Charles Henry Sitch (4 May 1887 – 13 June 1960) was Labour MP for

Kingswinford Kingswinford is a town of the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the English West Midlands, situated west-southwest of central Dudley. In 2011 the area had a population of 25,191, down from 25,808 at the 2001 Census. The current economic focus ...

. Born in

Saltney Saltney is a cross-border town, split between Flintshire, Wales and Cheshire, England. The town is intersected by the England–Wales border, with its larger part being a community of Wales in the historic county of Clwyd. The town forms par ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, Sitch grew up in

Cradley Heath Cradley Heath is a town in the Rowley Regis area of the Metropolitan Borough of Sandwell, West Midlands, England approximately north-west of Halesowen, south of Dudley and west of central Birmingham. Cradley Heath is often confused with the ...

, where his father, Thomas Sitch, was General Secretary of the Chain Makers' and Strikers' Association (CMSA). He studied at

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 ...

and was also active in the CMSA. Sitch was elected to

Rowley Regis Rowley Regis ( ) is a town and former municipal borough in Sandwell in the county of the West Midlands, England. It encompasses the three Sandwell council wards of Blackheath, Cradley Heath and Old Hill, and Rowley. At the 2011 census, the comb ...

Urban District Council In England and Wales, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland, an urban district was a type of local government district that covered an urbanised area. Urban districts had an elected urban district council (UDC), which shared local gove ...

in 1913, serving as a Liberal-Labour member, and was president of the South Staffordshire and Worcestershire Federation of Trades Councils from 1914. In 1916, he resigned from 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 ...

and joined the Labour Party, and under this banner, he won the Kingswinford seat at the

1918 United Kingdom general election The 1918 United Kingdom general election was called immediately after the Armistice with Germany which ended the First World War, and was held on Saturday, 14 December 1918. The governing coalition, under Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sent ...

. Sitch succeeded his father as general secretary of the CMSA in 1923, holding the post alongside his Parliamentary duties until 1931, when he lost his seat. He remained secretary of the CMSA until 1933, when he was found to have embezzled union funds, and was sentenced to nine months in prison. In 1937, Sitch found work in Leeds with ''

Reynolds News ''Reynold's News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, founded as ''Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper''Joanne Shattock, ''The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'', p.2908 by George W. M. Reynolds in 1850, who became its first edito ...

'' and the ''

Sunday Citizen ''Reynold's News'' was a Sunday newspaper in the United Kingdom, founded as ''Reynolds's Weekly Newspaper''Joanne Shattock, ''The Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature'', p.2908 by George W. M. Reynolds in 1850, who became its first edito ...

'', remaining there until 1952.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sitch, Charles Henry Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies 1887 births 1960 deaths Councillors in the West Midlands (county) English fraudsters General secretaries of British trade unions Liberal-Labour (UK) politicians People from Saltney UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 20th-century English businesspeople