Alexander Henry (MP)

Alexander Henry (1783 – 4 October 1862) was a British Radical politician.

Life
Alexander Henry of Woodlands, near Manchester, England, was born in County Down. He moved to England in 1804, and with his brother Samuel, established A & S Henry & Co Ltd, a dealer in cotton. The firm was very successful, having branches in Huddersfield and elsewhere and they became very wealthy. Samuel Henry used to travel to Alabama to buy cotton. He died in 1840 when the steamship Lexington caught fire and sank in Long Island Sound.

Alexander was a member of the Cross Street congregation, a Unitarian chapel. He married Elizabeth, daughter of George Brush of Willowbrook, Killinchy, County Down. Henry was active in the postal reform movement and a supporter of the Anti-Corn Law League.

Henry was elected Radical Member of Parliament for South Lancashire at a [by-election in 1847 —caused by Charles Pelham Villiers' decision to sit for another seat—and held the seat until 1852 when he did not seek re-election.