Frank Smith

Francis Samuel Smith (1854 – 26 December 1940) was a British newspaper editor and Christian socialist politician, who contested a large number of elections before finally winning a parliamentary seat in his mid-70s.

Born in Chelsea, Smith was educated privately and ran an upholstery company in Sloane Street. but he was elected to the London County Council, playing a key role on the body until 1913. Smith also stood in Glasgow Tradeston at the 1895 general election, in the meantime involving himself in spiritualism and the Brotherhood Movement, emphasising that, for him, socialism was entirely compatible with religion. After the election, he undertook a speaking tour of the United States with Hardie. In 1901, he resigned his council seat and rejoined the Salvation Army, but continued as an active socialist, becoming Secretary of the National Right to Work Council in 1908.

The ILP was a founding element of the Labour Party, and Smith stood under this label in many elections: the 1909 Taunton by-election, 1909 Croydon by-election, in Chatham in December 1910, Balham and Tooting in 1918, Birmingham West in 1922 and 1923, and Nuneaton in 1924. He finally won Nuneaton at the 1929 general election, his twelfth attempt to get into Parliament. Despite already being 74 years old, he acted as Parliamentary Private Secretary to George Lansbury from October 1930, but lost his seat at the 1931 general election.