John Wheatley (19 May 1869 – 12 May 1930) was a Scottish

socialist Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking ...

. He was a prominent figure of the

Red Clydeside Red Clydeside was the era of political radicalism in Glasgow, Scotland, and areas around the city, on the banks of the River Clyde, such as Clydebank, Greenock, Dumbarton and Paisley, from the 1910s until the early 1930s. Red Clydeside is a ...

era.

Early life and career

Wheatley was born to Thomas and Johanna Wheatley in Bonmahon, County Waterford,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. In 1876 the family moved to

Braehead Braehead ( sco, Braeheid, Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic: ''Ceann a' Bhruthaich'') is a commercial development located at the former site of Braehead Power Station in Renfrew on the south bank of the River Clyde in Renfrew, Renfrewshire. It is particu ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland. Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...

in Scotland. Initially—as his father had done in Ireland—he worked as a miner in the

Baillieston Baillieston ( sco, Bailiestoun) is a suburb of Glasgow, Scotland. It is about east of the city centre. It also gives its name to Ward 20 of Glasgow City Council and forms part of the Glasgow East constituency of the UK Parliament. Geograph ...

district. After that he worked briefly as a publican. Wheatley then started a successful printing business, which published leftist political works. He wrote many of them, including ''How the Miners Were Robbed'' (1907), ''The Catholic Workingman'' (1909), ''Miners, Mines and Misery'' (1909), ''Eight Pound Cottages for Glasgow Citizens'' (1913), ''Municipal Banking'' (1920) and ''The New Rent Act'' (1920). He was a deeply religious man and a practising

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

. Influenced by early Christian-socialist thinkers, in 1907 he joined the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse working-class candidates ...

(ILP). He founded and was the first chairman of the Catholic Socialist Society. Against the UK's involvement in

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 ...

, he campaigned against conscription and assisted in organising

rent strike A rent strike is a method of protest commonly employed against large landlords. In a rent strike, a group of tenants come together and agree to refuse to pay their rent ''en masse'' until a specific list of demands is met by the landlord. This ca ...

s in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. As a councillor on

's city council, he became one of the best known in the city, and was elected 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. T ...

in the 1922 General Election for Glasgow Shettleston. He was a great supporter of

Celtic Football Club The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

. Labour leader Ramsay MacDonald sometimes disapproved of Wheatley's debating methods, as well as his friendship with

James Maxton James Maxton (22 June 1885 – 23 July 1946) was a British left-wing politician, and leader of the Independent Labour Party. He was a pacifist who opposed both world wars. A prominent proponent of Home Rule for Scotland, he is remembered as on ...

. ( Maxton was suspended from the Commons on one occasion when he called Conservative MP Sir Frederick Banbury "a murderer" for a proposed cut in child welfare.) But Wheatley continued to work closely with his ILP colleagues in the

Parliamentary Labour Party In UK politics, the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) is the parliamentary group of the Labour Party in Parliament, i.e. Labour MPs as a collective body. Commentators on the British Constitution sometimes draw a distinction between the Labour ...

, especially Maxton. Wheatley was known as the intellectual behind the ILP activities. Along with many ILP MPs, especially those from

Clydeside Greater Glasgow is an urban settlement in Scotland consisting of all localities which are physically attached to the city of Glasgow, forming with it a single contiguous urban area (or conurbation). It does not relate to municipal government ...

, he found himself drifting from MacDonald's Labour leadership. Wheatley remained a widely respected political figure and when MacDonald became Prime Minister in January 1924, he appointed Wheatley as his Minister of Health. Wheatley is best remembered for his Housing (Financial Provisions) Act 1924, which saw a massive expansion in affordable municipal housing for the working class. On 9 May 1924,

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Labour to the right. Consequently he did not hold a post in the Labour Government which formed after the

1929 United Kingdom general election The 1929 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 30 May 1929 and resulted in a hung parliament. It stands as the fourth of six instances under the secret ballot, and the first of three under universal suffrage, in which a party ha ...

. He refused to support many of the measures proposed by MacDonald's government. Along with Maxton (now Wheatley's leader in the ILP) he became one of the Labour-left's leading critics.

Death and legacy

John Wheatley died on 12 May 1930, one week before his 61st birthday. Wheatley Housing Group (Scotland's largest registered social landlord) and John Wheatley College (now

Glasgow Kelvin College Glasgow Kelvin College is a further education college in Glasgow, Scotland, which was formed 1 November 2013 from the merger of John Wheatley College, Stow College and North Glasgow College. The college is named after the scientist Lord Kelvin ...

) in Glasgow are named after him. His nephew,

John Thomas Wheatley John Thomas Wheatley, Baron Wheatley, (17 January 1908 – 28 July 1988) was a Scottish Labour politician and judge. Biography Wheatley was born on 17 January 1908 in Shettleston, Glasgow, the third and youngest child of Janet (1877� ...

, became a Labour MP for

Edinburgh East Edinburgh East is a burgh constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post system of election. In present form, the constituency was first used at t ...

in 1947 and

Lord Advocate His Majesty's Advocate, known as the Lord Advocate ( gd, Morair Tagraidh, sco, Laird Advocat), is the chief legal officer of the Scottish Government and the Crown in Scotland for both civil and criminal matters that fall within the devolved p ...

References

External links

*
John Wheatley & the 1924 Housing Act - UK Parliament Living Heritage

"John Wheatley: The Labour lion who led"
Richard Leonard, ''

Tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...

'', 12 May 2010
"Was John Wheatley really a working-class hero?"
Robert Ronsson, ''

New Statesman The ''New Statesman'' is a British Political magazine, political and cultural magazine published in London. Founded as a weekly review of politics and literature on 12 April 1913, it was at first connected with Sidney Webb, Sidney and Beatrice ...

'', 29 August 2012 {{DEFAULTSORT:Wheatley, John 1869 births 1930 deaths British anti–World War I activists Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Politicians from County Waterford Politicians from Glasgow Baillieston Councillors in Glasgow Scottish printers Scottish Roman Catholics Scottish political writers Independent Labour Party MPs Independent Labour Party National Administrative Committee members Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Glasgow constituencies UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1924–1929 UK MPs 1929–1931 Scottish miners Scottish socialists Red Clydeside British publicans Catholic socialists Scottish Labour MPs Scottish people of Irish descent

Early life and career

Death and legacy

Further reading

Non-fiction

Fiction

References

External links