Will Lawther

Sir William Lawther (20 May 1889 – 1 February 1976) was a politician and trade union leader in the United Kingdom.

Lawther

Born in Choppington, in Northumberland, Lawther was educated at Choppington Colliery School, then became a coal miner. He became active in the Northumberland Miners' Association, which funded him to study at the Central Labour College.[1]

Lawther was active in the Labour Party, standing unsuccessfully for the party in South Shields at the 1922, 1923 and 1924 United Kingdom general elections. From 1925 to 1929, he served on Durham County Council. At the 1929 United Kingdom general election, he switched to contest Barnard Castle, winning the seat, though he was defeated in 1931.[1]

Out of Parliament, Lawther returned to trade unionism. He was elected to the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in 1935, and as President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) in 1939. The MFGB became the National Union of Mineworkers, with Lawther remaining president. In 1949, he was President of the TUC, and later that year, he was knighted.[1]

Lawther retired from his trade union posts in 1954, and died in 1976.[1]

Since his death, declassified archives have shown that Will Lawther had covertly been working with a secret Cold War propaganda department attached to the British Foreign Office called the Information Research Department, and was paid by the British govenment to promote anti-communist material.[2]

References
  1. Stenton, Michael; Lees, Stephen (1979). Who's Who of British Members of Parliament. III. Brighton: Harvester Press. p. 204. ISBN 0855273259.
  2. Defty, Andrew (2005). Britain, America and Anti-Communist Propaganda 1945-1953: The Information Research Department. eBook version: Routledge,. p. 87.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
Preceded by
Cuthbert Headlam		 Member of Parliament for Barnard Castle
1929–1931		 Succeeded by
Cuthbert Headlam
Trade union offices
Preceded by
S. O. Davies		 Vice-President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB)
1934–1939		 Succeeded by
Jim Bowman
Preceded by
Joseph Jones		 President of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB)
1939–1945		 Succeeded by
Position abolished
Preceded by
New position		 President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM)
1945–1954		 Succeeded by
Ernest Jones
Preceded by
Ebby Edwards		 Secretary of the Miners' International Federation
1947–1957		 Succeeded by
Ernest Jones
Preceded by
Florence Hancock		 President of the Trades Union Congress
1949		 Succeeded by
Herbert Bullock
Preceded by
Lincoln Evans and Tom Williamson		 Trades Union Congress representative to the American Federation of Labour
1950
With: Florence Hancock		 Succeeded by
Jim Kelly and Tom Yates


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