Walter Bayley Madeley (

Woolwich, England Woolwich () is a district in southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. The district's location on the River Thames led to its status as an important naval, military and industrial area; a role that was maintained throu ...

, 28 July 1873 –

Boksburg, South Africa Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...

, 12 May 1947) was a leader of the

South African Labour Party The South African Labour Party ( af, Suid-Afrikaanse Arbeidersparty), was a South African political party formed in March 1910 in the newly created Union of South Africa following discussions between trade unions, the Transvaal Independent La ...

and a cabinet minister. Madeley got his schooling in India at Bombay Cathedral High School. In 1889, he became an apprentice at the Woolwich Arsenal. In 1896 he immigrated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

where he was a fitter in a mine on the Rand. He joined the

Amalgamated Society of Engineers The Amalgamated Society of Engineers (ASE) was a major British trade union, representing factory workers and mechanics. History The history of the union can be traced back to the formation of the Journeymen Steam Engine, Machine Makers' and M ...

and took part in various strikes. He was also the first vice-president of the Kimberley Trades Council, but was one of five of its leaders sacked by

De Beers De Beers Group is an international corporation that specializes in diamond mining, diamond exploitation, diamond retail, diamond trading and industrial diamond manufacturing sectors. The company is active in open-pit, large-scale alluvial and c ...

for their trade union activism. This led him to start giving public speeches, in opposition to

victimisation Victimisation ( or victimization) is the process of being victimised or becoming a victim. The field that studies the process, rates, incidence, effects, and prevalence of victimisation is called victimology. Peer victimisation Peer victimisati ...

. He relocated to the

East Rand The East Rand is the urban eastern part of the Witwatersrand that is functionally merged with the Johannesburg conurbation in South Africa. The region extends from Alberton in the west to Nigel in the east, and south down to Nigel. It includes ...

to find work, but was repeatedly victimised, and was compelled to start his own business in order to make a living. Madeley was soon considered a leading figure in the Labour Party because of his exceptional ability. In the 1910 general election, he was first elected to the

House of Assembly of South Africa The House of Assembly (known in Afrikaans as the ''Volksraad'', or "People's Council") was the lower house of the Parliament of South Africa from 1910 to 1981, the unicameralism, sole parliamentary chamber between 1981 and 1984, and latterly ...

as a Labour MP. He represented the districts of Springs (1910-1915), then Benoni (1915-1945). General

J.B.M. Hertzog General James Barry Munnik Hertzog (3 April 1866 – 21 November 1942), better known as Barry Hertzog or J. B. M. Hertzog, was a South African politician and soldier. He was a Boer general during the Second Boer War who served ...

's National Party formed a

coalition government A coalition government is a form of government in which political parties cooperate to form a government. The usual reason for such an arrangement is that no single party has achieved an absolute majority after an election, an atypical outcome in ...

with Labour following the 1924 election in order to oust

Jan Smuts Field Marshal Jan Christian Smuts, (24 May 1870 11 September 1950) was a South African statesman, military leader and philosopher. In addition to holding various military and cabinet posts, he served as prime minister of the Union of South Af ...

South African Party nl, Zuidafrikaanse Partij , leader1_title = Leader (s) , leader1_name = Louis Botha,Jan Smuts, Barry Hertzog , foundation = , dissolution = , merger = Het VolkSouth African PartyAfrikaner BondOrangia Unie , merged ...

government. In November 1925, Madeley joined the cabinet as minister of post and telegraph services and public works. Even as minister, he advocated socialist policies such as

nationalization Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

of the means of production, to the embarrassment of his National Party colleagues. In 1928 he received, against the express wishes of General Hertzog, a delegation of the Industrial and Commercial Workers' Union, an unrecognized union which had black members and grieved the working conditions of black employees in his department. Hertzog asked him to resign, but when he refused, Hertzog dropped him from the cabinet. This created a rift within the Labour Party whose leader,

Frederic Creswell Colonel Frederic Hugh Page Creswell DSO (13 November 1866 – 25 August 1948) was a Labour Party politician in South Africa. He was Minister of Defence from 30 June 1924 to 29 March 1933. Early life and family The son of Edmund Creswell, Depu ...

, supported Hertzog and remained in the government while Madeley's faction went in opposition and became known as "National Council Labour". The split continued until the 1933 election when Creswell's faction dissolved into Hertozg's National Party leaving Madeley to become undisputed leader of the Labour Party. With the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

in 1939, the Labour Party voted against the Prime Minister Hertzog's motion of neutrality and supported General Smuts, whose party had entered into coalition with Hertzog in 1934 to form the United Party with Smuts as deputy prime minister. Hertzog was forced to resign and Smuts became prime minister for the duration of the war. Labour entered the wartime coalition government and Madeley served as Minister of Labour until the party left the coalition at the end of the war in 1945, he also served as minister of social affairs from 1939 to 1943. Madeley resigned as party leader in 1946 and died the next year.

References

Sources

* DJ Potgieter, ''Standard Encyclopaedia of Southern Africa'', Cape Town: Nasionale Opvoedkundige Uitgewery (Nasou) 1972. * BM Schoeman, ''Parlementêre verkiesings in Suid-Afrika 1910-1976'', Pretoria: Aktuele Publikasies 1977 * Peter Alexander, ''Workers, War & the Origins of Apartheid: Labour and Politics in South Africa, 1939-1948'', James Currey Publishers, 2000 {{DEFAULTSORT:Madeley, Walter 1873 births 1947 deaths Members of the House of Assembly (South Africa) Government ministers of South Africa South African people of English descent South African trade unionists Labour Party (South Africa) politicians M British people in colonial India British emigrants to the Cape Colony