Sir George Edwards OBE (5 October 1850 – 6 December 1933) was a trade unionist and Labour Party politician in the United Kingdom.

Early life and career

Edwards was born in Marsham, Norfolk, the son of a poor ex-soldier who worked as an agricultural labourer. After the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the de ...

, when the family's income was threatened by rising prices, they had to enter the workhouse for a year. At the age of 6, Edwards went to work for one shilling (five pence) a week, scaring crows. Because of the need to work he never went to school, and only learnt to read and write in adult life, being taught by his wife. He joined the

Primitive Methodists 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 ...

, and married at the age of 22. In 1889 he became secretary of the Norfolk and Norwich Amalgamated Labour Union, which ceased to exist in 1896. Ten years later (1906) he founded the

Eastern Counties Agricultural Labourers & Small Holders Union The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1906 and 1982. It represented farmworkers. History The union was established as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labou ...

later known as the

National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom which existed between 1906 and 1982. It represented farmworkers. History The union was established as the Eastern Counties Agricultural Labou ...

, and became its general secretary. He cycled over 6,000 miles to meetings in the first year, and built its membership to over 3,000.

Political career

In 1906 he was elected to

Norfolk County Council Norfolk County Council is the top-tier local government authority for Norfolk, England. Its headquarters are based in the city of Norwich. Below it there are 7 second-tier local government district councils: Breckland District, Broadland Distr ...

, in 1914 he became a magistrate, and in 1918 he became a county alderman. During the war he served on various committees and was given the OBE. He contested the

South Norfolk South Norfolk is a local government district in Norfolk, England. Its council is based in Long Stratton. The population of the Local Authority District was 124,012 as taken at the 2011 Census. History The district was formed on 1 April 197 ...

constituency at the 1918 general election. He won 26% of the votes, losing to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate

William Cozens-Hardy William is a male given name of Germanic languages, Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norm ...

. When Cozens-Hardy succeeded to the peerage in 1920 as

Baron Cozens-Hardy Baron Cozens-Hardy, of Letheringsett in the County of Norfolk, was a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created on 1 July 1914 for Sir Herbert Cozens-Hardy, Master of the Rolls from 1907 to 1918. He was succeeded by his eldest so ...

, Edwards won the resulting by-election in July 1920, with 46% of the votes, with Liberal vote split between pro- and anti-coalition candidates. Edwards was then nearly 70 years of age, one of the oldest ever by-election winners. At the 1922 general election, the Liberals did not field a candidate, and he lost the seat to the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

Thomas William Hay Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas William Hay (25 August 1882 – 10 July 1956) was a British military officer and politician, who served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for South Norfolk in 1922–23. Hay was the son of Admiral Lord John Hay, ...

. Edwards was returned to the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

at the 1923 general election, when he beat Hay with a majority of only 861 votes, but lost again in

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20– 30 – Kuomintang in China hol ...

, to the Conservative James Christie. He did not stand for

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

again. He was knighted in 1930. His wife died in 1912, and they had no children.

Publications

*
See it in Project Gutenberg

References

* * * Obituary, The Times, 7 December 1933 *

External links

*

(The Socialist Party)
Century-old pay struggle for 'brother to the ox'
(The Scotsman)
Start of the new norfolk union
(EASF website) * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, George 1850 births 1933 deaths General Secretaries of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers People from Broadland (district) Officers of the Order of the British Empire Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Members of Norfolk County Council Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1918–1922 UK MPs 1923–1924 Knights Bachelor Councillors in Norfolk

Early life and career

Political career

See also

Publications

References

External links