Lloyd George and the need for a strong government to prosecute the war, criticised the use of the coupon and looked forward to Liberal reunion.^[6]

After the war ended, Johnstone said that he would be one of a number of Liberals elected in 1918 as supporters of the Coalition who would stand at the next general election as Liberals ‘without prefix or suffix’.[7] Notwithstanding this, he was still sufficiently closely associated with Lloyd George that when the 1922 general election came Johnstone was first shown in the national press as a National Liberal.^[8] By the time nominations were declared however, his description had changed to straightforward Liberal.^[9]

In 1922 Johnstone was opposed by both Labour and Conservative opponents and came third behind both the successful Labour man Robert Nichol and the Tory, Sir Frederick Lobnitz, winning just 17.5% of the overall poll.^[10] Johnstone did not stand for Parliament again.

Other appointments

Johnstone also sat as a

Justice of the Peace for the county of Renfrewshire.^[11]

Honours

In July 1918, Johnstone was awarded the

French army mutinies and a series of labour strikes in Britain in May 1917.^[14]

Johnstone continued to take seriously the issue of the war and the honouring of the war dead. In April 1920, he performed the unveiling of the war memorial for the parish of Eaglesham, on the outer wall of the lower part of the steeple of the parish church.^[15]

References

^ Who was Who, OUP online 2007
^ The Times House of Commons, 1919; Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p72
^ Who was Who, OUP online 2007
^ The Times, 4 November 1918 p4
^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p644
^ Trevor Wilson, The Downfall of the Liberal Party; Cornell University Press,19661 p152
^ The Times, 21 October 1922 p12
^ The Times, 27 October 1922 p8
^ The Times, 6 November 1922 p20
^ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p644
^ Who was Who, OUP online 2007
^ The Times, 10 June 1918 p2
^ The Times, 24 July 1917 p7
^ David Monger, Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain; Liverpool University Press, 2012 p17 ff
^ Glasgow Herald, 5 April 1920

External links

Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Joseph Johnstone

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by John Gilmour	Member of Parliament for East Renfrewshire 1918–1922	Succeeded by Robert Nichol

[1] Who was Who, OUP online 2007

[2] The Times House of Commons, 1919; Politico’s Publishing, 2004 p72

[3] Who was Who, OUP online 2007

[4] The Times, 4 November 1918 p4

[5] F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p644

[6] Trevor Wilson, The Downfall of the Liberal Party; Cornell University Press,19661 p152

[7] The Times, 21 October 1922 p12

[8] The Times, 27 October 1922 p8

[9] The Times, 6 November 1922 p20

[10] F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results, 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1949 p644

[11] Who was Who, OUP online 2007

[12] The Times, 10 June 1918 p2

[13] The Times, 24 July 1917 p7

[14] David Monger, Patriotism and Propaganda in First World War Britain; Liverpool University Press, 2012 p17 ff

[15] Glasgow Herald, 5 April 1920

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