Robert Shirkie (1868 – 15 August 1954) was a British trade unionist. Shirkie was born in Ireland, the son of Robert Shirkie, an ironworker, and Jane Simpson. Shirkie worked as a colliery engineman for twenty years, both in Scotland in the Transvaal Colony. He joined the United Enginekeepers' Mutual Protective Association of Scotland, becoming its chairman, and then during the 1910s was elected as secretary of the

National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boilermen The National Federation of Colliery Enginemen and Boiler Firemen was a union federation in the United Kingdom. Its membership changed over time, but was centred on unions representing enginemen at coal mines. The federation was founded in Manchest ...

. He represented this federation at the Trades Union Congress (TUC), and in 1918 was elected to serve on the Parliamentary Committee of the TUC. The United Enginekeepers became the Scottish Colliery Enginemen, Boilermen and Tradesmen's Association, and Shirkie was additionally elected as its secretary. He attended the Paris Peace Conference, 1919, on the invitation of the British government, and in 1935 was made an

Officer 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 ...

. He retired in about 1942. He died in

Hillhead, Glasgow Hillhead ( sco, Hullheid, gd, Ceann a' Chnuic) is an area of Glasgow, Scotland. Situated north of Kelvingrove Park and to the south of the River Kelvin, Hillhead is at the heart of Glasgow's fashionable West End, with Byres Road forming the ...

, aged 86.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shirkie, Robert 1868 births 1954 deaths General secretaries of British trade unions Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Scottish trade unionists Transvaal Colony people