Sir Edward Louis Britton CBE (4 December 1909 – 3 January 2005) was a British trade union leader. Britton studied at

Bromley Grammar School Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, char ...

and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he edited the ''Cambridge Review''. On graduating, he was unemployed for six months. He found work as a teacher, and immediately joined the National Union of Teachers (NUT). He was exempted from military service during World War II due to his asthma.Sir Edward Britton
, '' The Daily Telegraph'', 7 January 2005 In 1951, he became head of

Warlingham School Warlingham School is a large secondary school with pupils aged 11–16, and also has a sixth form for 16- to 18-year-olds. The school is located in the village of Warlingham, in Surrey, England. It is one of three other secondary schools in the ...

in Surrey,Tyrrell Burgess,
Obituary: Sir Edward Britton
, '' The Guardian'', 7 January 2005 then in 1956 became national president of the NUT. In 1960 Britton was recruited as General Secretary of the Association of Teachers in Technical Institutions, during which time he worked with Reg Prentice to challenge the outcome of the Robbins Committee, and successfully lobbied for the opening of polytechnics. He resigned his post in 1969, in order to become General Secretary of the NUT, which he immediately convinced to affiliate to the Trades Union Congress. In 1974, he won a 30% pay increase for teachers. He retired in 1975, becoming a lecturer at the University of Sheffield, and also worked at Canterbury Christ Church College and served on Acas' central committee.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Britton, Edward 1909 births 2005 deaths Academics of the University of Sheffield Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Comprehensive education General Secretaries of the National Union of Teachers Knights Bachelor Presidents of the National Union of Teachers Schoolteachers from Surrey