Matthew Burrow Farr (1862 – 31 December 1941) was a British

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 ...

and Labour Party politician. Farr worked in the cotton industry in

Mossley Mossley (/ˈmɒzli/) is a town and civil parish in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, in the upper Tame Valley and the foothills of the Pennines, southeast of Oldham and east of Manchester. The historic counties of Lancashire, Cheshire ...

, and he became the secretary of the Mossley Card and Blowing Room Operatives' Association at an early age. He was a supporter of the

Colne Valley Labour Union The Colne Valley Labour Union (CVLU) was a political party based in the Colne Valley, in Yorkshire, in England. The first labour party organised on the basis of a Parliamentary constituency, it successfully backed Tom Mann as secretary of the Ind ...

, and then became one of the first members of the Independent Labour Party (ILP). He and stood for the district council in the Yorkshire ward in 1893, and again in 1895, when he became the first independent labour councillor in the town. He became an

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many Jurisdiction, jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council membe ...

in 1899, and then in 1914 was elected as Mayor of Mossley. By this time, he was a member of the executive of the Amalgamated Association of Card and Blowing Room Operatives (Cardroom Amalgamation), to which his Mossley union was affiliated. He also became increasingly prominent in the Labour Party, to which the ILP was affiliated, and in 1921 was elected to its National Executive Committee, serving for two years. The Cardroom Amalgamation was a member of the

United Textile Factory Workers' Association The United Textile Factory Workers' Association (UTFWA) was a trade union federation in Great Britain. It was active from 1889 until 1975. Objectives The federation was founded in 1889, to represent the various textile workers' unions in polit ...

, and this organisation was keen to sponsor Labour Parliamentary candidates. In 1919, he was firstly adopted as its Prospective Parliamentary Candidate for Stalybridge and Hyde. Later in the year, he was instead adopted in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

, but Farr instead decided to contest Middleton and Prestwich. The party planned to stand him in the

1920 Middleton and Prestwich by-election The 1920 Middleton and Prestwich by-election was a by-election held on 22 November 1920 for the British House of Commons constituency of Middleton and Prestwich in Lancashire. The by-election was triggered by the appointment as a judge of the sit ...

, but due to a serious outbreak of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

in the town, the local party decided it best to leave the seat uncontested. Farr first stood in Middleton and Prestwich at the

1922 United Kingdom general election The 1922 United Kingdom general election was held on Wednesday 15 November 1922. It was won by the Conservative Party, led by Bonar Law, which gained an overall majority over the Labour Party, led by J. R. Clynes, and a divided Liberal Party. ...

, taking 41.5% of the vote. When he was again a candidate in the

1923 United Kingdom general election The 1923 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 6 December 1923. The Conservative Party (UK), Conservatives, led by Stanley Baldwin, won the most seats, but Labour Party (UK), Labour, led by Ramsay MacDonald, and H. H. Asquith's re ...

, the ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described him as "... a well-known and popular leader of the cotton operatives, howill undoubtedly secure a heavy following" in the

Chadderton Chadderton is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, on the River Irk and Rochdale Canal. It is located in the foothills of the Pennines, west of Oldham, south of Rochdale and north-east of Manchester. Hi ...

and Middleton areas of the seat. Despite this, he took third place, and despite moving back into second, he again failed to win in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

and

1929 This year marked the end of a period known in American history as the Roaring Twenties after the Wall Street Crash of 1929 ushered in a worldwide Great Depression. In the Americas, an agreement was brokered to end the Cristero War, a Catholic ...

. In 1919, Farr was elected to

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

, and in 1929 became an alderman on that body. He finally stood in Oldham at the

1935 United Kingdom general election The 1935 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 14 November 1935 and resulted in a large, albeit reduced, majority for the National Government now led by Stanley Baldwin of the Conservative Party. The greatest number of members, ...

, taking fourth place in the two-seat constituency. He remained in his trade union and council posts until his death, late in 1941, at the age of 79.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farr, Matthew Burrow 1862 births 1941 deaths Councillors in Greater Manchester Members of Lancashire County Council Trade unionists from Greater Manchester Mayors of places in Greater Manchester Independent Labour Party politicians Labour Party (UK) councillors Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates People from Mossley