William Forshaw (1872 – 22 April 1938) 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 unionist 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 Employee ben ...

and politician who served on the

General Council of the Trades Union Congress The General Council of the Trades Union Congress is an elected body which is responsible for carrying out the policies agreed at the annual British Trade Union Congresses (TUC). Organisation The council has 56 members, all of whom must be proposed ...

. Born in St Helens, then in

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

, Forshaw worked underground as a

coal miner Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use c ...

before working above ground on the mining machinery. He was a founder member of the Labour Representation Committee, and he was elected to St Helens Borough Council in 1905, remaining on it for many years. From 1908 to 1913, he was the political agent for the Labour Party in the Newton constituency. Forshaw was active in the Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales Enginemen's, Boilermen's and Brakemen's Federation, and served as its honorary president for some years. In 1913, Forshaw became the full-time assistant secretary of the union, and in 1921 he was elected as its general secretary. As the leading figure in the union, he represented it at the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre A national trade union center (or national center or central) is a federation or confederation of trade unions in a country. Nearly every country in the world has a national tra ...

(TUC), and from 1933 to 1935 he served on the General Council of the TUC. In his spare time, Forshaw undertook administration for the St Helens Co-operative Society. He also enjoyed mountain climbing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forshaw, William 1872 births 1938 deaths Councillors in Merseyside Labour Party (UK) councillors British trade union leaders Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from St Helens, Merseyside