{{Short description|British politician and businessman (1855–1936)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2016}} {{Use British English|date=August 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = Alfred Bigland | honorific_suffix = | image = Alfred Bigland MP by Percy Bigland.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Alfred Bigland MP by Percy Bigland – now in Williamson Art Gallery & Museum | office = Member of Parliament<br />for Birkenhead East<br>{{small|Birkenhead (1910–1918)}} | term_start = 3 December 1910 | term_end = 15 November 1922 | predecessor = Henry Vivian | successor = Graham White | birth_name = | birth_date = {{Birth date|1855|03|15|df=yes}} | birth_place = | death_date = {{Death date and age|1936|||1855|03|15|df=yes}} | death_place = | party = Conservative | other_party = | spouse = Emily Arkle | relations = Percy Bigland (brother) | children = | father = Edwin Bigland | mother = | relatives = | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = | profession = }} '''Alfred Bigland''' (15 March 1855–1936) was an English industrialist and an MP from 1910 to 1922.
==Early life and career== Bigland was born on 15 March 1855, son of Edwin Bigland, of Birkenhead.
He was educated at the Quaker school at Sidcot. As a supporter of the First World War, he resigned his membership of Quakers in 1914.<ref>Thomas C. Kennedy,'' British Quakerism 1860–1920: the transformation of a religious community'' (2001) p312</ref>
==Political career== He was elected to Parliament as a Conservative and Unionist in the December 1910 general election, for the Birkenhead Constituency and in 1918 for the new constituency of East Birkenhead, sitting until defeated in the 1922 general election by a Liberal. His particular political interest was Tariff reform. During the World War I, he was responsible for acquiring sufficient quantities of glycerine for the manufacture of cordite propellant. He also persuaded the War Office to drop its minimum height for recruits to enable "Bantam battalions" to be formed.
His portrait, painted by his brother, Percy Bigland is in the Williamson Art Gallery in Birkenhead.<ref>[https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/alfred-bigland-18551936-mp-68383 Portrait of Alfred Bigland]</ref><ref>[http://www.whistler.arts.gla.ac.uk/correspondence/people/biog/?bid=Bigl_P&initial=B Biographical note on Percy Bigland, Alfred's brother, in notes to ''The correspondence of James McNeill Whistler'']</ref>
==Personal life== He married Emily Jane Arkle in 1878; they had a son, Douglas, and two daughters. Mrs Bigland died in 1931.<ref>''The Times'', Monday, 10 February 1936; page. 17; Issue 47294; col F: Obituary of Mr Alfred Bigland</ref><ref>''Who was Who?''</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{hansard-contribs | mr-alfred-bigland | Alfred Bigland }}
{{S-start}} {{S-par|uk}} {{S-bef | before = Henry Vivian }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Birkenhead | years = Dec. 1910 – 1918 }} {{s-non | reason = Constituency split into East and West Birkenhead }} {{s-new | constituency }} {{s-ttl | title = Member of Parliament for Birkenhead East | years = 1918–1922 }} {{s-aft | after = Graham White }} {{S-end}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bigland, Alfred}} Category:English businesspeople Category:English Quakers Category:People from Birkenhead Category:UK MPs 1910–1918 Category:1855 births Category:1936 deaths Category:UK MPs 1918–1922 Category:People educated at Sidcot School Category:Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies