William Straker (13 July 1855 – 31 December 1941) 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 ...

Life

Born in

Snitter Snitter is a village and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is near the Northumberland National Park. The closest town is Rothbury. Governance Snitter is in the parliamentary constituency of Berwick-upon-Tweed, represented by Ann-M ...

, Straker moved to Widdrington at an early age and began working at the local

colliery Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

. He was a

Primitive Methodist The Primitive Methodist Church is a Methodist Christian denomination with the holiness movement. It began in England in the early 19th century, with the influence of American evangelist Lorenzo Dow (1777–1834). In the United States, the Primiti ...

, known for his

teetotalism Teetotalism is the practice or promotion of total personal abstinence from the psychoactive drug alcohol, specifically in alcoholic drinks. A person who practices (and possibly advocates) teetotalism is called a teetotaler or teetotaller, or i ...

. He became active in the

Northumberland Miners' Association The Northumberland Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1864 to represent coal miners in Northumberland, following the collapse of a short-lived union covering both Northumberland and Durham min ...

and was elected to its executive in 1882, then became its Corresponding Secretary in 1905. This post was renamed as the General Secretary in 1913, serving until 1935. National Union of Mineworkers, ''Northumberland Miners 1919-1939'', pp.132-134 Straker had an unusual set of views. He opposed almost all

strike Strike may refer to: People * Strike (surname) Physical confrontation or removal *Strike (attack), attack with an inanimate object or a part of the human body intended to cause harm *Airstrike, military strike by air forces on either a suspected ...

s, approving only of the 1912 stoppage. In 1914 he was chosen to be the Labour Party candidate at Wansbeck to run against the sitting Liberal MP

Charles Fenwick Charles Fenwick (5 May 1850 – 20 April 1918) was a British trade unionist and Liberal–Labour politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1918. Fenwick was born in Cramlington, Northumberland, and became a coal miner at the a ...

, who was a leader of the

. However, the outbreak of war postponed the election and Straker was later replaced as candidate. Despite his opposition to militancy, he also opposed the expulsion of

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

s from the Labour Party, and he strongly opposed

World War I 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 ...

, leading some newspapers to campaign for his removal. He was appointed a

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in 1930.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Straker, William 1855 births 1941 deaths English miners British trade union leaders People from Widdrington, Northumberland Trade unionists from Northumberland