Ebby Edwards
Ebenezer Edwards (30 July 1884 – 6 July 1961) was a trade unionist and politician in Britain.
Early life
Born in Chevington, near Broomhill, Northumberland,[1] Edwards went down the coal mine at the age of 12. In 1906, he joined the Independent Labour Party, although he left after three years. In 1908, he attended Ruskin College in Oxford for ten months, but had to leave due to a lack of finances. After leaving the course, he became an early member of the Plebs' League and began to espouse Marxism.
Later life
Edwards continued working as a miner during World War I. A supporter of Robert Smillie, he opposed the war. He narrowly missed election to Parliament at the 1918 Wansbeck by-election, standing as a local Labour Party candidate, losing to Robert Mason. He lost in Wansbeck again at the 1918 general election.
Long active in the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), Edwards was elected to increasingly important posts in the union. In 1929, he was finally elected to Parliament, as the Labour MP for Morpeth, succeeding Smillie, but lost his seat at the 1931 election. Elected as vice-president of the MFGB in 1929, he became president in 1931 and secretary in 1932. He also served in various posts at the Miners' International Federation.
In 1945, he attended the World Trade Union Conference in London alongside many renowned trade unionists.
Edwards supported the MFGB's reconstitution as the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM), and became the NUM's first secretary in 1945, but stepped down the following year to serve on the National Coal Board, keeping this post until 1953.
References
- ^ The Colliery Guardian and Journal of the Coal and Iron Trades (1931), Volume 143, p. 394.
- Andrew Taylor, "Edwards, Ebenezer (1884–1961)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
- Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "M" (part 2)
External links
- Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Ebby Edwards
Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
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Preceded by | Member of Parliament for Morpeth 1929–1931 | Succeeded by |
Trade union offices | ||
Preceded by John Cairns | Financial Secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association 1918–1929 | Succeeded by John Carr |
Preceded by | Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour 1928 With: John Marchbank | Succeeded by James Bell and James Thomas Brownlie |
Preceded by Thomas Richards | Vice-President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain 1929–1930 | Succeeded by Peter Lee |
Preceded by Thomas Richards | President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain 1931–1932 | Succeeded by Peter Lee |
Preceded by A. J. Cook | Secretary of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain 1932–1945 | Succeeded by Position abolished |
Preceded by | Secretary of the Miners' International Federation 1934–1947 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by | President of the Trades Union Congress 1944–1945 | Succeeded by |
Preceded by New position | Secretary of the National Union of Mineworkers 1945–1946 | Succeeded by Arthur Horner |
- v
- t
- e
- 1889 Woods
- 1909 Smillie
- 1912 Harvey
- 1914 House
- 1917 Smith
- 1922 Walsh
- 1924 Richards
- 1929 Eb. Edwards
- 1931 Lee
- 1932 J. Jones
- 1933 Davies
- 1934 Lawther
- 1939 Bowman
- 1950 E. Jones
- 1954 T. Jones
- 1961 Collindridge
- 1963 Bullough
- 1969 Schofield
- 1973 McGahey
- 1987 Thompson
- 1989 Vacant
- 1992 Cave
- 2002 Stanley
- 2010 Wilson
- 2012 Thomas
- 1889 Ashton
- 1919 Hodges
- 1924 Cook
- 1932 Eb. Edwards
- 1946 Horner
- 1959 Paynter
- 1968 Daly
- 1984 Heathfield
- 1992 Scargill
- 1992 Vacant?
- 2002 Kemp
- 2007 Kitchen
- 1889 En. Edwards
- 1904 Abraham
- 1918 Robson
- 1921 Richardson
- Bristol
- Cleveland
- Cokemen
- Colliery Officials and Staffs
- Cumberland
- Derbyshire
- Durham
- Forest of Dean
- Kent
- Lancashire and Cheshire
- Leicestershire
- Midland Counties (Cannock Chase
- North Staffordshire
- Old Hill
- Pelsall
- Shropshire
- Warwickshire
- West Bromwich)
- Northumberland
- North Wales
- Nottinghamshire
- Scotland (Ayrshire
- Fife and Kinross
- Lanarkshire
- Mid and East Lothian
- Mid and West Lothian
- Stirling)
- Somerset
- South Derbyshire
- South Wales
- Yorkshire