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Alfred Lafone

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Lafone in 1895.

Alfred Lafone (13 February 1821 – 26 April 1911)[1] of Hanworth Park, Feltham, Middlesex, was a British leather merchant and Conservative Party politician in London. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bermondsey from 1886 to 1892, and from 1895 to 1900.

Origins

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Lafone was born in the West Derby area of Liverpool, the fourth son of Samuel Lafone.[2] His half-brother was Samuel Fisher Lafone (1805-1871), a powerful and influential businessman based in Montevideo, dealing in cattle and hides, the wealthiest British resident in South America[3] who in 1843 made a spectacular land purchase in Uruguay, and had purchased a large estate on East Falkland.[4]

Career

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He was educated privately,[2] and moved to Bermondsey in London where he joined the leather and hide factors business of Boutcher, Mortimore and Company.[5]

He was elected in 1870 as a member of the London School Board,[5] and was re-elected in 1873.[6] In 1873[7] he purchased the large mansion house and estate of Hanworth Park, near London. At the 1885 general election he unsuccessfully contested the new Bermondsey division of Southwark,[5] losing by only 83 votes (1.2% of the total) to the sitting Liberal MP Thorold Rogers.[8] He had been selected by the local Conservative Association in preference to John Dumphreys, who had been put forward as a Conservative working man's candidate.[9]

However, he defeated Rogers at the 1886 election,[10] taking the seat with a swing of 3.4%.[8] In 1888, he chaired a committee set up to raise funds for the establishment of a series of South London Polytechnics.[11] The first of the three institutes was Goldsmiths College in New Cross, which opened in 1891, followed in 1892 by the Borough Road Polytechnic, of which Lafone became a governor.[12]

By 1892 he had become a Justice of the Peace (JP) for Middlesex,[13] but at the 1892 general election he lost his seat in Parliament to the Liberal Party candidate Reuben Barrow, on a swing of 7.9%.[8]

He stood again in 1895, with the active support of the local Liberal Unionist Party.[14] On election day, his campaign was assisted by many loans of carriages, including from the Duke of Norfolk, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Yarborough, Lord Iveagh, and Baroness Burdett-Coutts.[15] The sitting Liberal MP, Reuben Barrow, was supported by processions of workingmen,[15] but Lafone regained the seat with a majority of 360 votes (4.4% of the total).[8]

Lafone retired from Parliament at the 1900 general election, on account of his "advanced age";[16] he was by then 79 years old.[1]

Marriage and progeny

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In 1852 Lafone married Jane Boutcher, daughter of William Boutcher of Grateley in Hampshire.[5] She died on 9 April 1885.[17]

Death

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He died aged 90 on 26 April 1911, at his mansion house Hanworth Park having been ill for about four months.[18]

References

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  1. ^ a b Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "B" (part 2)
  2. ^ a b "New Members Of Parliament". The Times. London. 19 July 1895. p. 15.
  3. ^ Winder & Dix, p.55
  4. ^ The Diversified Networks of Samuel Lafone, pp.55-9 in Trading Environments: Frontiers, Commercial Knowledge and Environmental Transformation, 1750-1990, edited by Gordon M. Winder, Andreas Dix, New York, 2016 [1]
  5. ^ a b c d "Biographies Of Candidates. England And Wales". The Times. London. 30 June 1886. p. 5.
  6. ^ "The London School Board". The Times. London. 11 December 1873. p. 10.
  7. ^ "HAMFC". www.hamfc.co.uk. Retrieved 30 May 2021.
  8. ^ a b c d Craig, F. W. S. (1989) [1974]. British parliamentary election results 1885–1918 (2nd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 47. ISBN 0-900178-27-2.
  9. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 16 June 1885. p. 10.
  10. ^ "No. 25609". The London Gazette. 20 July 1886. p. 3502.
  11. ^ "The Proposed South London Polytechnic". The Times. London. 18 July 1888. p. 7.
  12. ^ "The Borough-Road Polytechnic". The Times. London. 23 September 1892. p. 6.
  13. ^ "The General Election. Biographies Of Candidates, England And Wales, Shropshire". The Times. London. 1 July 1892. p. 3.
  14. ^ "Election Intelligence". The Times. London. 26 June 1895. p. 10.
  15. ^ a b "News: London". The Times. London. 18 July 1895. p. 6.
  16. ^ "The General Election. The Metropolis". The Times. London. 20 September 1900. p. 8.
  17. ^ "Deaths". The Times. London. 11 April 1885. p. 1.
  18. ^ "Obituaries: Mr Alfred Lafone". The Times. London. 27 April 1911. p. 11.
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Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bermondsey
1886 – 1892 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Bermondsey
1895 – 1900 		Succeeded by
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