Thomas Bramsdon

Sir Thomas Arthur Bramsdon (27 February 1857 – 29 September 1935) was a British solicitor from Portsmouth and a Liberal Party politician who was elected for four non-consecutive terms as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Portsmouth constituencies. In the 1861 Census his father was described as a retail brewer living at 40 Hertford Street, Portsea and Thomas is listed as a four-year-old Scholar.

Bramsdon was educated at Esplanade House School, in Portsmouth, and admitted as a solicitor in 1878, practising in the local firm of Bramsdon and Childs. He later became a Justice of the Peace and Coroner for Portsmouth, and was at one time President of Coroners' Society for England and Wales. He also served as Chairman of the Governors of the Royal Portsmouth, Portsea, and Gosport Hospital, as a Governor of Portsmouth Grammar School, and for six years was Chairman of the Portsmouth School Board.

At the 1906 general election, Bramsdon and Sir John Baker retook both seats for the Liberals, but and Bramsdon was knighted in July 1909. He and his fellow Liberal candidate were defeated again in January 1910, and Bramsdon did not stand in the December 1910 election.

At the 1922 general election, Portsmouth Central saw a closely fought 4-way contest, with Labour, Conservative, Liberal and National Liberal candidates all winning over 20% of the votes. The Conservative Frank Privett won with a majority of only 7 votes over the National Liberal, but Bramsdon's third-place was only 2.0% of the votes behind the winner.

The following year, at the general election in December 1923, the rift in the Liberal Party had been healed, and Bramsdon regained the seat. That was his last term in Parliament; he did not contest the 1924 general election.