Career
Hartley began work in a mill at the age of ten, before becoming a warehouse clerk and then a butcher. He stood for the party in Dewsbury at the 1895 United Kingdom general election, taking 10.4% of the vote, but was not elected. However, he did gain election to Bradford City Council that year, representing Manningham, and held his seat for over a decade.
At the 1900 United Kingdom general election, he was nominated in Pudsey, but withdrew on the eve of the poll.
Initially, neither candidate would withdraw, but the trades council convinced the ILP to drop Hartley"s candidacy. Quelch did not gain the support of the local labour movement, nor of the ILP leadership.
Angered by what he saw as pandering to the right-wing of the labour movement, Hartley actively supported Quelch"s candidacy and joined the SDF. Yet he remained part of the ILP group on Bradford Council, and was re-elected on the ILP ticket in Bradford Moor in 1905. Hartley stood for the SDF in Bradford East at the 1906 United Kingdom general election, where he held joint meetings with Fred Jowett, Labour Party candidate for Bradford West, and he secured the support of the local ILP. He next stood for the party in the Newcastle by-election, 1908, then back in Bradford East in the January 1910 United Kingdom general election.
From 1910 until 1912, Hartley was the secretary of The Clarion Van Movement.
He then toured Australia and New Zealand for eighteen months. On his return, he stood in the Leicester by-election, 1913. Sitting Member of Parliament Ramsay Macdonald had persuaded the Labour Party not to stand a candidate, in the hope of a Liberal victory, but this enabled Hartley to attract the support of many ILP members, ultimately taking 11.4% of the vote.
On the outbreak of World War I, Hartley became strongly pro-war and left the SDF to join the British Workers League, in the process losing most of his political support.
