Arthur Bottomley

Arthur George Bottomley, Baron Bottomley, OBE, PC (7 February 1907 – 3 November 1995) was a British Labour politician, Member of Parliament and minister.

The Right Honourable The Lord Bottomley OBE PC
Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations
In office 18 October 1964 – 1 August 1966
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Prime Minister	Harold Wilson
Preceded by	Duncan Sandys
Succeeded by	Herbert Bowden
Minister of Overseas Development
In office 11 August 1966 – 29 August 1967
Preceded by	Anthony Greenwood
Succeeded by	Reg Prentice
Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough Middlesbrough East (1962–1974)
In office 14 March 1962 – 9 June 1983
Preceded by	Hilary Marquand
Succeeded by	Stuart Bell
Member of Parliament for Rochester and Chatham Chatham (1945–1950)
In office 5 July 1945 – 8 October 1959
Preceded by	Leonard Plugge
Succeeded by	Julian Critchley
Personal details
Born	Arthur George Bottomley 7 February 1907 London
Died	3 November 1995 (aged 88) London
Spouse(s)	Dame Bessie Bottomley (m. 1936)

Early life

Before entering parliament he was a trade union organiser of the National Union of Public Employees (which later became part of UNISON). From 1929 to 1949 he was a councillor on Walthamstow Borough Council, and in 1945–1946 he was Mayor of Walthamstow. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 1941 Birthday Honours.[1]

Parliamentary career

He was first elected to parliament in the 1945 general election for the Chatham division of Rochester and he held the seat (later renamed Rochester and Chatham) until losing it in the 1959 general election to the Conservative Julian Critchley. He returned to parliament by winning Middlesbrough East in a 1962 by-election and held the seat, and its successor Middlesbrough, until his retirement in 1983.

He was a junior minister in Clement Attlee's governments, being Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs (1946–47), Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1947) and Secretary for Overseas Trade at the Board of Trade (1947–51). In Harold Wilson's governments he was Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations (1964–66) — during which time he sought to deal with the consequences of Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence — and Minister of Overseas Development (1966–67).

Announced in the 1984 New Year Honours,[2] he was created a life peer as Baron Bottomley of Middlesbrough in the County of Cleveland, on 31 January 1984.[3]

Lord Bottomley died on 3 November 1995 aged 88.

Family

His wife, Bessie Ellen Bottomley (née Wiles), JP, whom he married in 1936,[4] was named a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1970 "[f]or public and social services."

Bessie Ellen Bottomley died in 1998 in Redbridge, Essex.

Publications

• The Use and Abuse of Trade Unions, London: Ampersand, 1963.
• With George Sinclair, Control of Commonwealth Immigration. An Analysis and Summary of the Evidence taken by the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration 1969–70. London: Runnymede Trust, 1970 (ISBN 9780902397033).
• Commonwealth, Comrades, and Friends, Somaiya Publications, 1986.

References

1. "No. 35184". The London Gazette (Supplement). 12 June 1941. p. 3287.
2. "No. 49583". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1983. p. 1.
3. "No. 49637". The London Gazette. 3 February 1984. p. 1579.
4. Dalyell, Tam (7 November 1995). "OBITUARY: Lord Bottomley". The Independent.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Bottomley
• Catalogue of the Bottomley papers at the Archives Division of the London School of Economics.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Leonard Frank Plugge	Member of Parliament for Chatham 1945–1950	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Rochester and Chatham 1950–1959	Succeeded by Julian Critchley
Preceded by Hilary Marquand	Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough East 1962–1974	Constituency abolished
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough 1974–1983	Succeeded by Stuart Bell
Political offices
Preceded by Duncan Sandys	Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations 1964–1966	Succeeded by Herbert Bowden as Secretary of State for Commonwealth Affairs
Preceded by Anthony Greenwood	Minister of Overseas Development 1966–1967	Succeeded by Reg Prentice