Walter James Edwards (1900 – 15 October 1964), known as Stoker Edwards or Wally Edwards, was a British Labour Party politician. Edwards was born in Whitechapel, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...

. He briefly worked as a

carman In Celtic mythology, Carman or Carmun was a warrior and sorceress from Athens who tried to invade Ireland in the days of the Tuatha Dé Danann, along with her three sons, Dub ("black"), Dother ("evil") and Dian ("violence"). She used her magical ...

from 1917 and in 1918 enlisted in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

as a stoker and served until 1923. He then became a docker. He joined the Labour Party and the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

and in 1937 was appointed a full-time officer with the union's Docks Group. From 1935 to 1939 he was chairman of the Whitechapel Labour Party. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was recalled as a Naval reservist and rose to the rate of Leading Stoker. In 1942 he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for Whitechapel and St Georges, the first serving Royal Navy rating to be elected to Parliament. Following boundary changes in 1950, he was elected for the new Stepney constituency and served until his retirement in 1964. He served as Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1945 to 1951. A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

, he was known as a campaigner against

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in Sex work, sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, n ...

, which was a big problem in his constituency. He died on the day of the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

. Edwards was elected to

Stepney Borough Council The Metropolitan Borough of Stepney was a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, Metropolitan borough in the County of London created in 1900. In 1965 it became part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Formation and boundaries The bo ...

in 1934 and served on it until 1959. In 1944–1945, when he was already an MP, he served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well a ...

. Edwards' only son was killed on active service in 1944. He also had a daughter.

References

*Obituary, ''TGWU Record'', December 1964 *Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...

'', 16 October 1964 *

External links

* 1900 births 1964 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Lords of the Admiralty Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 People from Whitechapel Royal Navy sailors Royal Navy personnel of World War I Royal Navy personnel of World War II Trade unionists from London Mayors of places in Greater London English Roman Catholics Members of Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council Admiralty personnel of World War II Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub