Now seldom mentioned, Stanley O Buckmaster KC was elected Keighley’s Liberal Member of Parliament in 1911 after the death in office of Sir John Brigg.

The resulting by-election drew a crowd of 8,000 into a Keighley skating rink to hear a public debate between him and Independent Labour candidate William C Anderson.

Regarded as one of the best orators of his time, Stanley Buckmaster – who had taken silk in 1902 – was director of the Press Bureau during a difficult period at the start of the Great War. He became Solicitor-General and was knighted in 1913. Two years later, his elevation to the peerage and the office of Lord Chancellor necessitated a premature severance from his Keighley commitments.

He went on to champion such causes as the return of divorce law and the abolition of capital punishment. His work on the Protection of Lapwings Act of 1928 and the Protection of Wild Birds Act of 1933 gained him a medal from the RSPCA.

While MP for Keighley, Buckmaster was a familiar figure walking in the Bronte country with his Italian greyhound. On more than one occasion, his local supporters carried him shoulder-high from the railway station to the Liberal Party headquarters.