{{short description|American politician (1870–1956)}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox officeholder | name=George Holden Tinkham | image=G. H. Tinkham ggbain.29405 - retouched.jpg | caption = Tinkham circa 1918 | office1 = Member of the<br>[[U.S. House of Representatives]]<br> from [[Massachusetts]] | term_start1 = March 4, 1915 | term_end1 = January 3, 1943 | predecessor1 = [[Andrew James Peters]] | successor1 = [[Christian Herter]] | constituency1 = [[Massachusetts's 11th congressional district|11th district]] (1915–1933)<br>[[Massachusetts's 10th congressional district|10th district]] (1933–1943) | office2=Member of the [[Massachusetts State Senate]] | term2=1910–1912 | office3=[[Boston Alderman]] | term3=1900–1902 | office4=Member of the [[Boston Common Council]] | term4=1897–1898 | birth_date=October 29, 1870 | birth_place=[[Boston, Massachusetts]], U.S. | death_date=August 28, 1956 (aged 85) | death_place=[[Cramerton, North Carolina]], U.S. | resting_place=[[Forest Hills Cemetery]], Boston, Massachusetts | spouse= | alma_mater= [[Harvard University]] | profession=Attorney | party=[[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] | branch= | service_years= | rank= | unit= | battles=[[World War I]] | awards= }}

'''George Holden Tinkham''' (October 29, 1870 &ndash; August 28, 1956) was a member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] from the state of [[Massachusetts]].

==Early years== Tinkham was born October 29, 1870, in [[Boston]], [[Massachusetts]],<ref name="conbio"/> to Frances Ann Holden and George Henry Tinkham, a produce dealer.{{citation needed|date=December 2012}} He graduated from [[Harvard College]] in 1894.<ref name="conbio"/>

==Career== Tinkham served as a member of the [[Boston City Council|Boston Common Council]] in 1897 and 1898.<ref name="conbio"/> After this first venture into politics he resumed his education at [[Harvard Law School]]. He was admitted to the bar in 1899 and commenced practice in Boston.<ref name="conbio"/> Tinkham returned to public office, serving as a member of the Boston Board of Aldermen from 1900 to 1902.<ref name="conbio"/><ref name="baic"/><ref group="note">The Boston Common Council and the Boston Board of Aldermen were later combined into the [[Boston City Council#History|Boston City Council]], following a rewrite of Boston's city charter.</ref>

Tinkham spent the next several years working as a lawyer. In 1910 he returned to public service, being elected as a member of the [[Massachusetts State Senate]], where he served from 1910 to 1912.<ref name="conbio"/><ref name="baic"/>

During [[World War I]], he served in the military;<ref name="conbio"/> Tinkham would later tell ''[[Life (magazine)|Life]]'' magazine that while touring the front as a Congressman he fired the first American shot against the [[Austria-Hungary|Austrians]].<ref name="lifemag"/>

Tinkham was elected as a Republican to the [[64th United States Congress|Sixty-fourth Congress]] and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1915 – January 3, 1943).<ref name="conbio"/> During that time Tinkham was nicknamed "the conscience of the House" for his efforts to [[Disfranchisement after Reconstruction era#Tinkham|protect voting rights for African Americans]],<ref name="baic"/> in part by highlighting of the South's disproportionate representation in the House related to that region's voting population.<ref>{{cite web|title=Demands Inquiry on Disfranchising; Representative Tinkham Aims to Enforce 14th and 15th Articles of Constitution. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1920/12/06/archives/demands-inquiry-on-disfranchising-representative-tinkham-aims-to.html|date=December 6, 1920 |work=The New York Times|access-date=2012-12-08}}</ref> In 1937, a California newspaper reported "Representative Tinkham of Massachusetts, on the other hand, is emphatic in the view that we are heading for an alliance with England, France and Russia against Germany, Italy and Japan and he favors playing a lone hand and attending strictly to our own business".<ref>{{Cite news |date=1937-10-22 |title=Rep. Tinkham |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tustin-news-rep-tinkham/144651761/ |access-date=2024-04-03 |work=The Tustin News |pages=2}}</ref>

Tinkham did not stand for renomination in 1942. He continued to practice law in Boston until his retirement; died in Cramerton, North Carolina, on August 28, 1956; interment in [[Forest Hills Cemetery]] in Boston.<ref name="conbio"/>

In his spare time, he went on safaris in [[Kenya]].<ref name="lifemag"/>

==See also== * [[131st Massachusetts General Court (1910)]]

==Notes== {{reflist|group="note"}}

==References== <references>

<ref name="conbio">{{CongBio|T000283|inline=1|date=2012-12-08}}</ref> <ref name="baic">{{cite web| title=The Negroes' Temporary Farewell | url= http://baic.house.gov/historical-essays/essay.html?intID=5&intSectionID=30 |author= Office of History and Preservation, Office of the Clerk| work=Black Americans in Congress, 1870–2007 | year=2008 | access-date= 2012-12-08}}</ref> <ref name="lifemag">{{cite magazine| url= https://books.google.com/books?id=QEoEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA69 | first= Will | last= Lang| author-link= Will Lang, Jr. |date= December 16, 1940|title= Tinkham the Mighty Hunter |magazine=[[Life (magazine)|Life]] |volume= 9 |issue=25 |pages=69–72, 74, 76 |issn= 0024-3019 |access-date= 2012-12-08 |quote=He notes that he fired the first American shot against the Austrians in the World War. The Italians were conducting the visiting Congressman along the Austrian front in 1917 and allowed him to pull the lanyard of a field piece. (p. 71)}}</ref>

</references>

==External links== * {{CongBio|T000283}} *

{{s-start}} {{s-par|us-hs}} {{US House succession box | state=Massachusetts | district=11 | before=[[Andrew J. Peters]] | after=[[John J. Douglass]] | years=March 4, 1915 – March 3, 1933}} {{US House succession box | state=Massachusetts | district=10 | before=[[John J. Douglass]] | after=[[Christian Herter]] | years=March 4, 1933 – January 3, 1943}} {{s-off}} {{succession box | title=Member of the<br>Boston, Massachusetts<br>Common Council| before=| after= | years=1897&ndash;1898}} {{succession box | title=Member of the<br>Boston, Massachusetts<br>Board of Aldermen| before=| after= | years=1900 &ndash; 1902}} {{succession box | title=Member of the<br>Massachusetts State Senate| before= | after=| years=1910 &ndash; 1912}} {{s-end}}

{{USRepMA}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tinkham, George H.}} [[Category:Massachusetts lawyers]] [[Category:Republican Party Massachusetts state senators]] [[Category:Boston Board of Aldermen members]] [[Category:Republican Party members of the Massachusetts House of Representatives]] [[Category:1870 births]] [[Category:1956 deaths]] [[Category:Harvard College alumni]] [[Category:Republican Party United States representatives from Massachusetts]] [[Category:People from South End, Boston]] [[Category:Military personnel from Massachusetts]] [[Category:Boston Common Council members]] [[Category:20th-century members of the Massachusetts General Court]] [[Category:20th-century United States representatives]]