John Pratt (Liberal politician)

Sir John William Pratt (9 September 1873 – 27 October 1952), was a Scottish Liberal politician.

John Pratt
John Pratt chaired in 1913

Pratt was Warden of Glasgow University Settlement, 1902–12 and was a Member of Glasgow Town Council, 1906. At the start of his political career he was a Fabian.[1]

Pratt entered Parliament for Linlithgowshire in a 1913 by-election, a seat he held until 1918, and then represented Glasgow Cathcart until 1922. He served in the coalition government of David Lloyd George as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1916 to 1919 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health for Scotland from 1919 to 1922. He was knighted in the 1922 Dissolution Honours.[2]

Pratt did not contest the general election of the same year. At the 1923 General election he sought a return to parliament but narrowly failed to re-gain Dundee for the Liberals. He then contested the 1924 Glasgow Kelvingrove by-election without success. He did not contest the 1924 General Election. At the 1929 General Election, he stood for the Liberals at Sunderland without success. At the 1931 General Election, he stood for the New Party at Manchester Hulme, again without success.

Pratt died in October 1952, aged 79.

Electoral record
1913 Linlithgowshire by-election
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John William Pratt 5,615 52.4 -8.4
Unionist James Kidd 5,094 47.6 +8.4
Majority 521 4.8 -16.8
Turnout 10,709
Liberal hold Swing -8.4
General election 1918: Glasgow Cathcart[3]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal John William Pratt 16,310 78.4 N/A
Labour Gavin Brown Clark 4,489 21.6 N/A
Majority 11,821 56.8 N/A
Turnout 20,799 N/A
Liberal win (new seat)
General election 1923: Dundee (2 seats)
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Scottish Prohibition Edwin Scrymgeour 25,753 25.1 -2.5
Labour Edmund Dene Morel 23,345 22.7 -2.9
Liberal Sir John William Pratt 23,031 22.4 +16.7
Unionist Frederick William Wallace 20,253 19.7 n/a
Communist William Gallacher 10,380 10.1 +5.1
Majority 2,722 2.7
Majority 314 0.3
Turnout 72.5 -8.0
Scottish Prohibition hold Swing
Labour hold Swing
1924 Glasgow Kelvingrove by-election[4]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Unionist Walter Elliot Elliot 15,488 55.3
Labour Aitken Ferguson 11,167 39.8
Liberal Sir John William Pratt 1,372 4.9
Majority 4,321 15.5
Turnout 70.5
Unionist hold Swing
General election 1929: Sunderland [5]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Marion Phillips 31,794 19.5 +0.2
Labour Alfred Smith 31,085 19.0 -0.3
Unionist Sir Walter Raine 29,180 17.9 -7.4
Unionist Luke Thompson 28,937 17.7 -7.7
Liberal Elizabeth Trebelle Morgan 21,300 13.0 -4.8
Liberal Sir John William Pratt 21,142 12.9 +0.7
Majority 1,905 1.1 7.1
Turnout 81.1 -3.5
Labour gain from Unionist Swing
General election 1931: Manchester, Hulme
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Conservative Sir Joseph Nall 25,185 70.0
Labour Andrew McElwee 9,219 25.6
New Party Sir John William Pratt 1,565 4.6
Majority 15,966 44.4
Turnout 35,969 73.02
Conservative gain from Labour Swing

References
  1. John MacLean's Scottish Notes, Justice 18 October 1913, page 6
  2. "No. 32766". The London Gazette (Supplement). 10 November 1922. p. 8017.
  3. Whitaker's Almanack, 1920
  4. The Times, 26 May 1924
  5. British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949, FWS Craig
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