# Barnett Janner

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{{Short description|British politician (1892–1982)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix = [The Right Honourable](/source/The_Right_Honourable)
| name             = The Lord Janner
| image            = Barnett Janner (1970).jpg
| caption          = Barnett Janner (1970)
| office           = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom))<br />for [Leicester North West](/source/Leicester_North_West)<br />{{nobold|[Leicester West](/source/Leicester_West) (1945–1950)}}
| term_start       = 5 July 1945
| term_end         = 29 May 1970
| predecessor      = [Harold Nicolson](/source/Harold_Nicolson)
| successor        = [Greville Janner](/source/Greville_Janner)
| constituency_MP1 = Whitechapel and St George's
| term_start1      = 27 October 1931
| term_end1        = 25 October 1935
| predecessor1     = [James Henry Hall](/source/James_Henry_Hall)
| successor1       = James Henry Hall
| birth_date       = {{birth date|1892|6|20|df=y}}
| birth_place      = [Luokė](/source/Luok%C4%97), [Kovno Governorate](/source/Kovno_Governorate), [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire)
| death_date       = {{death date and age|1982|5|4|1892|6|20|df=y}}
| spouse           = {{marriage|Elsie Sybil Cohen|1927}}
}}

thumbnail|1920 Cardiff City Council election poster

'''Barnett Janner, Baron Janner''' (20 June 1892 – 4 May 1982), was a British politician who was elected as a [Liberal](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)) [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) (MP) and later as a [Labour](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)) MP.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Lord Janner Tireless champion of Jewish causes |newspaper=[The Times](/source/The_Times) |date=6 May 1982 |page=14 }}</ref><ref name=odnb/>

==Early life==
Janner was born ברוך אהרון בן יהושע (Baruch Aharon ben Yehoshua) to a [Litvak](/source/Lithuanian_Jews) family in [Luokė](/source/Luok%C4%97) in the [Kovno Governorate](/source/Kovno_Governorate) of the [Russian Empire](/source/Russian_Empire), in what is now  [Lithuania](/source/Lithuania). He was the son of Joseph and Gertrude Janner.<ref name=odnb/> At the age of nine months, his family, who were [Orthodox Jew](/source/Orthodox_Jew)s, moved to [Barry](/source/Barry%2C_Vale_of_Glamorgan), [Glamorgan](/source/Glamorgan), [Wales](/source/Wales), where his father opened a furniture shop.<ref name=odnb>{{cite ODNB |title=Janner, Barnett, Baron Janner (1892–1982) |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/31285 |author-link=Bernard Wasserstein |author= Wasserstein, Bernard|year=2004 |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/31285 |access-date=21 October 2021}}</ref>

Janner was educated at the local school before obtaining a scholarship to attend the [University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire](/source/University_College_of_South_Wales_and_Monmouthshire) at [Cardiff](/source/Cardiff). He was president of the students' union and edited the college magazine. He graduated with a [BA](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) in English and mathematics in 1914, before serving in the [Royal Garrison Artillery](/source/Royal_Garrison_Artillery) during the [First World War](/source/First_World_War).<ref name=obit/><ref name=odnb/> Having studied law before the war, he was admitted as [solicitor](/source/solicitor) in 1919 and established a legal practice in Cardiff.<ref name=obit/>

==Liberal politics==
Janner entered politics in 1920 when he stood unsuccessfully for election to [Cardiff City Council](/source/Cardiff_County_Borough_Council) as a candidate of the [Comrades of the Great War](/source/Comrades_of_the_Great_War). Three years later he had joined the [Liberal Party](/source/Liberal_Party_(UK)), but again failed to gain a seat on the council.<ref name=obit/><ref name=odnb/> In 1926 he was elected to the [Board of Deputies of British Jews](/source/Board_of_Deputies_of_British_Jews), and subsequently became a member of the executive of the British [Zionist Federation](/source/Zionist_Federation_of_Great_Britain_and_Ireland).<ref name=odnb/>

At the [1929 general election](/source/1929_United_Kingdom_general_election) he was the Liberal candidate for [Cardiff Central](/source/Cardiff_Central_(1918%E2%80%931950_UK_Parliament_constituency)), but failed to be elected. Later in the year he moved to [Hendon](/source/Hendon), north London, and took up employment as company secretary and solicitor for his father-in-law's business.<ref name=odnb/>

In 1930, [Harry Gosling](/source/Harry_Gosling), the sitting Labour [MP](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for the [Whitechapel and St George's](/source/Whitechapel_and_St_George's) constituency in the [East End of London](/source/East_End_of_London) died. Janner was chosen to contest the resulting by-election. The area had a large Jewish population, and he campaigned in opposition to the government's policy on Palestine, but was narrowly defeated.<ref name=odnb/> Ten months later at the [1931 general election](/source/1931_United_Kingdom_general_election) Janner again contested the Whitechapel seat for the Liberals, this time being returned to the House of Commons. At the [next general election in 1935](/source/1935_United_Kingdom_general_election) Janner stood as a Liberal and Anti-Fascist candidate, but was one of many Liberals to lose their seats, with the Labour Party regaining the seat.<ref name=odnb/>

