This film is part of Free
Wainwright Conservative Club, Blackpool (c.1906)
A lively crowd greets Blackpool's Conservative MP - possibly on election day.
Overview
This is one of just a few politically-themed films in the Mitchell and Kenyon collection - the filmmakers generally preferred more ordinary (and possibly less divisive) subjects. The politician on the balcony of Blackpool's Wainwright Conservative Club appears to be Wilfred Ashley, perhaps celebrating his 1906 election as the town's MP, who greets a lively crowd before leaving in a carriage.
A former army Colonel, Ashley sat as MP for Blackpool from 1906, making this film some years later than 1902 as originally believed. In 1918 he jumped constituency to neighbouring Fylde and from there to New Forest in Hampshire, and served as Minister of Transport in Stanley Baldwin's 1924-29 administration. He moved to the House of Lords in 1932 as Baron Mount Temple. The well-connected Ashley counted Prince Albert Edward - soon to be crowned King Edward II - among the guests at his 1901 wedding. Thanks to the keen-eyed Gwyn Lishman and Kathryn Rix for identifying the location and the politician.
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