Tom Henderson (Labour politician)

Thomas Henderson CBE (1867/1868 – 28 January 1960) was a Scottish Labour and Co-operative politician.

Henderson was born in Burntisland, Fife. He was apprenticed as a cabinet maker at the age of eleven, but was later to work in the Clydeside and Belfast shipyards.[1]

After nearly thirty years in Belfast, he moved to Glasgow where he was elected to the city council in 1919 as an Independent Labour Party councillor.[1]

At the 1922 general election, he was elected as Member of Parliament (MP) for Glasgow Tradeston, becoming the first Co-operative MP in Scotland. He served on the executive of the National Co-operative Party. With the formation of the First Labour Government he was given the post of Comptroller of the Household and government whip for Scotland.[1]

There was a large swing against Labour at the 1931 general election, and Henderson lost his seat. He was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1931 Birthday Honours.[1] He regained the seat at the 1935 general election, and held it until 1945, when he retired.

Henderson died in a hospital in Glasgow on 28 January 1960, aged 92.[1]