John Minto (18 November 1887 – c.1963Minto's death was recorded in the 1963 ''Annual Report of the Labour Party'') was a Scottish politician, active in England. Born in

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

, Minto left school at the age of 11, and completed an apprenticeship as an engineer, finding work in the shipyards. 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) in 1906, and worked closely with

Jimmy 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 ...

. He was secretary of the Kilmarnock ILP in 1909, and president in 1910. During

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 served in the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

, working on searchlights. Minto struggled to find work after the war, and relocated to

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

in 1919, where he served as secretary of the city's unemployed workers' committee. He later found work with the Leicester Co-operative Society, and joined the

Amalgamated Engineering Union The Amalgamated Engineering Union (AEU) was a major United Kingdom, British trade union. It merged with the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union to form the Amalgamated Engineering and Electrical Union in 1992. History ...

. In 1922, he was elected to

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

. He stood for the Labour Party in Bosworth at the 1924 general election, 1927 by-election and 1929 general election, coming only 271 votes from victory in 1927. During the 1930s, Minto was active in the

Socialist Sunday School Socialist Sunday Schools (SSS) were set up to replace or augment Christian Sunday Schools in the United Kingdom, and later the United States. They arose in response to the perceived inadequacy of orthodox Sunday schools as a training ground fo ...

movement and the Left Book Club. In 1944, he served as

Lord Mayor of Leicester The position of Lord Mayor of Leicester is a mainly ceremonial post, being the title of the chairman of the Leicester City Council. The Mayor is elected annually by the members of the council. The role of Lord Mayor is in many ways similar to ...

, and in the 1950s he was leader of the Labour group on the council.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minto, John 1887 births 1963 deaths Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates Mayors of places in Leicestershire People from Kilmarnock