David Martin Hinchliffe (born 14 October 1948) is a British former

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 was

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

Wakefield Wakefield is a cathedral city in West Yorkshire, England located on the River Calder. The city had a population of 99,251 in the 2011 census.https://www.nomisweb.co.uk/census/2011/ks101ew Census 2011 table KS101EW Usual resident population, ...

from 1987 to 2005 when he stood down and was replaced by Mary Creagh.

Early life

He went to Lawefield Lane Primary School, then Cathedral School (now Cathedral Academy) on Thornes Road in Wakefield. After Wakefield Technical College, he went to Leeds

Polytechnic Polytechnic is most commonly used to refer to schools, colleges, or universities that qualify as an institute of technology or vocational university also sometimes called universities of applied sciences. Polytechnic may also refer to: Educatio ...

(now

Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LMU) and before that as Leeds Polytechnic, is a public university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It has campuses in the city centre and Headingley. The univ ...

) where he gained a Certificate of Qualification in Social Work in 1971. He gained an MA in Social Work and Community Work from the

University of Bradford The University of Bradford is a Public university, public research university located in the city of Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. A plate glass university, it received its royal charter in 1966, making it the 40th university to be creat ...

in 1978. He was a social worker in Leeds from 1968 to 1979. He was a Social Work tutor for

Kirklees Kirklees is a local government district of West Yorkshire, England, governed by Kirklees Council with the status of a metropolitan borough. The largest town and administrative centre of Kirklees is Huddersfield, and the district also includes ...

Council from 1980 to 1987. He played Rugby League from the age of 8, going up through all the ranks to Open-Age rugby. He was playing hooker for Walnut Warriors of Wakefield, against Rossington from Doncaster, when he was concussed and after a couple of days in hospital he retired from playing, aged 29.

Parliamentary career

He was Chair of the Health Select Committee. He was a founder and first secretary of the All-Party Parliamentary Rugby League Group in 1988. Hinchliffe, along with the All-Party Group, campaigned against what he described as "one of the longest (and daftest) grievances in history" that meant anyone over the age of 18 associated with rugby league was banned forever from rugby union, himself included. With the Rugby League Group, he highlighted the lack of official recognition to rugby league in the form of

Honours Honour (British English) or honor (American English; see spelling differences) is the idea of a bond between an individual and a society as a quality of a person that is both of social teaching and of personal ethos, that manifests itself as a ...

, was instrumental in the lifting of a ban on rugby league in the British armed forces in 1994 and helped the sport to expand beyond its heartlands more freely by exerting pressure on the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

to end its discrimination against even amateur league players. In 1998 he led the enquiry by the Health Select Committee into "The Welfare of Former British Child Migrants" following the exposure of the scandal by

Margaret Humphreys Margaret Humphreys, (born 1944) is a British social worker and author from Nottingham, England. She worked for Nottinghamshire County Council operating around Radford, Nottingham and Hyson Green in child protection and adoption services. In 19 ...

in her book "Empty Cradles". As a result of the report, in 2010 the UK Government issued an apology to all Child Migrants.

Personal life

He married Julia North on 17 July 1982. They have a son, Robert (born October 1985) and a daughter, Rebecca (born May 1988).

References

External links

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hinchliffe, David 1948 births Living people Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1987–1992 UK MPs 1992–1997 UK MPs 1997–2001 UK MPs 2001–2005 Alumni of Leeds Beckett University Alumni of the University of Bradford Rugby league people in England Politics of Wakefield People educated at Wakefield Technical College