John Cecil Beard (9 December 1871 – 25 September 1950) was a British

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.

Life

Beard was born in Ellerdine Heath in Shropshire in 1871,BEARD, John
, ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It is a book, and also a CD-ROM and a website, giving information on influential people from around the world. Published annually as a book since 1849, it lists people who influence British life, according to i ...

'' son of a farm labourer.Article by Jean Beard. His family were

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 ...

, whose local chapel ran an elementary day school at Ellerdine where Beard had his full-time education until leaving at the age of ten years. After leaving school he helped his father when then working in a brickyard carrying bricks for the building of an extension to

Peplow Hall Peplow is a hamlet in Shropshire, England. It is part of the civil parish of Hodnet, a larger village to the north. The hamlets of Bowling Green and Radmoor are both in the village's vicinity. It lies in a rural area on the A442 road, between C ...

, then as labourer on a farm at Muckleton,

Shawbury Shawbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. The village is northeast of the town of Shrewsbury, northwest of Telford and northwest of London. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Dray ...

and at age fourteen for a builder at nearby Wytheford who was then working on the Apley Castle estate at

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

. He briefly left Shropshire when he worked down a mine in north

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

where he joined the Miners' Association union before he took up work as an insurance agent, becoming a founder of the Planet Insurance Company.Obituary: John Beard, CBE
, The History of the Birmingham Municipal Bank He was a founder member of the

Workers' Union The Workers' Union was a general union based in the United Kingdom, but with some branches in other countries. During the 1910s, it was the largest general union in the UK, but it entered a rapid decline in the 1920s, and eventually became part ...

in 1898, and it appointed him as its Shropshire organiser. In this role, after a failed attempt to organise in the

Ironbridge Ironbridge is a large village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. Located on the bank of the River Severn, at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge, it lies in the civil parish of The Gorge. Ironbridge developed beside, a ...

coalfields he recruited large numbers of farm labourers to the union, and successfully campaigned for an increase in their wages."A trade union leader: Mr John Beard's record forty years' service", ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'', 13 December 1936, p.11 By 1900, the union in Shropshire grew to 20 branches, although most had an ephemeral existence. He moved to

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

in 1904 to become the union's national agricultural organiser, and there became involved in the Labour Party. Beard, who had been one of ten self-described

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 ...

members elected at the founding of

High Ercall High Ercall, also known in the past as Ercall Magna, is a village in the borough of Telford and Wrekin and ceremonial county of Shropshire, England. The civil parish is still called Ercall Magna, and had a total population of 1,679 at the 2001 ce ...

Parish Council in Shropshire in 1894, was elected as a member of

Birmingham City Council Birmingham City Council is the local government body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local council area in the United Kingdom (e ...

in 1910, representing

Saltley Saltley is an inner-city area of Birmingham, east of the city centre. The area is part of the Washwood Heath ward, and was previously part of the Nechells ward. It is part of the Ladywood constituency in the city. History Saltley was originally ...

, in which post he was leading figure in the creation of the

Birmingham Municipal Bank The Birmingham Municipal Bank was a savings bank in the city of Birmingham, England. It was created as the Birmingham Corporation Savings Bank by a 1916 Act of Parliament on a temporary basis and replaced by the Birmingham Municipal Bank in 1919 ...

. He left Birmingham in 1920 when he became more involved in union affairs in London In 1913, Beard was elected as national president of the Workers' Union. He led a major, successful, strike in the chain-making industry that year, further increasing his prestige in the union, and was elected to the general council 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 ...

(TUC) in 1920. However, by 1927, the Workers' Union's finances were a major problem, and Beard led negotiations with

Ernest Bevin Ernest Bevin (9 March 1881 – 14 April 1951) was a British statesman, trade union leader, and Labour Party politician. He co-founded and served as General Secretary of the powerful Transport and General Workers' Union in the years 1922–19 ...

which led to it merging 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 ...

(TGWU) two years later. In 1929/30, Beard served as President of the TUC, and in 1931 as the TUC's joint representative to the American Federation of Labour. He retired in 1936, and was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire 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 ...

(CBE) in the

1938 Birthday Honours The King's Birthday Honours 1938 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of King George VI to various orders and honours to reward and highlight the meritorious work of his subjects in those countries. The appointments were made to c ...

. In 1915, Beard founded initially for the W.U.'s Midlands region a monthly magazine called ''The Record'', which went national in 1916 and was later adopted by the TGWU. In retirement, Beard served on the Wheat Commission and the

Agricultural Wages Board The Agricultural Wages Board was a non-departmental government body which regulated wages for farm workers under the Agricultural Wages Act 1948, until it was abolished in the Conservative led government's " bonfire of the quangos" after the Enterp ...

until his death. He settled in

Kingsbury, London Kingsbury is a district of northwest London in the London Borough of Brent. Its ancient scope stretches to include various distinct areas that were once small villages until the inter-war period. Kingsbury was in 2001 a ward and in 2011 was ide ...

but revisited Shropshire. He published in 1949 a book of reminiscences of his early life in the county, ''My Shropshire Days on Common Ways''. Beard died in his sleep while staying at the home of a boyhood friend at Rose Cottage in Ellerdine, aged 78. His funeral service took place on 29 September 1950 at Bethel (ex-PM) Chapel at Ellerdine Heath, followed by cremation at Perry Barr, Birmingham, after which his ashes were scattered on the graves of relatives at All Hallows churchyard, Rowton.

Family

Beard married Dora Cadman, of Old Park,

Dawley Dawley ( ) is a constituent town and civil parish in Telford and Wrekin in Shropshire, England. It was originally, in 1963, going to be the main centre of the 'Dawley New Town' plan before it was decided in 1968 to name the new town as 'Telford ...

, Shropshire, who was sister of Congregationalist minister and religious broadcaster Samuel Parkes Cadman. The couple had one son and five daughters.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Beard, John 1871 births 1950 deaths Councillors in Birmingham, West Midlands Trade unionists from Shropshire Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Workers' Union