William Saunders (Liberal politician)
William Saunders was a British newspaper publisher and Liberal Party politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1885 and 1895.
Saunders, who was a member of The Plymouth Institution, founded several newspapers. He established the Western Morning News at Plymouth in 1860 with Edward Spender. The Eastern Morning News was established at Hull and the first number appeared in January 1864. Saunders also established the Central News Agency, and was vice-president of the temperance society United Kingdom Alliance.
In the 1885 general election, Saunders was elected Member of Parliament for Kingston upon Hull East but lost the seat in the 1886 general election.
In January 1889 he was elected to the newly created London County Council as a councillor representing the Walworth division of Newington. Nominated by the local Liberal and Radical Association, he took his seat as a member of the majority Progressive Party, allied to the parliamentary Liberals. He was re-elected in 1892, holding his seat until 1895.
He returned to the House of Commons at the 1892 general election when he won Walworth from the sitting Conservative MP. He died in office in May 1895, triggering a by-election on 14 May in which the seat was regained by the Conservatives.
Saunders married Caroline Spender and was great uncle of poet Stephen Spender.
