“Get Thee to a Nunnery”
His partnership with John Wilson spawned the chemical vile polluter of his name, and like most of his peers in business, he also had political aims for furthering his business links via the philanthropist Liberal fakery.
In 1874, the pompous do-gooder manufacturer of white phosphorus Arthur Albright stood for Parliament at the age of 63. Two seats were up for grabs that year, and AA stood as a Liberal candidate, though it seems he was not even wanted by this bunch of self righteous tossers. 😆 and styled himself as an “Independent Liberal”.
It appears from the result that dozy Arthur split the Lib vote, and if he had stood down, the other Liberal candidate would have took the seat. As it was, Two Conservative MP’s were elected, with the phosphorus maker gaining only 18.9% of the vote in second to last place. .
Vote details via wikipedia
The Worcestershire Chronicle of 21st February 1874 laid into Mr Albright in big style.
“The election in East Worcestershire was a disaster, in which we take it Mr Arthur Albright , with his one idea are responsible.”
So what was Arthur’s big bright “one idea” for the people of his constituency? Some clues come from an election advertisement from 5th February 1874 Birmingham Daily Post.
It appears that Mr Albright was keen on prostitutes. 😛 Specifically he championed the repeal of The Contagious Diseases Acts, which were designed to put those suspected of prostitution in “Lock Hospitals”. Venereal disease was widespread in Victorian society, and the Act attempted to stop the spread to sailors and soldiers around military establishments. Perhaps he didn’t want the soldiers to be able to fight?
How strange that a Liberal would oppose lockdowns of those infected to “stop the spread” and requiring some form of pass test to get out- it’s not something you see the likes of The Independent championing today. 😆
Obviously the love of whores in East Worcestershire was not that great, well at least of a platonic nature. 😆
I’m not sure if this English Valjean gave any such women a job in his factory to get them out of a life of Vice? I’d suggest he would not have wanted them anywhere near his own male workforce or their retorts.
To top it all, “poor” Arthur even got successfully sued by a hotel owner for not paying his bill for use of rooms etc. 😆
Thursday 5th February 1874 Newspaper: Birmingham Daily Post