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33-589: The first Lib–Lab candidate to stand was George Odger in the 1870 Southwark by-election . The first Lib–Lab candidates to be elected were Alexander MacDonald and Thomas Burt , both members of the Miners' Federation of Great Britain (MFGB), in the 1874 general election . In 1880 , they were joined by Henry Broadhurst of the Operative Society of Masons and the movement reached its peak in 1885 , with twelve MPs elected. These include William Abraham (Mabon) in

66-636: A general committee to coordinate aid for striking workers in the London builders' strike of that year. This led to active participation in the London Trades Council when it was founded the following year, followed by election to the position of Secretary of that organisation in 1862. Also in 1862, Odger became the Chairman of the Manhood Suffrage and Vote by Ballot Association . A vigorous supporter of

99-411: A maximum working day of nine hours from their employers. The employers refused, resulting in strike action and a lockout . Eventually the unions conceded, but the solidarity built prompted the formation of a citywide body able to co-ordinate future action. The London Trades Council was founded at a meeting at Shaftesbury Hall on 18 May 1860, and it may well have been the fourth such organisation in

132-527: A means of enforcing lockouts or breaking strikes . As a leading member of the British trade union movement, George Odger not only attending this foundational gathering but was a prominent speaker at the event. The organisation resulting from the gathering would be known as the International Workingmen's Association , remembered today as the so-called First International. George Odger would be named to

165-562: The 1868 General election – the first held since passage of the Reform Act 1867 that granted the right to vote to part of the male urban working class for the first time. Although his participation had been sought by a great number of local voters, controversy erupted that Odger's participation would split the Liberal vote and he subsequently withdrew from the race. In June 1869 Odger was one of four Liberal candidates to compete for two seats in

198-537: The Independent Labour Party (ILP) and Social Democratic Federation (SDF). The SDF opposed all non-socialist candidates, and so for the 1898 elections, the trades council ended up putting together its own recommended list, a mixture of trade unionists and ILP members. In 1901, the council appointed a political committee, consisting of W. B. Cheesman , Cooper, A. E. Holmes , Charles Jesson , J. Jones (brassworkers), Sam Michaels and Harry Orbell . In 1903,

231-705: The Sheffield Outrages , did not bear fruit, and the Council were not officially represented at the TUC until its second conference. The Council co-operated closely with the International Workingmen's Association (sometimes referred to as the First International ), but voted against affiliating to the body. [2] With the growth of the TUC, the London Trades Council lost its national leadership role, but remained

264-697: The Taff Vale Case and largely unchallenged by the Liberal Party, and the foundation of the Independent Labour Party in 1893 followed by its turn towards trade unionism. The formation of the Labour Representation Committee in 1900, followed by the Labour Party in 1906, meant that in the House of Commons, there were two groups of MPs containing trade union–sponsored MPs , sitting on either side of

297-542: The 1950s. After this house was demolished in the 1970s the plaque was rescued and can now be seen in the lobby of St Giles in the Fields having been placed there in 1974. London Trades Council The London Trades Council was an early labour organisation , uniting London's trade unionists. Its modern successor organisation is the Greater London Association of Trades (Union) Councils Leading figures in

330-518: The Labour Party in 1909, most of their MPs joined Labour after the January 1910 general election . The Liberal-Labour group finally died out at the 1918 general election , when Thomas Burt (by then Father of the House ) and Arthur Richardson stood down. George Odger George Odger (1813–4 March 1877) was a pioneer British trade unionist and radical politician. He is best remembered as

363-782: The London Trades Council at the first conferences the United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades , while in 1867, he joined the Conference of Amalgamated Trades . Shortly after the Reform League's Hyde Park demonstration in 1867, Odger attended a private meeting of a dozen senior members of the league in which the French revolutionary Gustave Paul Cluseret proposed they start a civil war in England. According to John Bedford Leno , George Odger spoke out in support of Cluseret's proposal but this

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396-625: The London body initially provided a focus for many national campaigns, and its early leaders became known as the " Junta ". It campaigned for the right of working men to vote, for legislation to improve working conditions, and for a Conciliation and Arbitration Act . It also supported the Glasgow Trades Council's campaign against the Master and Servant Act . However, its support for the United Kingdom Alliance of Organised Trades , founded just before

429-591: The London trade union movement convened occasional meetings of the "Metropolitan Trades Delegates" from 1848, meeting at the Old Bell Inn by the Old Bailey . The London builders' strike of 1859 required ongoing co-ordination, and it was determined to organise a trades council . The formation of the London Trades Council was organised at George Potter 's Building Trades Conference and led by George Odger 's Operative Bricklayers' Society . The unions agreed to demand

