political agent

[valmai]

my great grandfather, charles wood, born about 1837, lived in leeds. i havent found his birth yet, or marriage cert, but i have him in various censuses as follows: 1881 commercial traveller; 1891 'coffee stall holder on own account'; in 1901 'political agent'. at the time of his son, percy, getting married, charles is described on the marriage cert as 'newsagent'.

can anyone tell me anything about that occupation, political agent? i wondered, seeing the newsagent reference later, if it had anything to do with being a point of contact for the local mp, or some such thing?

regards, valmai

[Peter Goodey]

If memory serves me correctly, a political agent was much the same as an election agent except that the latter only operated at election time. More or less a local party secretary.

[valmai]

thankyou for that, i'm off to google 'election agent' as i am still in the dark! regards, valmai