Percy Alden

Sir Percy Alden (6 June 1865 – 30 June 1944) was a social worker, land reformer and politician.

Early life
Born in Oxford, he graduated from the university there in 1888. He began studies for the Congregational ministry at Mansfield House, Oxford. Here, he became involved in social work, and was appointed in 1891 as the first warden of the Mansfield House settlement in Canning Town, West Ham, a post he held until 1901, later serving as honorary warden and vice-president.

Municipal politics
From 1892–1901 he was a member of the West Ham Borough Council, serving as deputy mayor in 1898. He was a supporter, but not a member, of the Independent Labour Party group that controlled the council West Ham was one of the most deprived areas in London with high unemployment and Alden was the instigator of a petition from the borough council to parliament seeking government action on the problem. He married Dr Margaret Pearse, senior resident physician of the Canning Town Medical Mission Hospital, in 1899 and they had three daughters. He was co-opted onto the London School Board in 1903.

Parliamentary politics
Following his resignation from the Mansfield House Settlement, Alden remained involved in radical politics. In 1902 he became secretary of the National Unemployed Committee, and in 1903 joined The Rainbow Circle, a progressive discussion group of Liberals and Socialists. In the following year he was among a group of Circle members who helped form the British Institute of Social Service. Following an electoral pact between the Labour Representation Committee and the Liberal Party, Alden was elected as a "Radical Liberal" MP for Tottenham at the 1906 general election. Alden had been a member of both the socialist Fabian Society and the Liberal Party, and in parliament he frequently voted with the Labour MPs. His opposition to conscription in 1916, and support for conscientious objectors, brought him into conflict with his Liberal Party colleagues. When the party split into two factions in 1918, Alden joined the anti-coalition Liberals led by H H Asquith. He was the party's candidate in the new seat of Tottenham North at the 1918 general election, where he was defeated by a Coalition Conservative.

In April 1919 he joined the Labour Party, but was unsuccessful as the party's candidate at Luton at the 1922 general election. A further general election was held in 1923, and Alden was elected as Labour MP for Tottenham South His return to parliament was to be brief, however, as he lost his seat when a further election was held in 1924.

Life outside parliament
Alden became disillusioned with the Labour Party and returned to the Liberals in 1927, attracted by their policies on relieving unemployment. He did not re-enter active politics, devoting himself instead to charitable work. He was knighted in 1933.

Alden died during the Second World War when a German flying bomb exploded in Tottenham Court Road in June 1944. A Percy Alden Scholarship, to enable a student to attend university followed by a year's training in social work, was established in his memory.