Harry Gosling CH (9 June 1861 – 24 October 1930) was a

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

politician and trade union leader.

Early life

Gosling was born in 1861 at 57 York Street,

Lambeth Lambeth () is a district in South London, England, in the London Borough of Lambeth, historically in the County of Surrey. It is situated south of Charing Cross. The population of the London Borough of Lambeth was 303,086 in 2011. The area expe ...

, London, on the southern bank of the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, se ...

. He was the second son of William Gosling, master

lighterman A lighterman is a worker who operates a lighter, a type of flat-bottomed barge, which may be powered or unpowered. In the latter case, today it is usually moved by a powered tug. The term is particularly associated with the highly skilled men ...

, and his wife Sarah Louisa née Rowe, a schoolteacher. His family were

watermen A waterman is a river worker who transfers passengers across and along city centre rivers and estuaries in the United Kingdom and its colonies. Most notable are those on the River Thames and River Medway in England, but other rivers such as the ...

, working on the river for several generations. Following an education at

Blackfriars Blackfriars, derived from Black Friars, a common name for the Dominican Order of friars, may refer to: England * Blackfriars, Bristol, a former priory in Bristol * Blackfriars, Canterbury, a former monastery in Kent * Blackfriars, Gloucester, a f ...

Elementary School, he entered employment as an office boy, aged 13. A year later he reached sufficient age to begin a seven-year apprenticeship to the

Watermen's Company The Company of Watermen and Lightermen (CWL) is a historic City guild in the City of London. However, unlike the city's other 109 livery companies, CWL does not have a grant of livery. Its meeting rooms are at Waterman's Hall on St Mary at Hil ...

, working with his father on the wharves that would later become the site of the County Hall.

Trade unionism

The success of the 1889 London Dock Strike encouraged the river workers to form a union, the

Amalgamated Society of Watermen, Lightermen and Bargemen The Amalgamated Society of Watermen, Lightermen and Bargemen was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1889 as the Amalgamated Society of Watermen and Lightermen of the River Thames. In 1901, it merged with the Watchm ...

. Gosling was one of its first members, and was appointed general secretary in 1892, aged 32. In 1908 he was appointed as the workers' representative on the newly formed

Port of London Authority The Port of London Authority (PLA) is a self-funding public trust established on 31 March 1909 in accordance with the Port of London Act 1908 to govern the Port of London. Its responsibility extends over the Tideway of the River Thames and its ...

, and to the Parliamentary Committee of 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 ...

. When the Watermen's Society was merged into the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

in 1922, Gosling became the TGWU's first and only president, holding office until his death.

London County Council

He was also a member of

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

from 1898 to 1925, representing

St George's-in-the-East St George-in-the-East is an Anglican Church dedicated to Saint George and one of six Hawksmoor churches in London, England. It was built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the 1711 Act of Parliament. Its name has been used for two forms of p ...

until 1919 and

Kennington Kennington is a district in south London, England. It is mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, running along the boundary with the London Borough of Southwark, a boundary which can be discerned from the early medieval period between the ...

thereafter. Initially he was a member of the

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Italy ...

on the council, forming a left wing group of "Labour Progressives" with

John Burns John Elliot Burns (20 October 1858 – 24 January 1943) was an English trade unionist and politician, particularly associated with London politics and Battersea. He was a socialist and then a Liberal Member of Parliament and Minister. He was ...

Ben Cooper Ben Cooper (September 30, 1933 – February 24, 2020) was an American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot Award in 2005 for his work in westerns. Stage Cooper appeared on Broadway in ''Life With Father'' (1939). He debuted in th ...

and

Will Crooks William Crooks (6 April 1852 – 5 June 1921) was a noted trade unionist and politician from Poplar, London, and a member of the Fabian Society. He is particularly remembered for his campaigning work against poverty and inequality. Early life ...

. In 1920 Labour formally became a separate party within the council, and Gosling became the first leader of the Labour group. During 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 ...

Gosling was a member of the Port and Transit Executive, the body charged with organising imports and exports by sea. At the end of hostilities he was appointed to the

Imperial War Graves Commission The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) is an intergovernmental organisation of six independent member states whose principal function is to mark, record and maintain the graves and places of commemoration of Commonwealth of Nations mil ...

Parliament

Gosling first stood for election to parliament as a Liberal Party candidate at the

December 1910 general election The December 1910 United Kingdom general election was held from 3 to 19 December. It was the last general election to be held over several days and the last to be held before the History of the United Kingdom during the First World War, First Wo ...

but failed to win a seat at Lambeth North. At the next General Election in 1918 he stood as a Labour Party candidate at

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon. Situated west-northwest of Charing Cross, it is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. Uxbrid ...

but was again defeated. The following General Election in 1922 he was again defeated as a Labour candidate at

. In the following year C. J. Matthew, the sitting Labour MP for Whitechapel and St Georges died, and Gosling held the seat for the party at the ensuing by-election, retaining it until his death. For a short period in 1924 he was

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

and

Paymaster General His Majesty's Paymaster General or HM Paymaster General is a ministerial position in the Cabinet Office of the United Kingdom. The incumbent Paymaster General is Jeremy Quin MP. History The post was created in 1836 by the merger of the posit ...

in the

First Labour Government The first MacDonald ministry of the United Kingdom lasted from January to November 1924. The Labour Party, under Ramsay MacDonald, had failed to win the general election of December 1923, with 191 seats, although the combined Opposition tall ...

. For the last six years of his life Gosling was in poor health. In 1927 he wrote a book of reminiscences ''Up and Down Stream''. He was the third person to be appointed to the

Order of the Companions of Honour The Order of the Companions of Honour is an order of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded on 4 June 1917 by King George V as a reward for outstanding achievements. Founded on the same date as the Order of the British Empire, it is sometimes ...

. Harry Gosling died at his home in

Twickenham Twickenham is a suburban district in London, England. It is situated on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historically part of Middlesex, it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames since 1965, and the boroug ...

in October 1930, aged 69. His body was laid in state at

Transport House Transport House was the headquarters of the Transport and General Workers' Union (T&G), and also originally of the Labour Party, the Trades Union Congress, and the Workers' Travel Association. The term "Transport House" was once a metonym for ...

, headquarters of the TGWU, before its cremation at

Golders Green Golders Green is an area in the London Borough of Barnet in England. A smaller suburban linear settlement, near a farm and public grazing area green of medieval origins, dates to the early 19th century. Its bulk forms a late 19th century and ea ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gosling, Harry 1861 births 1930 deaths UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies British Secretaries of State United Kingdom Paymasters General Members of London County Council Presidents of the Trades Union Congress General secretaries of British trade unions Members of the Order of the Companions of Honour Members of the Executive of the Labour and Socialist International Progressive Party (London) politicians Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Secretaries of State for Transport (UK) Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs