Arthur Jenkins (3 February 188225 April 1946) 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 ...
coal-miner,
trade union
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
ist and
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 ...
politician who served as vice-president of the
South Wales Miners' Federation
The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for coal miners in South Wales. It survives as the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Forerunners
The Amalgamated Association of Miners (AA ...
and
MP for
Pontypool
Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970.
Location
It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...
. He was the father of the Labour (and later
Liberal Democrat
Several political party, political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democracy, liberal democratic ideology.
Active parties
Former parties ...
) politician
Roy Jenkins
Roy Harris Jenkins, Baron Jenkins of Hillhead, (11 November 1920 – 5 January 2003) was a British politician who served as President of the European Commission from 1977 to 1981. At various times a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Lab ...
.
Early life and education
Jenkins was born at
Varteg, near
Abersychan
Abersychan is a town and community (Wales), community north of Pontypool in Torfaen, Wales, and lies within the boundaries of the Monmouthshire (historic), historic county of Monmouthshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county o ...
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 ...
to Thomas Jenkins and his wife, Eliza Perry. He left school at the age of 12 to work in the
coal mine
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 ...
at Viponds, where he became actively engaged in trade union work. He attended night school, learning enough to gain a scholarship from the Eastern Valley Miners educational group to attend
Ruskin College
Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...
. In 1909 he went on strike over the dismissal of the militant Marxist teacher Dennis Hird. Partly in disgust at the way socialists were treated in higher education, he transferred to the
Central Labour College
The Central Labour College, also known as The Labour College, was a British higher education institution supported by trade unions. It functioned from 1909 to 1929. It was established on the basis of independent working class education.
The colle ...
, and from there to the campus in London. He had not completed his studies at Ruskin when he left for Paris to continue his studies there, at the
Sorbonne
Sorbonne may refer to:
* Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities.
*the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970)
*one of its components or linked institution, ...
.
In 1910 he returned to Wales to work as a miner and teach evening classes in the village of
Garndiffaith
Garndiffaith is a village located in Torfaen, south east Wales. It is a small rural area situated between Talywain and Varteg, three miles north of the town of Pontypool and 3.5 miles south of the town of Blaenavon (a World Heritage Site). The v ...
.
Family
On 2 October 1911 Jenkins married Hattie Harris (1886–1953), the daughter of a local steelworks manager from
Blaenavon
Blaenavon ( cy, Blaenafon) is a town and community (Wales), community in Torfaen county borough, Wales, high on a hillside on the source of the Afon Lwyd. It is within the boundaries of the historic county of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshi ...
who worked in a music shop in Pontypool.
They had one son,
Roy Harris Jenkins (1920–2003), who followed his father into politics, serving as
Home Secretary
The secretary of state for the Home Department, otherwise known as the home secretary, is a senior minister of the Crown in the Government of the United Kingdom. The home secretary leads the Home Office, and is responsible for all national ...
and
Chancellor of the Exchequer
The chancellor of the Exchequer, often abbreviated to chancellor, is a senior minister of the Crown within the Government of the United Kingdom, and head of His Majesty's Treasury. As one of the four Great Offices of State, the Chancellor is ...
under
Harold Wilson
James Harold Wilson, Baron Wilson of Rievaulx, (11 March 1916 – 24 May 1995) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from October 1964 to June 1970, and again from March 1974 to April 1976. He ...
and later as
President of the European Commission
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission, the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners, referred to as the College, collectively account ...
. In 1981 he helped to found the
Social Democratic Party
The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology.
Active parties
For ...
and later oversaw its merger with the
Liberal Party
The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left.
__TOC__ Active liberal parties
This is a li ...
to form the
Liberal Democrats. He was also
Chancellor of the University of Oxford
This is a list of chancellors of the University of Oxford in England by year of appointment.
__TOC__
Chronological list
See also
*List of vice-chancellors of the University of Oxford
*List of University of Oxford people
* List of chancello ...
.
Trade union work and political career
Jenkins became active in local politics, representing the Labour Party on
Monmouthshire County Council
Monmouthshire County Council (or simply Monmouthshire Council) ( cy, Cyngor Sir Fynwy) is the governing body for the Monmouthshire principal area – one of the unitary authorities of Wales.
The current unitary authority was created in 1996 an ...
