Tom Oswald
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Thomas Oswald (1 May 1904 – 23 October 1990) was a Labour Member of Parliament in the United Kingdom. He represented Edinburgh Central from 1951 until he retired at the February 1974 general election. His parents were John Oswald and Agnes Love, of Leith, where he was born in 1904. His father was also born in Leith, in 1869, but the family came from
Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...
. His grandfather Thomas Oswald (1835 – 1921) was born there ( parish of Kettle) as was his grandmother Rachael Oswald, née Crawford ( Collessie). Great-grandfather James Oswald was born in May 1813, in Kininmonth in the parish of Ceres, Fife.Who Was Who (1981–1990): vol. 8, publ. A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 1991Census of 1841, 1871, 1901, 1911 – www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk records for Thomas Oswald and John Oswald, retrieved July 2016 His father, John Oswald, was a dockyard worker.Obituary of Thomas Oswald in ''the Times'', London, 30 October 1990. Avail from The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 August 2016. URL http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=palmers&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF501832095&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 Thomas Oswald was educated at Yardheads and Bonnington Road elementary schools in Leith.Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970, publ. by Times Newspapers, London, 1970. See article on Edinburgh Central On leaving school, he worked as a shop assistant, painter, shipyard worker and tram driver.House of Commons 1964, publ. by Times Newspapers, London, 1964. See article on Edinburgh Central. He was later to make his maiden speech in the House of Commons on the subject of public transport in Scotland, in July 1952, a subject in which he was recognised as an expert.Hansard (official record of the House of Commons) HC Deb 28 July 1952 vol 504 He was married in 1933 to Colina MacAskill MacAlpin (1903–1990), of Ballachullish, Argyll, daughter of Archibald MacAlpin and Margaret MacAskill. They had three sons and one daughter. He became a member and, in 1933, an official of the Transport and General Workers Union, which, as well as representing the interests of transport workers, was affiliated to the Labour Party, which Tom Oswald had joined in 1921. From 1941 – 1969 he was head of the Scottish Region of the Transport and General Workers Union (Trade Group Secretary, Scottish Region)International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who, publ. International Publications Service, 1984, p. 434 and during most of this time he was also an M.P. sponsored and supported by the TGWU. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the parliamentary seat of
West Aberdeenshire West (or Western) Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post ...
in the General Election of 1950, achieving 2nd place with 23% of the vote. However, next year he was elected for Edinburgh Central in the General Election of 1951, with 52% of the vote, succeeding the Labour MP
Andrew Gilzean Andrew Gilzean OBE (3 December 1877 – 6 July 1957) was a Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh Central from 1945 to 1951. Initially a member of the Independent Labour Party, Gilzean joined the ...
. He held this seat for 23 years until the General Election of February 1974, when he was succeeded by the future Foreign Minister Robin Cook. Never a particularly
safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district (constituency) in a legislative body (e.g. Congress, Parliament, City Council) which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combinat ...
, his majority dropped to 617 in
1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...
. Apart from his last election in
1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...
, he was always in a two-way fight with the Conservatives (also known as Unionists in Scotland). Primarily a
backbencher In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...
during this time, his only term in office was as
Parliamentary Private Secretary A Parliamentary Private Secretary (PPS) is a Member of Parliament (MP) in the United Kingdom who acts as an unpaid assistant to a minister or shadow minister. They are selected from backbench MPs as the 'eyes and ears' of the minister in the H ...
to the
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in 1967–1970, during the
Wilson Wilson may refer to: People * Wilson (name) ** List of people with given name Wilson ** List of people with surname Wilson * Wilson (footballer, 1927–1998), Brazilian manager and defender * Wilson (footballer, born 1984), full name Wilson Ro ...
government.See hansard.millbanksystems.com/people/mr-thomas-oswald/ retrieved July 2016 He was involved in the British Aluminium company's hydro-electric projects at Kinlochleven (near Ben Nevis) and at
Foyers A foyer is a type of room, typically an entrance. Foyer or ''variation'', may refer to: People * Bob Foyers (1868–1942), UK soccer player * Christine Foyer (born 1952), UK botanist * Jean Foyer (1921–2008), French politician * Lucien Le Fo ...
(on the south-east shore of Loch Ness) in the 1930s. With this knowledge he was the Chairman of the
Select Committee Select committee may refer to: *Select committee (parliamentary system), a committee made up of a small number of parliamentary members appointed to deal with particular areas or issues *Select or special committee (United States Congress) *Select ...
on the North Wales Hydro Electric Power Bill (now Act) of 1973.Hansard HC Deb 26 June 1973 vol 858 From 1956 – 1966 he was Secretary and Treasurer of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group. After leaving Parliament he became a member and then later president of the Scottish Old Age Pensioners Association.


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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oswald, Thomas 1904 births 1990 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 People from Leith Scottish Labour MPs Politicians from Edinburgh