John Frederick Lees (1809 – 1867)[1] was a British landowner and Liberal Conservative politician who represented Oldham in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom as a Member of Parliament from 1835 to 1837.
Lees was the grandson of a cotton manufacturer,[2] a local mill-owner,[3] mine-owner,[4] and landowner: the Lord of the manor of Oldham[5] and an Oxford graduate,[6] but was dismissed as "a gentleman... qualified neither by age nor ability to fulfill the duties of a member of the imperial parliament" by the Manchester Times.
[8] Thanks to internal squabbles (principally over the desired relationship between the state and the Anglican church) amongst the Radicals of Oldham,[9] he was elected as a 'Liberal Conservative' at a by-election caused by the death of William Cobbett, narrowly defeating John Morgan Cobbett (Cobbett's son) after another Radical candidate (Feargus O'Connor) withdrew on the first morning of the poll.
[10] Lees attributed his victory to the absence of the organised 'intimidation system' he claimed had been practiced in the previous contested election (that of 1832).
[11] By the general election of 1837 the Radicals had regrouped, and Lees came bottom of the poll:[12] this he attributed to the return of intimidation and 'exclusive dealing'.