Henry M. Hyndman, Socialist candidate, Burnley, 1906

Henry M. Hyndman, Socialist candidate, Burnley, 1906
Henry M. Hyndman, Socialist candidate, Burnley, 1906
Henry M. Hyndman, Socialist candidate, Burnley, 1906
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Henry M. Hyndman, Socialist candidate, Burnley, 1906
Burnley
Henry Mayers Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman, was born into a wealthy London family on 7th March, 1842. At Cambridge University he was known as a scholar and a renowned sportsman, playing first class cricket for Sussex. After a period travelling and working as a journalist overseas, in 1881 he launched Britain's first socialist political party, the Socialist Democratic Federation. He was known as a fiery orator, and in 1886 he was tried and acquitted at the Old Bailey for participating in the West End Riots.

He stood for Parliament four times in Burnley, where the SDF were active. In 1895 he polled 1498 votes in the constituency's first tri-partite election, in 1906 his 3rd place share of the vote rose to 4932, in January 1910 it was 4948, significantly closing the gap to the two main parties, but in December 1910 his vote declined to 3810 and he resigned as candidate. Hyndman supported Britain's war effort in WW1 having for several years been warning of the military threat from Germany.

From the outset the SDF under Hyndman's inflexible Marxist-Atheist ideology, was riven with internal divisions, and disaffected members frequently left, many to join the Independent Labour Party which eventually evolved into the Labour Party. Hyndman formed the Marxist British Socialist Party from 1911 - 1920 and then the New National Socialist Party, of which he was the leader on his death aged nearly 80 on 22nd November 1921. There is a blue plaque on his Hampstead home, and in 1922 the Hyndman memorial committee commissioned a bust of Hyndman by Edward Hill Lacey which was presented to the National Portrait Gallery.
Photographic print
Monochrome
9 x 14
1906
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P16
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