Thomas Henry Burlison, Baron Burlison, DL (23 May 1936 – 20 May 2008) was a British

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

, GMB

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

ist and Treasurer of the Labour Party. He was the first former professional footballer to take a seat in the

House of Lords The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the lower house, the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. One of the oldest ext ...

. Burlison was born in Edmondsley,

County Durham County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...

, the son of a

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

, Robert Burlison, and his wife, Georgina. He was educated in Edmondsley and worked as a panel beater from 1951 to 1957, joining the

General and Municipal Workers' Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

(GMWU, later merged to form the GMB).

Professional football

He was a professional

from 1953 to 1965 (playing for Lincoln City,

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in the National League, the fifth level of the English football league system. They were founded in 190 ...

and

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. It lies on the River Skerne, west of Middlesbrough and south of Durham. Darlington had a population of 107,800 at the 2021 Census, making it a "large town" ...

). Between 1959 and 1961 he did

National Service National service is a system of compulsory or voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act ...

in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

GMWU/GMB trade union

He became a regional officer of the GMB in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

in 1965, and regional secretary in 1978. A polite and unassuming man with a low profile, he was an effective "fixer" behind the scenes, drawing from a base in the union's heartland in the northeast and setting many on the path to power. His staff included former Labour ministers

Nick Brown Nicholas Hugh Brown (born 13 June 1950), known as Nick Brown, is a British former politician and trade unionist who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne East between 1983 and 2024. He represented the Labour Party unti ...

and Doug Henderson, and former MEP and Labour leader in the European parliament Alan Donnelly. He was also involved in the selection of many Labour MPs, including

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He was Leader ...

and

Peter Mandelson Peter Benjamin Mandelson, Baron Mandelson, (born 21 October 1953) is a British politician, lobbyist and diplomat who has served as British Ambassador to the United States since February 2025. A member of the Labour Party, Mandelson serve ...

. He was involved in the negotiations in 1982 to merge the GMWU with the Boilermakers to form the

General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trades Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

. He was runner-up behind John Edmonds in the election for general secretary of the GMB in 1985. The GMB merged with

APEX The apex is the highest point of something. The word may also refer to: Arts and media Fictional entities * Apex (comics) A-Bomb Abomination Absorbing Man Abraxas Abyss Abyss is the name of two characters appearing in Ameri ...

in 1989 for form the

GMB Union The GMB is a general trade union in the United Kingdom which has more than 560,000 members. Its members work in nearly all industrial sectors, in retail, security, schools, distribution, the utilities, social care, the National Health Service (N ...

, and Burlison served as deputy general secretary of the merged union from 1991 to 1996.

Labour Party

He was also treasurer of the Labour Party from 1992 to 1996. He was chairman of the TUC northern region for nine years. He was also a trustee of the

Board of Governors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulations ...

of the University of Northumbria, a Deputy Lieutenant and Honorary President of

. He was an important moderniser on Labour's National Executive Committee in the years before the party's landslide victory at the 1997 general election.

Baron Burlison

On 21 October 1997, he was created a

life peer In the United Kingdom, life peers are appointed members of the peerage whose titles cannot be inherited, in contrast to hereditary peers. Life peers are appointed by the monarch on the advice of the prime minister. With the exception of the D ...

as Baron Burlison, ''of

Rowlands Gill Rowlands Gill is a village on the north bank of the River Derwent, in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. The Gibside Estate is near the town. History With the coming of the Derwent Valley Railway in 1867, Rowlands ...

, in the County of Tyne and Wear''. He was a working peer, and was a Lord in Waiting (a Government whip in the House of Lords) from 1999 to 2001. Burlison married Valerie Stephenson in 1981. They had one son and one daughter. Burlison lived in

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, for at least 20 years. He died in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

on 20 May 2008 at the age of 71.

References

*
Obituary: ''The Independent'', 23 May 2008Obituary: ''The Guardian'', 11 June 2008Obituary: ''The Times'', 20 June 2008
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burlison, Thomas 1936 births 2008 deaths People from County Durham Footballers from County Durham People from Rowlands Gill Sportspeople from the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead Politicians from Tyne and Wear Footballers from Tyne and Wear Labour Party (UK) life peers Life peers created by Elizabeth II Deputy lieutenants of Tyne and Wear English men's footballers Lincoln City F.C. players Hartlepool United F.C. players Darlington F.C. players English trade unionists Labour Party (UK) officials British sportsperson-politicians Men's association football wing halves Military personnel from County Durham 20th-century Royal Air Force personnel Royal Air Force airmen English Football League players 20th-century English sportsmen