Sir Sidney Ford,

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(29 August 1909–13 August 1983) 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 union 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 benefits ...

leader. Sidney William George Ford was born in Edmonton, London. Ford began working for 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) in 1925. He received his knighthood for his work on

Lord Devlin Patrick Arthur Devlin, Baron Devlin, PC, FBA (25 November 1905 – 9 August 1992) was a British judge and legal philosopher. The second-youngest English High Court judge in the 20th century, he served as a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary fro ...

's Docks Inquiry and other T.U.C. (trade union congress). He never worked as a miner, but became Secretary of the

Colliery Officials and Staffs Area The National Federation of Colliery Officials was a trade union representing colliery workers in the United Kingdom who were not involved in manual labour. The federation was established in December 1919 by local unions of colliery officials, wi ...

of the union. He was known for his loyalty to the Labour Party and his opposition to the union's left-wing.Andrew Taylor, ''The NUM and British Politics: 1969–1995'', p.25 The MFGB was refounded as the National Union of Mineworkers. Its president-elect, Alwyn Machen, died suddenly in March 1960, the same month he was elected. A new presidential election was held, and Ford stood against Alex Moffat, a Scottish communist. He retired in 1971. For a number of years prior to his death he suffered from

Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease (PD), or simply Parkinson's, is a long-term degenerative disorder of the central nervous system that mainly affects the motor system. The symptoms usually emerge slowly, and as the disease worsens, non-motor symptoms becom ...

, and died as a result of this on 13 August 1983 aged 73. He died in Palmers Green, Winchmore Hill, London N.21. Ford's period as leadership was marked by mass pit closures and relatively little resistance. His successor, Joe Gormley, wrote in his autobiography that this passivity led many mineworkers to distrust the white-collar COSA section of the union, which influenced the lack of support for the moderate Trevor Bell, who ran against

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

for the leadership in 1981.in

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Sidney 1909 births 1983 deaths Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the National Union of Mineworkers (Great Britain)