George Spencer (Labour politician)

George Alfred Spencer
Member of Parliament
for Broxtowe
In office
14 December 1918 – 30 May 1929
Preceded by Constituency created
Succeeded by Frederick Seymour Cocks
Personal details
Born George Alfred Spencer
1873
Died 21 November 1957
Political party Labour (Before 1926)
Liberal (After 1926)

George Alfred Spencer (1873 – 21 November 1957) was an English miner, trade union leader and Member of Parliament from 1918 to 1929 for Broxtowe.[1]

Family life

George Spencer was the second son of eighteen children. His youngest daughter was the wife of the director of the NSPCC in the 1930s.

Trade Union career

George Spencer was an official of the Nottinghamshire Miners Association, which was affiliated to the Miners Federation of Great Britain. In 1926, at the height of the General Strike, on behalf of the Nottinghamshire Miners Association he negotiated a deal with the local mine owners at the request of miners from Digby pit near Eastwood, Nottinghamshire in Nottinghamshire . However, this brought him into conflict with the MFGB who wished to see the strike continue. Unhappy with the influence of the MFGB, he led a breakaway from the NMA and set up the Nottinghamshire and District Miners' Industrial Union (NMIU) based mostly in The Dukeries, which lasted for eleven years separate from the Miners' Federation of Great Britain. In 1937, an agreement was reached between the NMA and the NMIU and they merged, with Spencer becoming the President of the merged organisation.[2]

Political career

During the Great War he combined with fellow Nottinghamshire Miners official and Liberal MP John Hancock to attempt to take the Nottinghamshire Miners Association out of the Miners Federation of Great Britain political fund, as he believed in trade union independence from party political control.[3] He was elected to parliament in 1918 as Labour MP for Broxtowe, and re-elected at the next three general elections. Following the Nottinghamshire miners union split of 1926, he was expelled from the Labour party. He continued to sit in parliament until 1929, speaking from the Liberal party benches.[4][5] The Broxtowe Labour party, instead of replacing him with another local miners candidate, chose Seymour Cocks, an outsider with no mining background. He served as a councillor on Nottinghamshire County Council for Stapleford.

References

  1. ↑ https://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/george_spencer/broxtowe
  2. ↑ http://www.nottinghamshireexminer.com/Nottinghamshire-NUM-Area-History
  3. ↑ Industrial Politics and the 1926 Mining Lockout
  4. ↑ The Fortnightly Review (1927)
  5. ↑ The Derbyshire miners:a study in industrial and social history (1962)
Parliament of the United Kingdom
New constituency Member of Parliament for Broxtowe
1918 – 1929		 Succeeded by
Seymour Cocks
Trade union offices
Preceded by
John E. Whyatt		 President of the Nottinghamshire Miners' Association
1912–1918		 Succeeded by
Frank Varley
Preceded by
William Carter		 General Secretary of the Nottinghamshire Miners' Association
1918–1926		 Succeeded by
Frank Varley
Preceded by
Bernard Taylor		 President of the Nottinghamshire Miners' Association
1937–1945		 Succeeded by
Bill Bayliss


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