Benjamin Charles Garside (June 26, 1863 - August 9, 1933) was an American

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who not only operates machine tools, but also has the knowledge of tooling and materials required to create set ups on machine tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling ...

from

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

who served one term as a People's Party member of the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Representatives are elected for two-year terms, ...

Background

Garside was born in

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is located east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of the county town, Matlock. Glossop lies near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Manches ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

, England, on June 26, 1863. He came to Wisconsin in 1864 and settled at Milwaukee, was educated in the Second Ward

public school Public school may refer to: * State school (known as a public school in many countries), a no-fee school, publicly funded and operated by the government * Public school (United Kingdom), certain elite fee-charging independent schools in England an ...

of Milwaukee, and became a machinist by trade. He lived in

South Chicago, Illinois South Chicago, formerly known as Ainsworth, is one of the 77 community areas of Chicago, Illinois. This chevron-shaped community is one of Chicago's 16 lakefront neighborhoods near the southern rim of Lake Michigan 10 miles south of downtown. ...

from 1880 to 1883 before returning to Milwaukee.

Elective office

Garside was on the executive committee of the Milwaukee Knights of Labor, and was one of the labor leaders under

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...

for their roles in the labor unrest which ended in the Bay View Massacre, when elected to the Assembly in 1886 from the 8th

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County is located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, and the 45th most populous coun ...

Assembly district (the 8th, 11th and 14th Ward of the City of Milwaukee) to succeed

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

Frank Haderer (who was not a candidate for re-election) for the session of 1887. Garside won 2580 votes on a "High

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and poli ...

and anti-

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek el, μόνος, mónos, single, alone, label=none and el, πωλεῖν, pōleîn, to sell, label=none), as described by Irving Fisher, is a market with the "absence of competition", creating a situati ...

" platform, to 1094 for Republican Charles Weilner and 652 votes for Democratic former Assemblyman

John Fellenz Johann "John" Fellenz (June 23, 1833December 16, 1896) was a German American immigrant, building contractor, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the southwest side of the city of Milwaukee for five ...

. He received five votes as the People's Party candidate for

Speaker of the Assembly Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** In ...

; and was assigned to the standing committee on state affairs. He ran for re-election in 1888 under the People's Party's new name of "Labor Party", losing to Republican

Amos Thomas Amos Thomas (March 30, 1826 – ?) was an American farmer and politician. Born in Daviess County, Indiana, Thomas moved to (polecat hollow)in 1839 and settled in the town of Granville in the community of Good Hope. He was a farmer. Thomas ...

, who polled 2351 votes, to 1375 votes for former Democratic Assemblyman George Everts and 248 for Garside.

Personal life

At the time of his service in the Assembly he was married. He died on August 9, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois."Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," database, ''FamilySearch'' (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N346-V43 : 10 March 2018), Fredrick Garside in entry for Ben C. Garside, 09 Aug 1933; Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1,893,724.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garside, Benjamin Charles 1863 births 1933 deaths Machinists Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Chicago Politicians from Milwaukee People from Glossop Wisconsin Laborites Trade unionists from Wisconsin American trade unionists of English descent English emigrants to the United States Knights of Labor people