Sir Joseph Walton, 1st Baronet

Sir Joseph Walton, 1st Baronet, DL, JP (19 March 1849 – 8 February 1923) was an English coalowner and Liberal Party politician.

Family and education Walton was born at Bollihope, County Durham, the second son of John Walton from Frosterley, a colliery owner. He did not attend school and received his education privately. In 1880 he married Faith Gill the daughter of a Middlesbrough solicitor. They had a son, Joe, who was a barrister and died, unmarried, of erysipelas in 1913 and two daughters. He recognised the great expansion in the coal industry which was continuing to take place at that time and the key place of Middlesbrough in its development. He eventually built up a large business of coal and coke related merchants and colliery ownership. Despite the unanticipated intervention of an Independent Labour Party candidate, Pete Curran, the chief organizer of the Gasworkers and General Labourers’ Union, who was expected to receive the votes of the mineworking districts of Hemsworth and Kinsley as well as those of other working men, Walton retained the seat for the Liberals with a majority of 3,290 over the Unionist Mr J Blyth, with Curran in last place.

1900–1922

Walton held his seat at the 1900 general election in a straight fight against the Unionists by a majority of 3,193. In 1906 he was returned unopposed. It was clear that by this time Walton had the respect of the working-class community and in 1914 even the Barnsley Trades Council was able to announce that Walton was ‘not a bad representative’. At the 1918 general election, Walton stood again, this time as a Coalition Liberal (having presumably received the Coalition coupon) and was again without opposition.

He did not stand for re-election at the 1922 general election when the seat was won for the first time by the Labour Party.

Political stance

Walton was described as being in the Radical tradition of late 19th century Liberalism. He was in favour of Irish Home Rule and of other forms of devolution, or ‘Home Rule All Round’. Whilst an MP he voted in favour of the 1908 Women's Enfranchisement Bill. He also took a deep interest in foreign affairs and in the development of the British Empire. He travelled extensively in India, Burma, Africa, America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, various British Protectorates, as well as visiting China, Japan, Persia, Mesopotamia, Russia and the Balkans.

Honours and appointments Walton was created a baronet, of Rushpool, in the County of York, on 11 July 1910. He was a Justice of the Peace for Middlesbrough and the North Riding of Yorkshire and a Deputy Lieutenant of the North Riding.