Alfred Gelder

Sir William Alfred Gelder FRS FRIBA (12 May 1855 – 26 August 1941) was a British architect and Liberal politician.

According to one source it was largely thanks to Gelder's ability and energy that Hull was a city transformed – with old buildings removed, new wide streets introduced and attractive shops and public offices erected.

[1] Like many self-made men of non-conformist religion in Victorian and Edwardian England, Gelder gravitated to Liberal politics.

Guest was then selected to fight East Dorset[11] and the Brigg constituency Liberals turned to Gelder as their candidate.

He won the seat back from the Tories at the January 1910 general election, held it in December 1910 and represented the constituency until 1918[12] when he stood again as an Asquithian Independent Liberal and was beaten into third place behind the winning Coalition Conservative and the Labour candidate.

[14] Gelder was knighted in the King's birthday honours list of 1903[15] for his services to architecture and to the City of Hull.

This followed the visit to Hull during May 1903, when Gelder was Mayor of the city, by the Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Princess of Wales to unveil a memorial statue of Queen Victoria, a commemoration tablet at the Royal Infirmary and to lay the foundation stone of the new City Hall.