John William Ainsley (30 June 1898 – 23 June 1976) was a British coal miner and Labour Party politician. He was the

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 ...

for

North West Durham North West Durham is a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament since 12 December 2019 by Richard Holden of the Conservative Party. Constituency profile The constituency is in the north west of County Durham ...

from 1955 to 1964.

Working life

Ainsley was born on 30 June 1898, the son of John George Ainsley. Ainsley attended elementary school before enlisting in the

Durham Light Infantry The Durham Light Infantry (DLI) was a light infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1968. It was formed in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 68th (Durham) Regiment of Foot (Light Infantry) and t ...

in 1916 to fight in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. When he returned, he became a coal miner. He continued his education at evening classes and through correspondence courses.

Local politics

Ainsley joined the Labour Party and helped the party by acting as the agent running election campaigns. In 1942 he was appointed to

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

(elections having been suspended during the war), where he specialised in education and became Chairman of the Education Committee; served on the council until 1956, including a term as Chair from 1953 to 1955, and as Alderman the following year. In December 1950 he was part of a delegation to central government over Durham County Council's decision to institute a

closed shop A pre-entry closed shop (or simply closed shop) is a form of union security agreement under which the employer agrees to hire union members only, and employees must remain members of the union at all times to remain employed. This is different fro ...

for all its employees. He was vice-chairman of the County Council in 1952 and Chairman from 1953 to 1955. He was Chairman of the Northern Advisory Council for Further Education from 1951.

Parliament

For the 1955 general election, Ainsley was selected as Labour Party candidate for

. He supported the mining industry, calling for more investment in British mines rather than importing coal from

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

. He was a supporter of nationalisation who opposed an attempt in 1957 to water down party policy. He defended his old regiment from attempts to merge it. An active

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

who was a local preacher, Ainsley served in the Methodist Youth department. He was generally loyal to the Labour Party (never breaking the whip), and when asked in 1959, he withdrew his name from a motion which opposed any move of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

aircraft from French to British bases. In 1960 he called for a rise in the school leaving age to 16, and in 1961 he urged integration of the independent schools with the state system and fully comprehensive mixed-sex schools.

Retirement

Ainsley stood down at the 1964 general election.

References

Sources

* Stenton, M., Lees, S. (1981). ''Who's Who of British Members of Parliament'', volume iv (covering 1945-1979). Sussex: The Harvester Press; New Jersey: Humanities Press. *"Who Was Who" A & C Black

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ainsley, William 1898 births 1976 deaths Durham Light Infantry soldiers British Army personnel of World War I Councillors in County Durham English Methodists Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies National Union of Mineworkers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964