Alfred Onions (30 October 1858 – 5 July 1921) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

Labour Party politician. Born in

St George's, Shropshire St George's and Priorslee is a civil parish in the borough of Telford and Wrekin, Shropshire, England. St. George's and Priorslee are suburbs of Telford. The parish had a population of 11,033 at the 2011 census, and has an area of . The parish ...

in England, Onions began work at the age of ten-and-a-half. He followed his father into

coal mining Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

, later relocating to work in

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

. Onions became the secretary of the Monmouth District of the Monmouthshire and South Wales District Miners' Association in 1888, serving until 1898, when it became part of the South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF). His peers selected him to represent all the miners of South Wales at the International Miners' Conference in Paris in 1891. He was later the first treasurer of the SWMF. Onions was active in the Liberal-Labour movement, serving on local School boards in England and Wales, school boards, then on Monmouth County Council, becoming its chair. He was also the first chair of Risca Urban district (England and Wales), Urban District Council. As the SWMF moved to support the Labour Party, Onions followed. He was elected as member of parliament (MP) for Caerphilly (UK Parliament constituency), Caerphilly at the 1918 United Kingdom general election, 1918 general election, but died in office in 1921, aged 62. His successor was Morgan Jones (Welsh politician), Morgan Jones.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Onions, Alfred 1858 births 1921 deaths Welsh Labour Party MPs Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1918–1922