grimsby labour early years

1906 was a notable year in recent political history. It is, of course, best known for the sweeping Liberal victory that year, but it was also the first general election seriously fought by Labour. The Labour Representation Committee was formed in February 1900. An election came only six months later. Only £33 was spent on that election and only two Labour candidates were elected. In 1906 it changed its name to "The Labour Party", though in fact it was commonly known as that before then.

The National Background
Labour had fifty candidates standing in 1906. Grimsby had one of them and was unusual in England in being opposed by both a Liberal candidate and a Tory. For Grimsby the election in January 1906 was the culmination of two years of great political activity. Labour, however, came third and did not fight another general election until 1918; it has fought every general election in Grimsby since then.

When the Labour Representation Committee was set up there were already several socialist societies in existence. They were all small in numbers; The Independent Labour Party (ILP), for example, had 6,084 members, the Fabian Society a mere 811. By contrast, there were 1,200,000 affiliated Trade Union members in 1900. Thus unions were the backbone of the new party, though by no means all the main unions were affiliated to begin with, since many believed that union interests could be better furthered through the Liberal party. The miners had a number of MPs in parliament with the Liberals.

During this period the House of Lords passed down a series of legal decisions which gradually persuaded all the unions that their best interests lay with the new party; for the Liberal party included many of the leaders of industry with whom the unions were often in dispute.

Beginnings in Grimsby
This national pattern was replicated in Grimsby. In April 1902 The Grimsby and District Trades Council received a deputation from the Democratic League, who "were of the opinion that the time had arrived when the working classes of this constituency should have a direct representation in the House of Commons".

The Trades Council accepted this aim, and agreed that a joint conference be convened. This took place on August 12th 1902.

Represented at this conference were the following::

The ILP local branch
The National Democratic League local branch
The Co-operative Society
5 branches of the Gas Workers Union
The Amalgamated Railway Servants
The Locomotive Engineers
The Operative Bricklayers
2 branches of the Amalgamated Engineers
The Steam Engine Makers
The Braziers and Metal Workers
The Shop Assistants
The Grimsby General Workers
The Bricklayers Labourers

This conference also called for a Parliamentary candidate "who would represent their Labour interest and be independent of either political party".

In a letter to Ramsey MacDonald dated 22cnd October 1902 The Secretary of the Grimsby LRC, George Linskill wrote: "The Local Liberal Party have been interviewed, and we can speak from official sources when we say that they have no candidate at present and would not bring one out in opposition to a Labour man."

This was not to work out, though. The Liberals picked a candidate in January 1903. MacDonald also required the LRC to be set up again, and in fact a Labour candidate was not selected until August 1903. From then on there was a continuing argument between the parties, the Liberals maintaining that the issue should go to arbitration.

Early in 1903 MacDonald came to a secret arrangement with the Liberal Party, on the one hand that Labour would have only a limited number of candidates, and on the other that the Liberals would, when they could, allow Labour a free run against the Tories. This did happen elsewhere, especially where there were two member constituencies, but not in Grimsby.

Why did Grimsby become one of the fifty seats that Labour fought ? We can only surmise that feelings amongst the workers in Grimsby were bitter following a lockout by the trawler owners in 1901. And Grimsby was then a Tory seat that just might be won. And the Liberals had not put up a candidate in 1900.

Labour Beginnings in Grimsby