Joseph Binns

Joseph Binns, CBE (19 March 1900 – 23 April 1975)^[1] was a British Labour Party politician.

Binns was the son of Alderman Joseph Binns, who later became Lord Mayor of Manchester.^[2] He was educated at elementary schools and at Manchester College of Technology, and became a consulting engineer,^[2] working for ICI.^[3]

He was a member of Greenwich Borough Council from 1932 to 1949, and was Chairman of the Joint Standing Committee of the Metropolitan Boroughs from 1945 to 1949.^[2] At the 1945 general election he was elected as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Gillingham in Kent.^[4]^[5] He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to the Minister of Supply, John Wilmot, from 1946 to 1947. He was defeated at the 1950 general election,^[6] after catching influenza during the campaign,^[7] and was never returned to the House of Commons.

Binns was appointed as a Commissioner of the Public Works Loan Board in 1948, a role held until 1972, becoming deputy chairman of the board in 1958^[8] and chairman in 1970.^[2]^[9] He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the New Year Honours 1961.^[10]

Family edit

Binns married Daisy Graham in 1924,^[2] and they had two sons: Graham and Joseph Christopher.^[11] Graham Binns (1925–2003) was a broadcaster and arts campaigner who served for five years as chairman of the British Committee for the Restitution of the Parthenon Marbles.^[3] Another son, Joseph Binns (born 1931),^[12] was a Labour Party councillor in Greenwich who stood unsuccessfully for Parliament on three occasions: as a Labour candidate in Bromley at the 1964 general election and in his father's old constituency of Gillingham in 1966,^[13] and as a Social Democratic Party (SDP) candidate in Birmingham Edgbaston at the 1983 general election.^[12]

^
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephens (1981). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament: Volume IV, 1945–1979. Brighton: The Harvester Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-85527-335-6.
^ ^a ^b "Obituary: Graham Binns". The Times. 22 May 2003. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
^ Craig, F. W. S. (1983) [1969]. British parliamentary election results 1918–1949 (3rd ed.). Chichester: Parliamentary Research Services. p. 225. ISBN 0-900178-06-X.
^ "No. 37238". The London Gazette. 24 August 1945. p. 4294.
^ . Richard Kimber's political science resources. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017. Retrieved 8 August 2010.
^ "Election Items". The Times. 17 February 1950. p. 4.
^ "Business appointments". The Times. 2 April 1958. p. 6.
^ "Public Work Loan Board Changes". The Times. 5 November 1970. p. 23.
^ "No. 42231". The London Gazette (Supplement). 27 December 1960. p. 8898.
^ "Deaths". The Times. 28 April 1975. p. 24.
^ ^a ^b The Times Guide to the House of Commons 1983 (2nd ed.). London: Times Books. 1984 [1983]. p. 48. ISBN 0-7230-0257-6.
^ "Election Choices". The Times. 23 August 1965. p. 5.

Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by Sir Robert Gower	Member of Parliament for Gillingham 1945 – 1950	Succeeded by Frederick Burden