JOSEPH POINTER M.P. - SHEFFIELD'S FIRST LABOUR MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT

Mr Joseph Pointer was Sheffield's very first Labour Party M.P., for the Attercliffe division of Sheffield.

There is very little on-line or in print about Joseph - the paragraph below is a brief summation of his life

Born in 1875, and after his schooling life, his inclinations led him to public speaking and debate, and he became a Wesleyan Reform local preacher. All the time his views were drifting towards Socialism and his working life as moulders patternmaker fired his zeal for socialism and trade unionism. His trade union nominated him as a Parliamentary candidate, to fight South Leeds for the party but it turned out turned out to be a fiasco for Labour. Nut in 1909 he won the Attercliffe By-Election. Eventually he gained the distinction of becoming Junior Whip for the party in the House of Commons But in 1914 after a long illness at the early age of 39, leaving a wife and children.

The Sheffield Daily Telegraph carried this obituary of Joseph's life and legacy which appeared in their edition of Friday 20th November 1914. It is by far the most comprehensive and detailed account of his life and legacy.

As alluded to in the article Joseph was cremated at Sheffield's City Road Cemetery on Monday 23rd November 1914 

POINTER, Joseph (Cremation Index Record, age 39). Died at ~; Buried on November 23, 1914 in ~ ground; cremated. Grave Number ~, Section ~ of City Road Cemetery, Sheffield.  Cremation number is 125.

Sources

Sheffield Daily Telegraph dated Friday 20th November 1914

Sheffield Indexers 

UK Census 

Wikipedia

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