John Wheatley (19 May 1869 – 12 May 1930) was a Scottish

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the e ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

. He was a prominent figure of the

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a sig ...

era.

Early life and career

Wheatley was born to Thomas and Johanna Wheatley in Bonmahon,

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In 1876 the family moved to

Braehead Braehead ( sco, Braeheid, Gaelic: ''Ceann a' Bhruthaich'') is a commercial development located at the former site of Braehead Power Station in Renfrew on the south bank of the River Clyde in Renfrew, Renfrewshire. It is particularly notable ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotlan ...

in Scotland. Initially—as his father had done in Ireland—he worked as a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face; cutting, blasting, ...

in the

Baillieston Baillieston ( sco, Bailiestoun) is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about east of the city centre. It also gives its name to Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council and forms part of the Glasgow East constituency of the UK Parliament. Geograph ...

district. After that he worked briefly as a publican. Wheatley then started a successful printing business, which published

leftist Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political works. He wrote many of them, including ''How the Miners Were Robbed'' (1907), ''The Catholic Workingman'' (1909), ''Miners, Mines and Misery'' (1909), ''Eight Pound Cottages for Glasgow Citizens'' (1913), ''Municipal Banking'' (1920) and ''The New Rent Act'' (1920). He was a deeply religious man and a practising

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

. Influenced by early Christian-socialist thinkers, in 1907 he joined 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). He founded and was the first chairman of the Catholic Socialist Society. Against the UK's 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 ...

, he campaigned against

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

and assisted in organising

rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This can ...

s 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 ...

. As a councillor on

's city council, he became one of the best known in the city, and was elected to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in the 1922 General Election for Glasgow Shettleston. He was a great supporter of

Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

. Labour leader

Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the first who belonged to the Labour Party, leading minority Labour governments for nine months in 1924 ...

sometimes disapproved of Wheatley's debating methods, as well as his friendship with

James Maxton James Maxton (22 June 1885 – 23 July 1946) was a British left-wing politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. He was a pacifist who opposed both world wars. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as on ...

. ( Maxton was suspended from the Commons on one occasion when he called Conservative MP Sir Frederick Banbury "a murderer" for a proposed cut in child welfare.) But Wheatley continued to work closely with his ILP colleagues in the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour P ...

, especially Maxton. Wheatley was known as the intellectual behind the ILP activities. Along with many ILP MPs, especially those from

Clydeside Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

, he found himself drifting from MacDonald's Labour leadership. Wheatley remained a widely respected political figure and when MacDonald became Prime Minister in January 1924, he appointed Wheatley as his Minister of Health. Wheatley is best remembered for his

Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1924 The Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1924 (14 & 15 Geo. V c. 35) was an Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom. The act increased government subsidies to be paid to local authorities to build municipal housing for rent for low paid workers from ...

, which saw a massive expansion in affordable

municipal housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, d ...

for the working class. On 9 May 1924,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

to the right. Consequently he did not hold a post in the Labour Government which formed after the

1929 United Kingdom general election The 1929 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 30 May 1929 and resulted in a hung parliament. It stands as the fourth of six instances under the secret ballot, and the first of three under universal suffrage, in which a party ha ...

. He refused to support many of the measures proposed by MacDonald's government. Along with Maxton (now Wheatley's leader in the ILP) he became one of the Labour-left's leading critics.

Death and legacy

John Wheatley died on 12 May 1930, at age 60. Wheatley Housing Group (Scotland's largest registered social landlord) and

John Wheatley College John Wheatley College was founded in 1989 and had its main campuses in Shettleston, Easterhouse and Haghill in Glasgow. The college originally opened in 1989 within the former main building of Eastbank Academy (which had moved to a brand new ...

(now

Glasgow Kelvin College Glasgow Kelvin College is a further education college in Glasgow, Scotland, which was formed 1 November 2013 from the merger of John Wheatley College, Stow College and North Glasgow College. The college is named after the scientist Lord Kelvin ...

) in Glasgow are named after him. His nephew,

John Thomas Wheatley John Thomas Wheatley, Baron Wheatley, (17 January 1908 – 28 July 1988) was a Scottish Labour politician and judge. Biography Wheatley was born on 17 January 1908 in Shettleston, Glasgow, the third and youngest child of Janet (1877� ...

, became a Labour MP for

Edinburgh East Edinburgh East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In present form, the constituency was first used at t ...

in 1947 and

Lord Advocate , body = , insignia = Crest of the Kingdom of Scotland.svg , insigniasize = 110px , image = File:Official Portrait of Dorothy Bain QC.png , incumbent = Dorothy Bain KC , incumbentsince = 22 June 2021 , appointer = Monarch on the advice ...

References

External links

*
John Wheatley & the 1924 Housing Act - UK Parliament Living Heritage

"John Wheatley: The Labour lion who led"
Richard Leonard, ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on the ...

'', 12 May 2010
"Was John Wheatley really a working-class hero?"
Robert Ronsson, ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney and Beatrice Webb and other leading members ...

'', 29 August 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, John 1869 births 1930 deaths British anti–World War I activists Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Politicians from County Waterford Politicians from Glasgow Baillieston Councillors in Glasgow Scottish printers Scottish Roman Catholics Scottish political writers Independent Labour Party MPs Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 Scottish miners Scottish socialists Red Clydeside British publicans Catholic socialists Scottish Labour MPs Scottish people of Irish descent Shettleston

Early life and career

Death and legacy

Further reading

Non-fiction

Fiction

References

External links