Thomas Owen Jacobsen

Thomas Owen Jacobsen (1864 - 15 June 1941) was a British businessman and Liberal politician. He was born in Liverpool, and was the son of a naturalised Dane.^[1] He was a master printer and the senior partner in the stationery company of Jacobsen, Welch and Company, whose paper mills were at Hyde, Cheshire.^[2][3]

In March 1916, Francis Neilson, MP for Hyde, resigned his seat. Jacobsen was chosen as Liberal candidate, and was endorsed by the Asquith led Coalition Government. He was elected at the ensuing by-election.^[1] He held the seat until the 1918 general election, when the constituency was abolished. In 1917 he was appointed as private secretary to Leo Chiozza Money, Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Shipping.^[4] In 1918 he contested the new seat of Stalybridge & Hyde and was defeated;

General Election 1918 Electorate 43,711

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Unionist	Sir John Wood	13,462	51.4
	Labour	Walter Fowden	6,508	24.8
	Liberal	Thomas Owen Jacobsen	6,241	23.8
Majority			6,954	26.6
Turnout				60.0
	Unionist hold		Swing

Jacobsen was a resident of Brixton in South London, and in 1919 he was elected as a member of the London County Council for Lambeth North. He was part of the Liberal-supported Progressive grouping on the council.^[5] In 1921 the MP for Southwark South East resigned, and Jacobsen was chosen by the local Liberal Progressive and Radical Association to fight the by-election. He was not opposed by the Conservative Party, but refused to describe himself as a Coalition Liberal, but as a "Liberal supporting the Coalition Government".^[2] The contest took place on 14 December 1921, and Jacobsen was heavily defeated by Thomas Naylor, leader of the London Labour Party.^[6]

Jacobsen lost his seat on the London County Council in 1922, and stood unsuccessfully for the Liberals at Lambeth Kennington at both the 1923 and 1924 general elections.^[7][8] The 1929 election was his last electoral contest, when he failed to win the City of London for the Liberals.^[9]

Jacobsen retired from politics, and was president of the Stationers Association of Great Britain and Ireland from 1929 to 1931.^[10] In 1935 the Jacobsen and Welch Company was sold.^[11] He died in Worthing, Sussex, in 1941, aged 77.^[12]

References

Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs

1. "Resignation of Mr Neilson", The Times, 3 March 1916, p.9
2. "S. E. Southwark Contest", The Times, 21 November 1921, p.7
3. "News in Brief", The Times, 13 March 1916, p.5
4. "Ministerial Secretaries", The Times, 19 February 1917, p.11
5. "LCC Election Results", The Times, 8 March 1919, p.14
6. "Labour Victory in Southwark", The Times, 15 December 1921, p.12
7. "General Election 1923 - Candidates nominated", The Times, 27 November 1923, p.8
8. "The General Election: First List of Candidates", The Times, 15 October 1924
9. "Election Contest in the City", The Times, 11 May 1929, p.9
10. "Obituary: Mr T. O. Jacobsen", The Times, 19 June 1941, p.7
11. "City News in Brief", The Times, 16 April 1935, p.23
12. "Deaths", The Times, 18 June 1941, p.1

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Thomas Jacobsen