Sir William Jenkins (8 January 1871 – 8 December 1944) was a British

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

politician and

trade union 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 benefits ( ...

leader. Jenkins was the son of 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 ...

and attended

Glyncorrwg Glyncorrwg is a village in the Afan Valley, in southern Wales. Glyncorrwg is also the name of an electoral ward and formerly a community covering the village and surrounding countryside, in Neath Port Talbot county borough. Glyncorrwg community ...

National School before taking up work on the railways at the age of 11½. Six years later he became a miner, and later a checkweigher.''Obituary: Sir William Jenkins'', The Times, 9 December 1944, p.8 He entered

politics Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

in 1900 when he was elected to Glyncorrwg School Board, and in 1904 he became a member of the town's urban district council. He was chairman of

Glamorgan County Council Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...

in 1906 and from 1919 to 1921. He was also chairman of Glyncorrwg UDC from 1908 to 1916. He became secretary of the

Western Miners' Association The Western Miners' Association was a trade union representing coal miners in parts of South Wales, centred on Neath. History The union originated in February 1872, when about 100 local coal miners met at the King's Head Inn and agreed to form ...

in 1906, and chief agent of the Afan Valley Miners' Federation. At the 1922 general election he was elected as Labour

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

Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a po ...

, defeating

John Hugh Edwards (John) Hugh Edwards (9 April 1869 – 14 June 1945) was a British Liberal Party politician. Aberystwyth-born Edwards was an author, having written a history of Wales and three biographies of David Lloyd George. He was a governor of Univers ...

, the sitting

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member for the seat by over 8,000 votes. He was elected chairman of the county council for a third time in 1927. He held positions as vice-president of the County Council Association of England and Wales, chairman of the Federation of Education Authorities of Wales, member of the council of the

University of Wales The University of Wales (Welsh language, Welsh: ''Prifysgol Cymru'') is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff � ...

and chairman of the Glamorgan School for the Blind. In 1931 he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

for his public work. He continued to hold the Neath seat until his death at Cymmer,

Port Talbot Port Talbot (, ) is a town and community in the county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, situated on the east side of Swansea Bay, approximately from Swansea. The Port Talbot Steelworks covers a large area of land which dominates the south ...

in December 1944.

References

1871 births 1944 deaths Knights Bachelor Miners' Federation of Great Britain-sponsored MPs Welsh Labour MPs UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 UK MPs 1931–1935 UK MPs 1935–1945 Members of Glamorgan County Council {{Wales-Labour-UK-MP-stub