William Edward Briggs

William Edward Briggs (24 September 1847 – 1903) was an English cotton manufacturer and a Liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1874 to 1885.

He was educated at Rugby School and at Worcester College, Oxford.

He was a cotton-spinner and manufacturer[1] in the firm of J and W E Briggs, which operated the Rose Hill Mill in Blackburn[2] At the 1874 general election, Briggs was elected as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Blackburn.

[5] He did not stand in 1886, and at the 1892 general election he unsuccessfully contested the Clitheroe division of Lancashire as a Unionist, though it is unclear whether his candidacy was sponsored by the Liberal Unionist Party or the Conservative Party.

[1] The marriage of William Edward Briggs to Mary Ann Susannah Vicars was actually registered in Westminster in 1876.