Fred Bramley (27 September 1874 – 10 October 1925) was the second General Secretary of the British

Trade Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

(TUC). Born in

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near

Otley Otley is a market town and civil parish at a bridging point on the River Wharfe, in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough in West Yorkshire, England. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the population was 13,668 at the 20 ...

in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

, Bramley completed an apprenticeship as a cabinet-maker, then became active in the Alliance Cabinet Makers' Association and a member of 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 ...

(ILP). During the 1890s, he was involved with the Clarion van movement, and also with the Bradford Trades Council.Barbara Nield and John Saville, ''Dictionary of Labour Biography'', vol. IX, pp. 16-20 Bramley moved to London around the turn of the century, and through his membership of the ILP, was adopted as the candidate of the "Aberdeen Labour Representation Committee" in the 1907 Aberdeen South by-election.F. W. S. Craig, ''British Parliamentary Election Results, 1885-1918'', p. xvi In 1912 he became the national organiser of his union, which following a merger was known as the National Amalgamated Furnishing Trades Association. In this role, he supported workers involved in a larger number of lock-outs and strikes. He opposed British involvement in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and from 1916 to 1919 he served as chairman of the London Labour Party. In 1915, Bramley was elected to the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

' (TUC) Parliamentary Committee, and in 1917 he became its assistant general secretary, in which role he helped reorganize the congress, forming a new general council. He stood again for Labour in Plymouth Devonport at the 1918 and 1922 general elections. In 1920 he was one of the joint secretaries of the National Council of Action alongside Jim Middleton and H. S. Lindsay. In 1923 became general secretary of the TUC, although he achieved little in the role due to poor health. He joined its delegation to the

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in 1924 and died, while attending an

International Federation of Trade Unions The International Federation of Trade Unions (also known as the Amsterdam International) was an international organization of trade unions, existing between 1919 and 1945. IFTU had its roots in the pre-war IFTU. IFTU had close links to the Labou ...

meeting, in

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in 1925.

References

TUC History Online
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bramley, Fred General Secretaries of the Trades Union Congress 1874 births 1925 deaths Independent Labour Party parliamentary candidates Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress People from Otley