Robert "Rob" Dawber (8 January 1956 – 20 February 2001) was a British railwayman turned writer whose script for the film '' The Navigators'' was commissioned by director Ken Loach and shot in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, where Dawber lived.Ken Loac
Obituary
Guardian Unlimited, 23 February 2001 He was a long-standing member of the

Trotskyist Trotskyism is the political ideology and branch of Marxism developed by Ukrainian-Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky and some other members of the Left Opposition and Fourth International. Trotsky self-identified as an orthodox Marxist, a rev ...

group the Alliance for Workers' Liberty.

Biography

Background

Dawber grew up in Wath-upon-Dearne, then in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(attending

Wath Grammar School , motto_translation = Look to Better Things , address = Sandygate , city/town = Wath-upon-DearneRotherham , county = South Yorkshire , postcode = S63 7NW , country ...

) and, having studied Politics and English at Leicester University, decided to pursue a career on the railways. He had strong political beliefs, and during his time as a railwayman he "became a branch secretary for the National Union of Railwaymen, and wrote for ''

Socialist Organiser {{unreferenced, date=October 2007 ''Socialist Organiser'' was a weekly socialist newspaper circulated in the Labour Party. The newspaper was founded in 1979 by the Socialist Campaign for a Labour Victory, later renamed the Socialist Organiser ...

'' and ''Off The Rails'', a bulletin for rail workers. His Fat Controller column mercilessly lampooned the rail managers who squandered the opportunities of the nationalised industries". Following

privatisation Privatization (also privatisation in British English) can mean several different things, most commonly referring to moving something from the public sector into the private sector. It is also sometimes used as a synonym for deregulation when ...

of the railways from 1994, Dawber was made redundant and he took the decision to begin writing a film script. After sending his work to Ken Loach, his script about the breakup of the nationalised railways through privatisation was commissioned.

Illness and death

One week after this news, Rob discovered he was suffering from

mesothelioma Mesothelioma is a type of cancer that develops from the thin layer of tissue that covers many of the internal organs (known as the mesothelium). The most common area affected is the lining of the lungs and chest wall. Less commonly the lining ...

, a rare form of lung cancer caused by handling

asbestos Asbestos () is a naturally occurring fibrous silicate mineral. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous crystals, each fibre being composed of many microscopic "fibrils" that can be released into the atmosphere b ...

during the course of his work on the railway. Rob searched the world for therapies and treatments, but died on 20 February 2001 at the age of 45. He saw ''The Navigators'' completed but did not live to see its release. Ken Loach, in his ''Guardian'' obituary of Rob Dawber, wrote that "Working people have lost a champion".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawber, Rob 1956 births 2001 deaths Alliance for Workers' Liberty people English male screenwriters People from Wath upon Dearne People educated at Wath Academy 20th-century English screenwriters