Fred Longden

Fred Longden (23 February 1894 – 5 October 1952) was a British Labour and Co-operative politician.

Born and brought up in Ashton-under-Lyne, Lancashire, and educated at elementary school, he began work aged 13 as a moulder-apprentice, joining the Moulders' Union in 1914. In the same year he was awarded a place at Ruskin College, Oxford. He also joined the Independent Labour Party and was elected to its National Council.

In the First World War he became active in the Union of Democratic Control, and was arrested for making a speech appealing for immediate peace negotiations. In 1916 he was offered the chance of exemption from military service on trade and health grounds, but preferred to take his stand as a conscientious objector. Refused exemption in that category, he was forcibly enlisted, and sentenced to two years imprisonment for disobeying an order; he then accepted the Home Office Scheme, and was transferred to Princetown Work Centre in the erstwhile Dartmoor Prison.

Fred Longden was elected Member of Parliament for Birmingham Deritend, 1929-1931 and 1945–1950, and then in 1950 for Birmingham Small Heath, which he retained until his death in 1952 aged 58.