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Abraham, William [pseud. Mabon] (1842–1922), trade unionist and politician, was born at Cwmafan, near Port Talbot, Glamorgan, on 14 June 1842, the fourth son of Thomas and Mary Abraham. His father, a coalminer and copper smelter, soon died, leaving his mother to raise a large family. ...

Adamson, William [Willie] (1863–1936), politician and trade unionist, was born at Halbeath, near Dunfermline in Fife, on 2 April 1863, the son of James Armstrong Adamson, a coalminer, and Flora Cunningham. He attended a dame-school run by the wife of a mining engineer, and left at the age of eleven to work in the mining industry, where he was employed for the next twenty-seven years. He married, on 25 February 1887, ...

Ammon, Charles George, Baron Ammon (1873–1960), trade unionist and politician, was born on 22 April 1873 into a poor working-class family in White Street, Southwark, London. He was the eldest child of Charles George Ammon (d. 1887), cutler and toolmaker, and Mary Kempley (1851–1900)...

Arch, Joseph (1826–1919), trade unionist and politician, was born at Barford, Warwickshire, on 10 November 1826, the son of John Arch (b. c.1793), a shepherd, and Hannah Pace (c.1783–1845). Before her marriage his mother worked as a domestic servant in ...

Ballinger, William George (1892–1974), trade unionist and politician, was born at 2 back 45 Gooch Street, Birmingham, on 21 September 1892, the first-born among the six children of Walter George Ballinger (1862–1907), a blacksmith, and his wife, Mary Minnie Johnson (1866–1927), a former actress. In 1901 the ...

Barnes, George Nicoll (1859–1940), trade unionist and politician, was born on 2 January 1859 at Lochee, Forfarshire, the second of five sons of James Barnes, a skilled engineer and mill manager from Yorkshire, and his wife, Catherine Adam Langlands. The family moved back to ...

Belcher, John William (1905–1964), politician and trade unionist, was born on 2 August 1905 at 12 Radington Road, Kensington, London, the first surviving child of John Thomas Belcher, an assurance agent and later a postal sorting worker, and his wife, Lillie Harriett, née...

Bell, Richard (1859–1930), trade union leader and politician, was born at Penderyn, Brecknockshire, on 29 November 1859, the son of Charles Bell, a quarryman, and his wife, Ann (née Thomas). As a young boy Bell was shocked by the death of his uncle, killed in a quarry accident while working alongside his father, who narrowly escaped injury in an attempt to rescue him. ...

Bevin, Ernest (1881–1951), trade unionist and politician, was born at Winsford, Somerset, on 7 March 1881, the seventh child of Diana (known as Mercy) Bevin (1841–1889). His mother, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Tidbould, married William Bevin, an agricultural labourer, in 1864. In 1876 or 1877 ...

Bowerman, Charles William (1851?–1947), trade unionist and politician, was probably born on 22 January 1851 in Honiton, Devon, the son of Charles Bowerman, a tin-plater who on finding work in London moved his family to Clerkenwell. After receiving a basic education at ...

Bowman, Alexander [formerly Patrick McKeown] (1854–1924), trade unionist and politician, was born on 16 March 1854, and baptized as a Roman Catholic, with the name Patrick McKeown. His father, William McKeown, or McKeon (1827–1865), was a Catholic farmer of Derry townland, Dromara, co. Down...

Brace, William (1865–1947), trade unionist, was born at Risca, Wales, on 23 September 1865, one of six children of Thomas and Ann Brace. At the age of twelve he went straight from the local board school to work underground at the coal pit. He later worked at ...

Broadhurst, Henry (1840–1911), trade unionist and politician, was born at Littlemore, Oxfordshire, on 23 April 1840, the fourth son and youngest of the twelve children of Thomas Broadhurst (1799/1800–1866), stonemason, and his wife, Sarah, née Jessop (1799/1800–1880). He was educated at a village school near ...