==Labour politics==
Within a year of losing his seat as a Liberal, Janner had joined the [Labour Party](/source/Labour_Party_(UK)), and was quickly chosen as prospective candidate for [Leicester West](/source/Leicester_West), which was held by [National Labour](/source/National_Labour_Organisation) with a small majority. In the event there was no election for ten years because of the [Second World War](/source/Second_World_War).<ref name=obit/><ref name=odnb/>
 
Janner returned to [Parliament](/source/Parliament_of_the_United_Kingdom) ten years later, when he was elected at the [1945 general election](/source/1945_United_Kingdom_general_election) as Labour MP for Leicester West, defeating [Harold Nicolson](/source/Harold_Nicolson) the incumbent [National Labour](/source/National_Labour_Organisation) MP. When that constituency was abolished for the [1950 election](/source/1950_United_Kingdom_general_election), he was re-elected for the new [Leicester North West](/source/Leicester_North_West) constituency. He held that seat until he retired from the Commons at the [1970 general election](/source/1970_United_Kingdom_general_election), when his seat was held for Labour by his son [Greville](/source/Greville_Janner).

[Knighted](/source/Knight_Bachelor) in 1961,<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=42274 |date=10 February 1961 |page=1015}}</ref> Janner was created a [life peer](/source/life_peer) on 20 June 1970 and took the title '''Baron Janner''', of the [City of Leicester](/source/City_of_Leicester).<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=45137 |date=26 June 1970 |page=7103}}</ref>

==Jewish community==
Janner held many positions in the [Jew](/source/Jew)ish community, including President of the [Board of Deputies of British Jews](/source/Board_of_Deputies_of_British_Jews), 1955–64.

==Personal life==
In 1927, Janner married Elsie Sybil Cohen, daughter of the owner of a furniture store. Their son Greville Janner,<ref>{{cite news| author-link= Michael Freedland|author= Freedland, Michael|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-elsie-janner-1415240.html|title= Obituary: Elsie Janner|work= [The Independent](/source/The_Independent)|date=21 July 1994|access-date= 21 October 2021}}</ref> later [Baron Janner of Braunstone](/source/Baron_Janner_of_Braunstone), succeeded his father as the Labour MP for Leicester North-West in 1970.<!-- Did not sit for the same Leicester seat after February 1974 because of boundary changes, unnecessary to elaborate more -->

==See also==
*[Gan Ner](/source/Gan_Ner)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Bibliography==
*Elsie Janner, ''Barnett Janner: A Personal Portrait''. London: Robson Books, 1984
*{{Rayment|date=February 2012}}
*{{Rayment-hc|date=March 2012}}
* ''[Who Was Who](/source/Who's_Who_(UK))''

== External links ==
* {{Hansard-contribs | mr-barnett-janner | Barnett Janner }}

{{S-start}}
{{s-par|uk}}
{{succession box
  | title  = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Whitechapel and St George's](/source/Whitechapel_and_St_George's)
  | years  = [1931](/source/1931_United_Kingdom_general_election)–[1935](/source/1935_United_Kingdom_general_election)
  | before = [James Henry Hall](/source/James_Henry_Hall)
  | after  = [James Henry Hall](/source/James_Henry_Hall)
}}
{{s-bef | before = [Harold Nicolson](/source/Harold_Nicolson) }}
{{s-ttl
  | title  = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Leicester West](/source/Leicester_West)
  | years  = [1945](/source/1945_United_Kingdom_general_election)–[1950](/source/1950_United_Kingdom_general_election)
}}
{{s-non | reason = Constituency abolished }}

{{s-new | constituency}}
{{s-ttl
  | title  = [Member of Parliament](/source/Member_of_Parliament_(United_Kingdom)) for [Leicester North West](/source/Leicester_North_West)
  | years  = [1950](/source/1950_United_Kingdom_general_election)–[1970](/source/1970_United_Kingdom_general_election)
}}
{{s-aft | after  = [Greville Janner](/source/Greville_Janner) }}
{{S-end}}

{{BDBJ}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Janner, Barnett}}
Category:1892 births
Category:1982 deaths
Category:Alumni of Cardiff University
Category:British Army personnel of World War I
Category:British Ashkenazi Jews
Category:British people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent
Category:British Zionists
Category:Burials at Willesden Jewish Cemetery
Category:Emigrants from the Russian Empire to the United Kingdom
Category:English solicitors
Barnett Janner
Category:Jewish British politicians
Category:Knights Bachelor
Category:Labour Party (UK) life peers
Category:Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Category:Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
Category:Life peers created by Elizabeth II
Category:20th-century Lithuanian Jews
Category:People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan
Category:People from Shavelsky Uyezd
Category:People from Telšiai District Municipality
Category:Presidents of the Board of Deputies of British Jews
Category:Royal Artillery soldiers
Category:UK MPs 1931–1935
Category:UK MPs 1945–1950
Category:UK MPs 1950–1951
Category:UK MPs 1951–1955
Category:UK MPs 1955–1959
Category:UK MPs 1959–1964
Category:UK MPs 1964–1966
Category:UK MPs 1966–1970
Category:UK MPs who were granted peerages

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Barnett Janner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_Janner) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barnett_Janner?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.