Bertie Kirby

Bertie Victor Kirby CBE DCM (2 May 1887 – 1 September 1953) was a British politician. He was Labour Member of Parliament (MP) for Liverpool Everton from 1935 to 1950.

Kirby inspired the headline "Once Errand Boy in Local Store – Now M P" in the Tewkesbury Register of 16 November 1935 after he had been elected for Labour as M.P. for Everton with a majority of 177. Kirby was described by the newspaper as a "former soldier and policemen" born in Cheltenham but came to Tewkesbury as a baby.

The 1891 and 1901 censuses confirm that he was living in Mount Pleasant Road (3 Pansy Cottages; the family was still living in Pansy Cottages during the 1909 Land Tax Survey), Tewkesbury and had been born in Cheltenham. His father, Henry Kirby, was a 51-year-old gardener, born in Prestbury, Gloucestershire and his mother, Fanny, was aged 54 and had been born in Gloucester. Bertie then had two older sisters. He was educated at the Barton Road Schools, Tewkesbury, and, on leaving, became an errand boy for Frisby's shoe shop then located at "The Cross" – the location of a War Memorial, in Tewkesbury.