Jesse Butler ( fl. 1892 – 1925) 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 and politician. Butler worked as a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

Ashton-under-Lyne Ashton-under-Lyne is a market town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England. The population was 45,198 at the 2011 census. Historically in Lancashire, it is on the north bank of the River Tame, in the foothills of the Pennines, east of Manche ...

, and joined the

Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation The Lancashire and Cheshire Miners' Federation (LCMF) was a trade union that operated on the Lancashire Coalfield in North West England from 1881 until it became the Lancashire area of the National Union of Mineworkers in 1945. Background Colli ...

(LCMF). He became the secretary of his local district, and an assistant miners' agent. He played a leading role in the 1892/93 miners' strike, acting as assistant to Thomas Ashton, secretary of both the LCMF and 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 ...

(MFGB). He raised money for the miners by undertaking public collections in Manchester, and was one of seven men who, as a result, were charged with begging, although the charge was soon dropped. Soon after the strike, Butler became the LCMF's full-time agent for Ashton-under-Lyne, which later became the union's Manchester district. On three occasions, he was elected to the executive of the MFGB. Butler was impressed by the contribution of

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) members to the strike, and so, later in the year, he joined the ILP. He stood for

Manchester City Council Manchester City Council is the local authority for Manchester, a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. Manchester is the sixth largest city in England by population. Its city council is composed of 96 councillors, three ...

as an ILP candidate in Openshaw ward at the 1894 election, and won the seat by just 22 votes. This made him one of the first two labour members of the council, along with

John Edward Sutton John Edward Sutton (23 December 1862 – 29 November 1945) was a British trades unionist and Labour Party politician. At the age of 14, Sutton took up employment at Bradford Colliery, Manchester. He became a check-weighman and secretary of the ...

. In 1897, the ILP became concerned about Butler's record on the council, and asked him to produce monthly reports of his activity, and to obey all instructions of the party's executive. He refused to do so, and left the party. The LCMF later affiliated to the Labour Party, within which Butler became active. In 1916, he was elected to the party's

National Executive Committee National Executive Committee is the name of a leadership body in several organizations, mostly political parties: * National Executive Committee of the African National Congress, in South Africa * Australian Labor Party National Executive * Nationa ...

, serving for a single year. In 1917, he retired from his trade union posts, moving to Baddesley in

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

. In 1920, Butler was elected to Atherstone Rural District Council, on which he was active until at least 1925.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Butler, Jesse Year of birth missing Year of death missing Councillors in Manchester English trade unionists Independent Labour Party councillors Labour Party (UK) people