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Stanley Johnson (London politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Louis Stanley Johnson (11 October 1869 – 30 November 1937)[1] was an English solicitor and Conservative Party politician.

Johnson was the son of Edward Johnson, of Hackney. He was educated privately and admitted as a solicitor in 1899, becoming a partner in the firm of Downer and Johnson, based in 426 Salisbury House, London Wall.[2] (The partnership was dissolved in 1928, when Johnson formed a new partnership known as Stanley Johnson & Allen).[3]

Johnson was a member of Hackney Council.[4] He stood for Parliament, twice in 1910, in the Walthamstow division of Essex. At the January 1910 general election he lost to the Liberal MP Sir John Simon. When Simon faced a by-election in November 1910 after being appointed as Solicitor General, Johnson again failed to unseat him.[5]

Johnson did not contest the general election in December 1910,[5] but in 1914 he became Mayor of Hackney, a position he held until 1919.[2] He finally entered the House of Commons at the 1918 general election when he was elected as the first Member of Parliament (MP) for the newly created Walthamstow East[6] (a division of the Municipal Borough of Walthamstow. Johnson had stood as a Coalition Unionist, and with the assistance of the "coalition coupon", he won nearly twice as many votes as his old adversary, John Simon. He was re-elected in 1922 and in 1923, and stood down from Parliament at the 1924 general election.[6]

He was Honorary Lieutenant-Colonel of the London Regiment,[2] and was knighted in 1920.[7]

Johnson was found dead at his home in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames with a gunshot wound to his head on 30 November 1937; the verdict at his inquest recorded that he "had killed himself while the balance of his mind was disturbed".[8][9]

References

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  1. ^ "House of Commons constituencies beginning with "W" (part1)". Leigh Rayment's House of Commons pages. Archived from the original on 10 August 2009. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
  2. ^ a b c "Debrett's House of Commons, 1922". 1867. Retrieved 1 May 2009.
  3. ^ "No. 33436". The London Gazette. 6 November 1928. pp. 7260–7261.
  4. ^ "Election Intelligence. Walthamstow., Mr. Simon To Be Opposed". The Times. 10 October 1910. p. 10. Retrieved 1 September 2012.(subscription required)
  5. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 282. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  6. ^ a b Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 265. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
  7. ^ "No. 32035". The London Gazette. 31 August 1920. pp. 8860–8861.
  8. ^ "Sir Stanley Johnson". The Times. No. 47856. 1 December 1937. p. 18.
  9. ^ "KNIGHT VICTIM OF OVERWORK". Nottingham Evening Post. No. 18535. 3 December 1937. p. 11. Retrieved 8 July 2020 – via British Newspaper Archive.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Walthamstow East
19181924
Succeeded by