Alfred Waterson

Alfred Edward Waterson (5 August 1880, Derby – 25 November 1964) was a Labour and Co-operative Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. He was the first Co-operative Party MP.

Born in Derby, Waterson was a railwayman and activist in his trade union. He was the leader of the Labour group on Derby City Council.^[1]

Although the Co-operative Party put up ten candidates for the first time at the 1918 general election, only one met with success.^[2] Waterson was elected as MP for Kettering. He took the Labour whip in Parliament, ahead of any decision of Co-operative Congress to progress a formal alliance with the Labour Party.

Waterson was defeated at the 1922 general election. He became a national organiser of the Co-operative Party, serving until 1945. He contested the Nottingham Central by-election in 1930, and stood in Nottingham Central at the 1931 general election, coming a distant second in each case. He died in Wood Green, London aged 84.