Frederick Gould OBE (28 June 1879 – 23 February 1971) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

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 Party politician who was a

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 ...

(MP) for

Frome Frome ( ) is a town and civil parish in eastern Somerset, England. The town is built on uneven high ground at the eastern end of the Mendip Hills, and centres on the River Frome. The town, about south of Bath, is the largest in the Mendip d ...

from 1923 to 1924 and from 1929 to 1931. He was also the father of Sir Ronald Gould, teacher and trade unionist.

Early life

Gould was born in

Midsomer Norton Midsomer Norton is a town near the Mendip Hills in Bath and North East Somerset, England, south-west of Bath, north-east of Wells, north-west of Frome, west of Trowbridge and south-east of Bristol. It has a population of around 13,000. ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

. He came from a mining family with a strong

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

background. His father had been one of the founders of the

Somerset Miners' Association The Somerset Miners' Association or Somersetshire Miners' Association was a coal mining trade union based in the Somerset coalfield, Somerset, England. The union was founded in 1872 as a section of the Amalgamated Association of Miners. However, ...

. Frederick attended his local Church of England school. He left school at 12 and began work as a stable boy. A few years later he took a job as a 'rounder' at Ollie Edwards's Boot Factory in

. He married Emma Gay (born 1880,

Radstock Radstock is a town and civil parish on the northern slope of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England, about south-west of Bath and north-west of Frome. It is within the area of the unitary authority of Bath and North East Somerset. The Radstoc ...

), at 24, and his first child Ronald was born ten months later. Emma was descended from the playwright

John Gay John Gay (30 June 1685 – 4 December 1732) was an English poet and dramatist and member of the Scriblerus Club. He is best remembered for ''The Beggar's Opera'' (1728), a ballad opera. The characters, including Captain Macheath and Polly Peac ...

. She had been a servant to the Monckton family at

Clevedon Clevedon (, ) is an English seaside town and civil parish in the unitary authority of North Somerset, part of the ceremonial county of Somerset. It recorded a parish population of 21,281 in the United Kingdom Census 2011, estimated at 21,442 i ...

, her duties including looking after their children including the young Sir Walter Monckton.

Political career

He became local secretary of the

National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives The National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives (NUBSO) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1873 and 1971. It represented workers in the footwear industry. History The union was founded in 1873, when many riveters and ...

. In 1908 he became an unpaid organiser for the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

and started several branches. In 1910 he won a seat on

Urban District Council. He successfully stood as Labour MP at the General Election on 6 December 1923. He lost the seat in the election of 1924, but regained it in 1929. He became a parliamentary private secretary in 1930, but lost the seat in Labour's electoral defeat in 1931. At that point his union decided that it wanted him to fight a seat with a larger proportion of footwear workers, but he was defeated at the 1935 election in

Leicester East Leicester East is a United Kingdom constituencies, constituency represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, UK Parliament since December 2019 by Claudia Webbe, who was ele ...

. He received the OBE in 1945.

Later life

He died on 23 February 1971. His wife Emma died on 1 September 1972, aged 91.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Gould, Henry 1879 births 1971 deaths People from Midsomer Norton Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1929–1931 Officers of the Order of the British Empire Trade unionists from Somerset Councillors in Somerset Independent Labour Party politicians English Methodists