Hugh Lynas (1865 – 3 December 1938) 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 unionist 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 Employee ben ...

. Born in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

, Lynas received just two years of elementary schooling. He became a labourer, and joined the

National Union of Gasworkers and General Labourers The National Union of General Workers (NUGW) was an early general union in the United Kingdom, the most important general union of its era. History The union was founded in 1889 as the National Union of Gas Workers and General Labourers by Will ...

. In March 1896 he was elected as secretary of its

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

District, this later becoming the union's Northern District. He was regarded as one of the union's most effective organisers, and by 1910 it had the third-highest membership of any in the union. In 1908, he persuaded the union to affiliated to the General Labourers' National Council. When the union merged into the new

National Union of General and Municipal Workers The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 460,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

, he retained his post, standing down in 1937. Lynas served on the Sunderland

School Board A board of education, school committee or school board is the board of directors or board of trustees of a school, local school district or an equivalent institution. The elected council determines the educational policy in a small regional are ...

and

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 from 1919 was a magistrate.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynas, Hugh 1865 births 1938 deaths English trade unionists Trade unionists from Glasgow