George Sedgwick (28 October 1846 – 24 March 1934)Ned Newitt, ''A People's History of Leicester'', p.18 was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

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 ( ...

leader. Born in

Ironbridge Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, an ...

Shropshire Shropshire (; alternatively Salop; abbreviated in print only as Shrops; demonym Salopian ) is a landlocked historic county in the West Midlands region of England. It is bordered by Wales to the west and the English counties of Cheshire to th ...

, Sedgwick was educated in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

before becoming a boot closer. He joined the Birmingham Rivetters' And Finishers' Society and served firstly as its president, then as its secretary. He left the trade to join the

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

, serving the Worcester Rifle Corps, but soon returned to bootmaking, settling in

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

.Ned Newitt,
The Who's Who of Radical Leicester
In Stafford, Sedgwick joined the Amalgamated Society of Cordwainers, but he felt that a new national union was needed, so he worked with Thomas Smith to found the

National Union of Boot and Shoe Rivetters and Finishers 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 ...

. When it was established, in 1874, he became its full-time agent and, when Smith stepped down as general secretary in 1878, he took over the post. As leader of the union, Sedgwick focused on its role in arbitration, describing its purpose as being a "mediator between employers and workmen in trade disputes". He also served on the

Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress A parliamentary system, or parliamentarian democracy, is a system of democratic governance of a state (or subordinate entity) where the executive derives its democratic legitimacy from its ability to command the support ("confidence") of the ...

in 1884 and 1885.James R. Moore, ''The Transformation of Urban Liberalism'', p.290 Sedgwick was elected to Leicester School Board in 1879, and also became the first chair of the Leicester Working Men's Club. He stood down from his posts in 1886 to become a

factory inspector A factory inspector is someone who checks that factories comply with regulations affecting them. UK Factory Inspectorate The enforcement of UK Factory Acts before that of 1833 had been left to local magistrates, which had meant that any compliance ...

, one of the first workers to hold the post, and was also appointed 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 ...

. He retired from paid work in 1896, but chaired munitions tribunals during

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 continued as a magistrate until his death in 1934 aged 87.Alan Fox, ''A history of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives, 1847-1957'', p.119

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sedgwick, George 1846 births 1934 deaths General Secretaries of the National Union of Boot and Shoe Operatives Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress People from Ironbridge