. He was also a strongly militant socialist, agitating for rapid and violent change. During the
General Strike of 1926
The 1926 general strike in the United Kingdom was a general strike that lasted nine days, from 4 to 12 May 1926. It was called by the General Council of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in an unsuccessful attempt to force the British governmen ...
he was arrested on disputed charges, hauled before the magistrate and sent to prison for nine months, although this did not prevent him from returning to the
National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties:
* National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa
* Australian Labor Party National Executive
* Nationa ...
of the Labour Party.
Throughout the 1920s and 1930s Jenkins continued to promote the sectional interests of miners and the Labour movement. He was the agent for the Eastern Valleys District of the
South Wales Miners' Federation
The South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF), nicknamed "The Fed", was a trade union for coal miners in South Wales. It survives as the South Wales Area of the National Union of Mineworkers.
Forerunners
The Amalgamated Association of Miners (AA ...
from 1921 to 1933 before serving as vice-president of the Federation.
At the
1935 general election he was chosen as the Labour Party candidate for
Pontypool
Pontypool ( cy, Pont-y-pŵl ) is a town and the administrative centre of the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales. It has a population of 28,970.
Location
It is situated on the Afon Lwyd ri ...
, one of the party's safest seats, to replace
Thomas Griffiths. With the rise of totalitarian dictatorships during 1930s his interests spread from coal and unemployed miners to poverty more generally and education, as well as foreign affairs. In 1937 his views on rearmament and the threat of global conflict attracted the attention of the Labour leader,
Clement Attlee
Clement Richard Attlee, 1st Earl Attlee, (3 January 18838 October 1967) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1945 to 1951 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1935 to 1955. He was Deputy Prime Mini ...
, for whom he worked as
Parliamentary Private Secretary
A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
.
In March 1945, during the
wartime coalition, he was briefly appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Town and Country Planning
Ministry may refer to:
Government
* Ministry (collective executive), the complete body of government ministers under the leadership of a prime minister
* Ministry (government department), a department of a government
Religion
* Christian mi ...
. In the
Attlee ministry
Clement Attlee was invited by King George VI to form the Attlee ministry in the United Kingdom in July 1945, succeeding Winston Churchill as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The Labour Party had won a landslide victory at the 1945 gene ...
, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the
Ministry of Education
An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...
. Suffering from illness, he was forced to retire from the Government in October 1945, so losing the opportunity to attain a
Cabinet
Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to:
Furniture
* Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers
* Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets
* Filing ...
position.
He died at
St Thomas' Hospital
St Thomas' Hospital is a large NHS teaching hospital in Central London, England. It is one of the institutions that compose the King's Health Partners, an academic health science centre. Administratively part of the Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foun ...
in London on 25 April 1946.
Arthur Jenkins Indemnity Act 1941
During the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
Jenkins worked on industrial tribunals for the
Royal Ordnance Factory, Glascoed, for which he needed legal dispensation from parliamentary privilege because he was an MP. He accepted the chairmanship of a local appeals board created under the Essential Work (General Provisions) Order, 1941, for ROF Glascoed. The role entitled him to a small payment per sitting, which, however, he did not accept. Nevertheless, the position was deemed to be an office for profit under the Crown, therefore leading to Jenkins vacating his seat in Parliament.
Although the
House of Commons Disqualification (Temporary Provisions) Act 1941 had been brought in to remedy such situations, it applied to MPs who had accepted offices of profit between the start of the war and the passing of the Act. Jenkins took up the chairmanship of the appeals board after the Act was passed. The Act also permitted the Prime Minister to issue a certificate to an MP, to permit him or her to take up an office for profit without losing his or her seat. Unfortunately Jenkins had not done this before taking up the chairmanship, and therefore he was no longer an MP. The
Conservative
Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...
MP
Sir William Davison remarked that "it does seem hard and unnecessary that he should be pilloried by losing his seat and incurring penalties".
The Arthur Jenkins Indemnity Act was therefore enacted, which operated to restore Jenkins to his seat.
Further reading
*
*
References
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jenkins, Arthur
1880s births
1946 deaths
Alumni of Ruskin College
Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International
Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951
Ministers in the Churchill wartime government, 1940–1945
National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs
UK MPs 1935–1945
UK MPs 1945–1950
University of Paris alumni
Welsh Labour Party MPs