Alfred Gill
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Alfred Henry Gill (3 December 1856 – 27 August 1914) was an English
Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
for
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
. He was born in Rochdale, the son of John and Mary (née Stott) Gill, and educated at St. Mary's Elementary School, Balderstone. He started work in a cotton mill at the age of 10, became an active campaigner for workers' rights and rose to be General Secretary of the Bolton Operative Spinners Association, a locally important trade union. He also served as a
Justice of the Peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...
(JP) for Bolton from 1899. In 1906 he entered Parliament as the junior MP for
Bolton Bolton (, locally ) is a large town in Greater Manchester in North West England, formerly a part of Lancashire. A former mill town, Bolton has been a production centre for textiles since Flemish people, Flemish weavers settled in the area i ...
, one of the 29 original members of the
Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour P ...
. Their victories in the polls were made possible by a deal with the Liberal Party whereby the Liberals would give up selected seats and support the Labour candidate instead. He subsequently held the seat, latterly as the senior MP, until his death from anaemia. Throughout his time in Parliament he fought for better health and safety in the workplace. At the time of his death he was vice-chairman of the Parliamentary Labour Party. He died in 1914 and is buried in Heaton Cemetery, Bolton. He had married Sarah Ellen Greenwood in Rochdale and had a son and four daughters.


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* 1856 births 1914 deaths People from Rochdale UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress British trade union leaders English trade unionists United Textile Factory Workers' Association-sponsored MPs 19th-century British businesspeople {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub