Sir John Williams Benn, 1st Baronet, DL (13 November 1850 – 10 April 1922) was a British politician, particularly associated with London politics. He was the father of the politician William Benn and the grandfather of the politician Tony Benn.
Life and career
Benn was born in Gerrards, Cheshire, which is now part of Gee Cross, Hyde, Greater Manchester, but his parents moved the family to east London the following year, where they opened an institute for homeless boys. Benn was largely homeschooled and at the age of seventeen, he joined a furniture company.[citation needed] He later (1880) established a trade journal, The Cabinet Maker, which eventually became the furniture trade's leading publication: when politics became his main interest, the family's publishing business, Benn Brothers, was taken over by his eldest son Ernest Benn (1875–1954), who later renamed it Ernest Benn Limited. His niece was actress Margaret Rutherford; she was the daughter of Benn's younger brother William Rutherford Benn, who was put into a lunatic asylum following his murder of their father, the Rev. Julius Benn.
He was later narrowly defeated at the general election in 1895, but he concentrated on his continuing work as a London councillor, helping introduce electric trams to London's streets in 1903. A year later, he returned to Parliament after winning a by-election at Devonport, a seat he retained until being defeated in 1910. In the meantime his son, 28-year-old William Wedgwood Benn, had also been elected to Parliament, winning Benn's former seat at St. George in 1906. Benn senior was appointed a deputy lieutenant of the County of London in February 1905.
For his work as an MP, he was knighted in 1906 and created a baronet in 1914.
Benn led the Progressive Party from 1908 until ill-health forced him to relinquish the role in 1918 however he remained a member of the London County Council until his death in 1922. In his final election campaign he was victorious, defeating the Labour Group Leader.
Coat of arms of Benn baronets of the Old Knoll, Metropolitan Borough of Lewisham
Crest
On a rock a spear erect proper, flowing therefrom a pennon azure, charged with the word "Onward", letters or.
Escutcheon
Argent, two barrulets indented gules, between in chief as many dragons' heads erased and in base a pencil and a pen in saltire proper, tied with a lace azure, pendent therefrom a torteau, charged with a figure "1914" or.
Motto
Deo Favente (By God's favour).
References
↑"London County Council". The Times. 16 March 1904. p.4.
↑"London County Council". The Times. 13 March 1895. p.10.
12345National Liberal Federation, Liberal Central Association (Great Britain) (1908). The Liberal Year Book. New York Public Library. Liberal Publication Department. pp.38, 241, 243 & 350-1.
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