Joseph Jones (1891 – 1 April 1948) 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 St Helens, Jones studied at a technical college before becoming 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 ...

Robin Page Arnot Robert "Robin" Page Arnot (15 December 1890 – 18 May 1986), best known as R. Page Arnot, was a British Communist journalist and politician. Early years Robert Page Arnot, known to his friends as "Robin", was born in 1890 at Greenock, the s ...

, ''The Miners in Crisis and War'', p.129 He moved to work at

Thurcroft Thurcroft is a village and civil parish situated south-east of Rotherham in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham in South Yorkshire, England. From 1902 to 1991, it was a mining community. It has a population of 5,296, increasing to 6,900 at ...

, and was elected branch secretary of the

Yorkshire Miners' Association The Yorkshire Miners' Association was a British trade union. It is now an integral part of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM). History The union was founded in 1881 with the merger of the South Yorkshire Miners' Association, and the ...

(YMA) in 1914. He was an active

methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

, and strongly promoted the cause of

temperance Temperance may refer to: Moderation *Temperance movement, movement to reduce the amount of alcohol consumed *Temperance (virtue), habitual moderation in the indulgence of a natural appetite or passion Culture *Temperance (group), Canadian danc ...

, later becoming Chairman of the Workers' Temperance League. He was elected as a Labour Party member of

West Riding County Council West Riding County Council (WRCC) was the county council of the Administrative counties of England, administrative county of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1974. The council met at County Hall, Wakefield, County Hall i ...

in 1919, serving until 1933. In 1923, Jones was elected as Treasurer of the YMA and, the following year, he became its General Secretary. He was elected to

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

Town Council in 1926, serving as Mayor of Barnsley in 1931. In 1924, Jones contested the General Secretaryship 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) as the candidate of the union's right-wing, but he was narrowly defeated by the communist

A. J. Cook Andrea Joy Cook (born July 22, 1978) is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her role as Supervisory Special Agent Jennifer "JJ" Jareau on the CBS crime drama ''Criminal Minds'' (2005–2020, 2022). Cook has also appeared in ''The Virgin ...

. From 1926 until 1931, Jones was on the

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 ...

of the Labour Party, and from 1930 to 1938 he was the government's Coal Mine Reorganisation Commissioner. Jones was elected as Vice President of the MFGB in 1932, then in 1934 became the union's President. He was one of two assessors during the 1937 enquiry into the

Gresford disaster The Gresford disaster occurred on 22 September 1934 at Gresford Colliery, near Wrexham, Denbighshire, when an explosion and underground fire killed 266 men. Gresford is one of Britain's worst coal mining disasters: a controversial inquiry into ...

. During the enquiry both assessors disagreed with the commissioner's report and published their own reports as addenda. He resigned as MFGB president in 1938 to join the Coal Commission, and in 1947 was appointed as advisor on social insurance to the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "v ...

. Jones was a

Justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

(JP) and in the 1932 New Year Honours was appointed a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Joseph 1891 births 1948 deaths Members of West Riding County Council Labour Party (UK) councillors People from St Helens, Merseyside Presidents of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) Vice Presidents of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain) Mayors of Barnsley