Members of Parliament for Stoke-on-Trent

Ellis Smith b.1896 d.1969
Labour MP for Stoke-on-Trent 1935-50, Stoke South 1950-66. President of Socialist Fellowship 1948-50. Parliamentary secretary at Board of Trade 1945-46.

Quotation: "I am concerned with the effect upon the lives of our young people of too many films coming from Hollywood especially on Saturday afternoons when you can see thousands of young children, from working-class areas in particular, going to matinees and seeing films which they ought not to see. They ought to be seeing films of an educational character, or films bringing the best out of life rather than films which cater for the emotions." House of Commons, 20 December 1944

Ellis Smith M.P. had an escape while visiting the Great Row seam at Hem Heath. A large piece of coal fell off the face. Sentinel Newspaper 16th Jan 1954

"We might not be able to prevent some explosions in the future, but we could minimise them by taking all precautions. There have been several royal commissions in recent years, many investigations and committees. We want action now, the miners were entitled to such promises, one of which should be a five day week with a six hour day after the war." speaking at the Hanley town hall after the Sneyd Colliery Explosion of Jan 1st. 1942

Ellis Smith was responsible for getting the 1957 Mining Subsidence Act into law, which opened the way for claims for damage to property from subsidence. This had been a problem for many decades, as the case against Lord Granville in 1844