William Saunders (Liberal politician)

William Saunders (1823 – 1 May 1895)[1][2] was a British newspaper publisher and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895.

Saunders, who was a member of The Plymouth Institution (now The Plymouth Athenaeum),[3] founded several newspapers. He established the Western Morning News at Plymouth in 1860 with Edward Spender.[4] The Eastern Morning News was established at Hull and the first number appeared in January 1864.[5] Saunders also established the Central News Agency, and was vice-president of the temperance society United Kingdom Alliance.[6]

In the 1885 general election, Saunders was elected Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull East but lost the seat in the 1886 general election.[1][7]

In January 1889 he was elected to the newly created London County Council as a councillor representing the Walworth division of Newington. Nominated by the local Liberal and Radical Association, he took his seat as a member of the majority Progressive Party, allied to the parliamentary Liberals.[8] He was re-elected in 1892, holding his seat until 1895.[9]

He returned to the House of Commons at the 1892 general election when he won Walworth from the sitting Conservative MP. He died in office in May 1895, triggering a by-election on 14 May in which the seat was regained by the Conservatives.[2][7]

Saunders married Caroline Spender and was great uncle of poet Stephen Spender.[10]

References
  1. "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "H" (part 4)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  2. "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "W" (part 1)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Retrieved 6 May 2009.
  3. "Historic People". Plymouth Athenaeum. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
  4. Moseley, Brian (23 May 2011). "Western Morning News". The Encyclopaedia of Plymouth History. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
  5. Social institutions, A History of the County of York East Riding: Volume 1: The City of Kingston upon Hull (1969), pp. 418–432. Date accessed: 5 May 2009
  6. Debretts Guide to the House of Commons 1886
  7. Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. pp. 36, 129. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  8. "The London County Council". Morning Post. 20 December 1888. p. 2.
  9. Jackson, W Eric (1965). Achievement. A Short History of the London County Council. London: Longmans. p. 279.
  10. John Sutherland (2005). Stephen Spender: A Literary Life. Oxford University Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-19-534638-1.
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency
 Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull East
1885 – 1886		 Succeeded by
Frederick Grotrian
Preceded by
Lewis Henry Isaacs		 Member of Parliament for Walworth
1892 – 1895		 Succeeded by
James Bailey
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