Janet Laurel Adamson | |
|---|---|
| Adamson in 1945 | |
| Member of Parliament | |
| In office 7 November 1938 –21 July 1946 | |
| Preceded by | Frank Clarke |
| Succeeded by | Ashley Bramall |
| Constituency | Dartford (1938–1945) Bexley (1945–1946) |
| Chair of the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party | |
| In office 1935–1936 | |
| Preceded by | William Albert Robinson |
| Succeeded by | Hugh Dalton |
| Member of London County Council for Lambeth North | |
| In office 8 March 1928 –5 March 1931 | |
| Preceded by | Richard Charles Powell |
| Succeeded by | Ida Samuel |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Janet Laurel Johnston 9 May 1882 Kilmarnock,Scotland |
| Died | 25 April 1962 (aged 79) |
| Political party | Labour |
| Spouse | William Murdoch Adamson (died 1945) |
Janet Laurel Adamson (née Johnston; [1] 9 May 1882 –25 April 1962) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1938 to 1946,and as a junior minister in Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government.
Janet Laurel Johnston was born on 9 May 1882,the daughter of Thomas Johnston of Kirkcudbright,a railway porter,and his wife Elizabeth Denton,in a family of six children. Her father died young,and her mother became a dressmaker. [1] [2] [3] She had a secondary education,worked at dressmaking,and was employed as a teacher,and on factory work. [2] [4]
After her marriage in 1902,the family had an itinerant period in the North of England and Midlands;her husband sought work,hampered by his activism. Jennie Adamson was a suffragist,in Manchester,and joined the Labour Party in 1908. In Lincoln,she joined the Board of Guardians and campaigned for child welfare. [4] In 1923,with William Adamson's election to parliament,the family moved to London. [2]
Adamson belonged to the Workers' Union in 1912,and was an organiser in the 1913 Black Country strike. [2] At the time of the 1926 General Strike she was on the Women's National Strike Committee. [5]
From 1928 to 1931,Adamson was a member of London County Council for Lambeth North. She served on the National Executive Committee of the Labour Party from 1927 to 1947,which she chaired from 1935 to 1936. [1] [3] In 1936,she chaired the Labour Party Conference. [6]
Adamson unsuccessfully contested Dartford at the 1935 general election,when the sitting Conservative MP Frank Clarke held the seat with a significantly reduced majority. [7] Clarke died in July 1938,however,and at the resulting by-election in November 1938,Adamson won the seat on a swing of 4.2%. [7] Jennie and William Adamson became the only husband and wife team in the House of Commons. [8]
The constituency was divided in boundary changes for the 1945 general election,when Adamson was elected with a large majority (27% of the votes) for the new Bexley constituency. [9] She served as a Parliamentary Private Secretary from 1940 to 1945 to Walter Womersley,at the Ministry of Pensions; [10] and as Parliamentary Secretary from 1945 to 1946 there,under Wilfred Paling as minister. [1]
Adamson resigned from Parliament in 1946,becoming Deputy Chair of the Unemployment Assistance Board from 1946 to 1953. [1] Her resignation precipitated a by-election in July 1946 which was narrowly won by the Labour candidate Ashley Bramall. [9] At the next general election,in 1950,the seat was won by future Prime Minister Edward Heath.
Jennie Adamson died on 25 April 1962. [11]
Jennie Johnston married in 1902 William Murdoch Adamson,a Transport and General Workers' Union official who became Labour MP for Cannock. They had two sons and two daughters. [1] [2] [3] Their younger son,Thomas Johnston Adamson,was killed in action with the RAF in March 1944. [12]