Alfred Ewen Fletcher (1841 – 14 November 1915) was a

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active in the labour movement. Born in Long Sutton in

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

, Fletcher became a teacher before moving into journalism as editor of the ''Barrow Vulcan''. He moved to London in the 1870s, and in 1878 began working for the ''

Daily Chronicle The 'Daily Chronicle' was a British newspaper that was published from 1872 to 1930 when it merged with the '' Daily News'' to become the ''News Chronicle''. Foundation The ''Daily Chronicle'' was developed by Edward Lloyd out of a local newspap ...

'', becoming its editor in 1889. Under his editorship, the newspaper documented the New Unionism movement, and supported

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. He also incorporated more fiction and illustrations in the newspaper.''The Labour Annual'' (1896), p.198 Fletcher left the editorship in 1895, to stand as the

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candidate in

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. He was unsuccessful, and instead became editor of ''

The New Age ''The New Age'' was a British weekly magazine (1894–1938), inspired by Fabian socialism, and credited as a major influence on literature and the arts during its heyday from 1907 to 1922, when it was edited by Alfred Richard Orage. It published ...

'', then a

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magazine. At the 1900 UK general election, Fletcher stood in Glasgow Camlachie for the

Scottish Workers' Representation Committee Scottish Workers' Representation Committee was the parliamentary outfit of the Scottish Trades Union Congress from 1899 until 1909. It was known as the Scottish Workers Parliamentary Elections Committee until 1903. In contrast to the Labour Repre ...

. The Committee had been set up by the

Scottish Trades Union Congress The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) is the national trade union centre in Scotland. With 40 affiliated unions as of 2020, the STUC represents over 540,000 trade unionists. The STUC is a separate organisation from the English and Welsh T ...

and he was its only candidate at the election. He attracted the support of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

, the

Social Democratic Federation The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...

, the

Glasgow Trades Council {{Use British English, date=January 2018 Glasgow Trades Council is an association of trade union branches in Glasgow in Scotland. The trades council was founded in 1858 as the Glasgow United Trades Council.Archives Hub,Records of Glasgow District ...

and, at the last moment, was endorsed by the

, but he was not elected.Alex McKinlay, ''The ILP on Clydeside, 1893-1932'', p.33

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Alfred Ewen 1841 births 1915 deaths British journalists Liberal Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Long Sutton, Lincolnshire