Frederick James Dean (5 November 1868 – 24 April 1941) was a British trade union leader. Born in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

, Dean's father was

Benjamin Dean Benjamin Dean (August 14, 1824 – April 9, 1897) was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts. Early life Born in Clitheroe, Lancashire, England, U.K., fifth child of Alice Lofthouse and Benjamin Dean, he moved ...

, a coal miner who later became leader of the

Pelsall District Miners' Association The Pelsall District Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in the Walsall area of England. The union was founded in 1887. By the end of the year, it already had 2,181 members, and had appointed Benjamin Dean as its full ...

. Frederick was educated at the Butts School before completing an apprenticeship making horse collars, then moved to

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

to work.Eric Taylor, "Dean, Frederick James (1868-1941)", ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol.II, pp.117-119 In about 1900, Dean returned to Walsall to take over the tobacconist shop which his father had been running as a sideline. He also assisted his father in running the Pelsall Miners and, in 1910, when his father died, Frederick easily won a vote to succeed him. He led the union through two major industrial actions, in 1912 and 1921; its financially strong position enabling it to support its members. Dean was long a Liberal-Labour supporter, serving on Rushall Parish Council and the Walsall

Board of Guardians Boards of guardians were ''ad hoc'' authorities that administered Poor Law in the United Kingdom from 1835 to 1930. England and Wales Boards of guardians were created by the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834, replacing the parish overseers of the poor ...

and standing for Walsall Town Council. However, in 1916 he belatedly followed the majority of coal miners in switching his allegiance to the Labour Party. In 1922, he was elected to the executive of the

Miners' Federation of Great Britain The Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB) was established after a meeting of local mining trade unions in Newport, Wales in 1888. The federation was formed to represent and co-ordinate the affairs of local and regional miners' unions in Engla ...

, but he resigned all his trade union posts the following year, due to poor health. He stood down from the Board of Guardians in 1924, and suffered a series of strokes. Over the next few years, he ran a new tobacconist business and served as a

magistrate The term magistrate is used in a variety of systems of governments and laws to refer to a civilian officer who administers the law. In ancient Rome, a '' magistratus'' was one of the highest ranking government officers, and possessed both judici ...

but, by the mid-1930s, he was confined to bed, ultimately dying in 1941.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean, Frederick James 1868 births 1941 deaths Councillors in the West Midlands (county) English trade unionists Liberal-Labour (UK) politicians People from Walsall