James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds


James Milner, 1st Baron Milner of Leeds, MC, PC, was a British Labour Party politician.

Biography

Milner was educated at the University of Leeds and became a solicitor. He was a major in World War I and was wounded, awarded the Military Cross and bar for his service. He was a Leeds City Councillor and Deputy Lord Mayor of Leeds in 1928, and was also Chairman of Leeds Labour Party and President of Leeds Law Society. He later became deputy-lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire.
He was elected as the Labour Member of Parliament for Leeds South East at a by-election in August 1929, and served until 1951. He became Chairman of Ways and Means and Deputy Speaker and led the British Group of the Inter-Parliamentary Union. He was made a Privy Counsellor in 1945.
In 1951, the Speaker of the House of Commons, Douglas Clifton Brown, had stepped down. As Chairman of Ways and Means, Milner wanted to be Labour's first-ever Speaker. However, the Conservatives, now the majority party, nominated William Morrison. The vote went along party lines – the first time the post had been contested in the 20th century – and Milner lost.
As some compensation, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Milner of Leeds, of Roundhay in the City of Leeds, on 20 December 1951. Denis Healey replaced him in the subsequent by-election.

Honours

Milner married Lois Tinsdale Brown on 10 February 1917. They had three children:
Milner died in 1967 at the age of 77 and was succeeded in the barony by his only son, Michael.