Albert Buckley


Lt.-Col. Albert Buckley was a British Conservative politician and businessman.

Early life and education

Buckley was born in Great Crosby, Lancashire, the son of wool broker William Buckley and Mary Hannah Buckley. His father was a nephew of Edmund Buckley and became a partner in his firm. He was educated at Merchant Taylors' Boys' School, Crosby and Aldenham School.

War service

In the Boer War, he was awarded the Queen's Medal with three clasps. During the First World War, he commanded the 5th Battalion of the King's Liverpool Regiment. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Bar and wounded.

Career

Buckley entered Parliament for Waterloo in the 1918 general election. He held office under Bonar Law as a Junior Lord of the Treasury from 1922 to 1923 and under Bonar Law and later Stanley Baldwin as Secretary for Overseas Trade from March to November 1923. However, as a proponent of Free Trade, Buckley was in disagreement with Baldwin, and his local party withheld its support of him as a prospective candidate. He retired from politics at the 1923 general election and never returned to the House of Commons.
A wool broker by trade, Buckley was a partner in the family firm of Edmund Buckley & Co. He was also chairman and later president of Morris and Jones, Ltd., wholesale grocers in Liverpool. He was chairman of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce from 1924–28 and served on the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board from 1928–51. He was a magistrate for the city of Liverpool.
From 1931–48, he led the savings movement in Liverpool. He was chairman of the Liverpool Savings Committee from 1931 until its 1942 amalgamation with the Liverpool War Bond Committee, at which point he was appointed chairman of the new body, the Liverpool National Savings Committee. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1946 Birthday Honours for his work in the savings movement.
Buckley was also chairman of the Liverpool Overhead Railway, the Liverpool Gas Company, the Birkenhead Brewery Company, Ltd., and the Bury Felt Manufacturing Company. He was chairman of Lloyd's Bank North-West Committee from 1957–59.

Personal life

Buckley married Elsie Juanita Fisher in 1919. They had three sons and two daughters. He died in November 1965, aged 88, at his home in Hoylake, Cheshire.