Born at Witton Park, Ben Spoor was elected MP for Bishop Auckland in 1918 and held the seat until his death in 1928.  Following boundary changes, the Parish of Evenwood & Barony was transferred into the Bishop Auckland parliamentary constituency.  Ben Spoor was a committed pacifist and, during the First World War, he worked for the YMCA in Salonika.  He contracted malaria and suffered ill health for the rest of his life.

Below: A young Ben Spoor.

POLITICAL CAREER

• 1903:  Ben Spoor joined the Independent Labour Party (ILP).
• 1904:  He was elected to Bishop Auckland Urban District Council and served for over thirteen years, acting as chairman for a number of committees, notably education.
• One of the founders of the Union of Democratic Control (UDC), an organisation against military control in government, Ben was a committed pacifist.  Along with Kier Hardie and Ramsay Macdonald, they opposed the First World War. On one occasion he was attacked by a Conservative MP in the House of Commons for being “actively engaged in addressing meetings of a pacifist character.”
• 1916 May:  Ben Spoor agreed to act as commissioner for the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), in Salonika, Greece, an organisation with which he was already involved. The YMCA looked after the well-being of troops from Britain and the Empire.  During his time with the Mediterranean Expeditionary Force, he saw destruction by war, famine and disease, all of which left a great impression on him. This led to him becoming an early fundraiser for the Save the Children Fund, which was established after the war. It was whilst he was at Salonika that Spoor contracted malaria, an illness that affected him for the rest of his life.
• 1918:  Ben Spoor was awarded the OBE for his services in Salonka, Greece.

Below: Medal Roll:  Although a non-combatant, Ben Spoor was awarded the British War Medal for services overseas.

• 1918:  Spoor was elected MP for Bishop Auckland in the General Election.  The Liberals had held the seat since the 1880s. 
• 1919:  He was elected to Labour’s national executive.  During his parliamentary career, he argued for the establishment of the League of Nations and a fair peace with Germany, denounced the Versailles Treaty and wanted recognition for Soviet Russia. He visited India on behalf of the Labour Party and was a supporter of Gandhi’s non-co-operation movement, and was sympathetic to nationalist aspirations.  After the war, Spoor continued to support the peace movement, acting as part-time secretary of the National Peace Council and subscribing to the No More War Movement, which promoted international peace. He predicted that in any future war, civilians would suffer the most.
• 1923:  He was re-elected as MP for Bishop Auckland. He was disappointed not get a seat in Ramsay MacDonald’s cabinet, the first Labour government.  He was given the role of chief whip, a post in which he was not very successful due to recurrences of malaria and a growing addiction to drink. 
• 1924:  Another general election and Spoor increased his majority in Bishop Auckland by nearly 4%.  However, Labour lost the election.  Spoor suggested that there should be closer co-operation with the Liberal Party. The ILP disagreed with Spoor’s views and on being asked to leave the party, he charged them with “narrow intolerance” claiming that he was a political moderate. Despite being sworn in as a member of the Privy Council in November 1924, Spoor’s political influence was decreasing.
• 1927 August:  He was charged with being drunk in charge of a motor car after his erratic driving had endangered pedestrians.  After pleading guilty, he was fined £2 plus costs.
• In 1928 he made his intention known that he would retire from politics at the next election. He continued to play a role in the Commons until the last few months of his life, making one of his most impassioned speeches on the distress in mining areas. His alcoholism resulted in delusions and his doctor certified him as insane.
• 22 December 1928:  Ben Spoor was found dead in his room at the Regent Palace Hotel, London.  The coroner’s inquest recorded the cause of death as, “syncope from disease of the heart and liver, the consequence of chronic alcoholism”.

Below: 2 portraits of Ben Spoor, later in life.

BEN SPOOR IN EVENWOOD

Below: 2 photos from a local newspaper, date unknown either 1918, 1922, 1923 or 1924.  

July 1924: The main foundation stone for the Randolph Aged Mineworkers’ Homes was laid by Sir A.F. Pease.  Ben Spoor laid one of the supplementary stones which can be seen on the front elevation of number one. 

FAMILY DETAILS

Ben Spoor was born 2 June 1878 at Witton Park, the son of John Joseph and Marion (Merrion?) Spoor and brother to Agnes.  The Spoor family were shop keepers in Queen Street, Witton Park.  Originally from Newcastle, Ben’s grandparents Benjamin and Dorothy Spoor moved to Witton Park about 1851, having at least 6 children, 5 of them born at Witton Park.  In 1881, Ben’s parents, John and Marion Spoor lived at Albert Hill, Bishop Auckland where John ran an ironmongers employing 4 men and a boy.  A domestic servant, 13 years old Ann Sandwick from Yarm, lived with them.  By 1891, John’s business interests had expanded to, “ironmonger, plumber and gas fitter”.  Margaret Metcalf was then their domestic servant.  Ben Spoor was educated at the Bishop Barrington School, Bishop Auckland and then at Elmfield, a Primitive Methodist college in York.  He left school aged 14 and began an apprenticeship as a plumber in his father’s business and then established his own business as an ironmonger and builders’ merchant.  Following family tradition, Ben became a lay preacher on the Primitive Methodist circuit.

10 October 1900:  Aged 22, Ben Spoor married Annie Louisa Leybourne (1876-1920) at Bishop Auckland. Annie was born at Cockfield, the daughter of William and Mary Laybourne, who ran a grocer and general dealers shop in the village.  Later, by 1891, the family lived at Durham Chase, Bishop Auckland and William was recorded as an, “income tax collector”.  In 1904, a son, Alec, born.  By 1911, Ben, Annie and 6 years old Alec lived at Raby Avenue, Bishop Auckland.  Ben, now 32 years old was recorded as an, “ironmonger, shop keeper”.  Jane Ann Percival, 22 was their domestic servant.

1920: Annie Spoor died.  Her death was registered in Hendon, Middlesex.

9 October 1923, Ben Spoor married Ann Mary Fraser at Wrexham, North Wales.

22 December 1928, Ben Spoor died aged 50, registered at Piccadilly, City of Westminster, London.  He was buried at the Town Cemetery, Bishop Auckland but his headstone has since been removed.

Below: Town Cemetery, Bishop Auckland – the location of the removed headstone.

SOURCES

Jean Longstaff, much of this article is taken from Jean’s contribution to Durham at War

http://www.durhamatwar.org.uk/story/14039/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Spoor

Find a Grave website