Lewis John Edwards
OBE (27 May 1904 – 23 November 1959) was a British university lecturer,
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 and
Labour Party politician who sat in the
House of Commons of the United Kingdom and was
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
of the
Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe.
Life and career
Edwards was born in
Aylesbury, the son of a railwayman, and educated at the
Aylesbury Grammar School
Aylesbury Grammar School is a grammar school in Aylesbury situated in the English county of Buckinghamshire, which educates approximately 1300 students.
Founded in 1598 in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire by Sir Henry Lee, Champion of Queen Elizabet ...
. After working for a bank, he studied for the priesthood at the
College of the Resurrection, Mirfield, but decided his vocation lay outside the church. He then completed a degree in Economics at
Leeds University
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
.
He became a staff tutor at the
University of Leeds
, mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased
, established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds
, ...
and lectured in economics for the
Workers Educational Association
The Workers' Educational Association (WEA), founded in 1903, is the UK's largest voluntary sector provider of adult education and one of Britain's biggest charities. The WEA is a democratic and voluntary adult education movement. It delivers lea ...
. He was elected to
Leeds City Council
Leeds City Council is the local authority of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is a metropolitan district council, one of five in West Yorkshire and one of 36 in the metropolitan counties of England, and provides the majority of l ...
, and after working in a university appointment in
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, he became secretary for adult education at
Liverpool University
, mottoeng = These days of peace foster learning
, established = 1881 – University College Liverpool1884 – affiliated to the federal Victoria Universityhttp://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/2004/4 University of Manchester Act 200 ...
.
While at Liverpool, he was elected general secretary of the
Post Office Engineering Union
The Post Office Engineering Union (POEU) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. It represented engineering staff in the Post Office, mostly working in telecommunications.
History
The union was founded in 1915 when the Post Office Enginee ...
. He was elected as
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
for
Blackburn
Blackburn () is an industrial town and the administrative centre of the Blackburn with Darwen borough in Lancashire, England. The town is north of the West Pennine Moors on the southern edge of the Ribble Valley, east of Preston and north-n ...
in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
general election of 1945. He became
Parliamentary Private Secretary to
Stafford Cripps at the
Board of Trade, and then in 1947 he was made
Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Health was a junior ministerial office in the United Kingdom Government.
The Ministry of Health was created in 1919 as a reconstruction of the Local Government Board. Local government functions were ev ...
. He carried through Parliament the
National Assistance Act 1948
The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social ...
, which abolished the remaining parts of the
Poor Law, an achievement of which he was particularly proud.
In 1949 he returned to the Board of Trade as
Parliamentary Secretary, supporting the President,
Harold Wilson. In the
election of 1950 he lost his Blackburn seat, but shortly after was elected in a
by-election to the Yorkshire seat of Brighouse and Spenborough. In the reshuffle caused by the resignation of Sir
Stafford Cripps as
Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was appointed
Economic Secretary to the Treasury
The Economic Secretary to the Treasury is the sixth-most senior ministerial post in His Majesty's Treasury, after the First Lord of the Treasury, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, the Paymaster-General and the ...
, and held the post until the government lost the
election of 1951.
In opposition he became Chairman of the
Public Accounts Committee, and a member of the British parliamentary delegation to the
Council of Europe from 1955, where he was elected in 1957 as vice-president and in April 1959 as President of the Consultative Assembly.
Personal life
He married Dorothy May Watson in 1931 and had two daughters: Valerie Hope Edwards, who married
Baron Roper, the Labour MP John Roper; and Margaret Elaine Edwards, who married Sir Christopher Jenkins,
First Parliamentary Counsel 1994–1997.
Edwards sat for photographic portraits by
Walter Stoneman
Walter Ernest Stoneman (6 April 1876 – 14 May 1958) was an English portrait photographer who took many photographs for the National Portrait Gallery (NPG) in London.
Career as a photographer
Stoneman was born in Plymouth, Devon, on 6 ...
; the negatives are held by the
National Portrait Gallery, London.
Death
In November 1959, in
Strasbourg on Council of Europe business, he died suddenly of heart disease, aged 55. Then Labour leader,
Hugh Gaitskell, was quoted as saying that "''his notable administrative gifts would have ensured him an important post in any future Labour government''".
References
*
* Obituary, ''The Times'', 24 November 1959
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, John
1904 births
1959 deaths
Alumni of the University of Leeds
General Secretaries of the Post Office Engineering Union
Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
British trade union leaders
Officers of the Order of the British Empire
People from Aylesbury
Politics of Blackburn with Darwen
UK MPs 1945–1950
UK MPs 1950–1951
UK MPs 1951–1955
UK MPs 1955–1959
UK MPs 1959–1964
People educated at Aylesbury Grammar School
Academics of the University of Leeds
20th-century British economists
Parliamentary Secretaries to the Board of Trade
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Members of the Fabian Society
Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951
English economists