462-660: The Rhondda division whose claims to the Liberal nomination were essentially based on his working class credentials. The candidates generally stood with the support of the Liberal Party, the Labour Representation League and one or more trade unions . After 1885, decline set in. Disillusion grew from the defeat of the Manningham Mills Strike , a series of decisions restricting the activity of unions, culminating in

495-667: The South Staffordshire Miners did not achieve success, and Potter's unilateral efforts to support North Staffordshire members of the National Association of Ironfounders in 1865 led to his isolation on the council. As the national Trades Union Congress (TUC) was not founded until 1868 (largely as a response by Trades Councils in Northern England to the perceived dominance of the London Trades Council),

528-732: The anti-slavery Republicans in the American Civil War , Odger is credited with helping shift the editorial line of the labour newspaper The Bee-Hive from supporting the Confederate States of America in the conflict. Odger was associated with the Workman's Advocate , which became the press organ of the International and the Reform League , and from 1866 to 1867 he was editor of the renamed Commonwealth . Also in 1866, he represented

561-514: The borough of Stafford . Odger would finish in third place in the primary election , with the two Liberal victors defeated in the general election by Thomas Salt and Reginald Arthur James Talbot . Odger also stood as a Lib–Lab candidate in Southwark in the February 1870 by-election there, losing by about 300 votes out of more than 9,000 cast in a three-way race. Odger died on 4 March 1877. He

594-569: The chamber (about 28 took the Labour whip and about 23 took the Liberal whip). The Trades Union Congress decided to instruct its affiliate unions to require their MPs to stand at the next election as Labour Party candidates and take the Labour whip. Of the 23 trade union–sponsored Liberal MPs, 15 were sponsored by unions affiliated to the Miners Federation of Great Britain (MFGB). When the MFGB affiliated to

627-533: The council affiliated to the national Labour Representation Committee , although it initially continued to support some other candidates; at the 1906 UK general election , it supported nine candidates including Harry Quelch of the SDF and C. Norton of the Liberal Party. This changed in 1914, when it played a leading role in establishing the London Labour Party , which affiliated to the Labour Party . The council

660-549: The country, after the Sheffield Trades Council and Glasgow Trades Council (both founded in 1858) and the Edinburgh Trades Council (founded in 1859). [1] The council charged affiliates two shillings per hundred members, and thereby covered its expenses. By 1862, it had a paid membership of 11,300, although attendees at its various meetings represented unions with a total of around 50,000 members. Through

693-474: The early 1860s, many individuals who later became prominent in the national trade union movement won seats on the executive of the council: Heap (ASE), George Howell, Edwin Coulson, George Odger, Goddard (Bookbinders), Robert Applegarth , Daniel Guile , and later Robert Allan . It supported unions in numerous conflicts in London, with the builders' strike of 1861 proving particularly successful, but its support for

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726-583: The formation of the London County Council , and initially supported the Progressive Party , with John Burns and F. C. Baum of the upholsterers winning early seats on the council. It led a large campaign in 1892, which saw Ben Cooper , Will Steadman and Henry Robert Taylor elected. However, by 1895 it felt the Progressive Party was insufficiently radical, and in 1897 it began working with

759-593: The governing General Council of this organisation, remaining in that position until his resignation in 1872. During this interval Odger also remained active in the Trades Union Congress (TUC), he was the Secretary of its Parliamentary Committee , the post later to become the General Secretary, from 1872 to 1873. Odger put himself forward electorally for the first time in the new constituency of Chelsea in

792-462: The head of the London Trades Council during the period of formation of the Trades Union Congress and as the first President of the First International . George Odger was born in 1813 in Roborough , Devon, England. Odger's father was a miner from Cornwall and the family was an impoverished one, forcing George to be apprenticed as a shoemaker at about 10 years of age. Odger's formal education

825-586: The most important trades council in the country. Odger devoted more time to the TUC, and George Shipton became the secretary of the council, launching the Labour Standard as its newspaper, giving particular support to the National Fair Trade League . London was the main centre of the New Unionism from 1888, but the council was dominated by craft unionists , and initially had little to do with

858-404: The movement. Despite this, in 1890, 38 new unions affiliated to the council, the largest being the dockers, almost doubling its membership to 59,192. More radical figures were elected to its executive: Fred Hammill , Tom Mann , James Macdonald , W. Pearson and H. R. Taylor. This led to serious disputes over strategy, with Shipton resigning in 1896, to be replaced by Macdonald. One complaint of

891-515: The new unions was that the council was overly centralised, and in response, local trades councils formed across London, starting with the West Ham Trades and Labour Council in 1891. The new unions persuaded the London Trades Council to form a lecture bureau, and to campaign for an eight hour day , with the first May Day demonstration taking place in Hyde Park in 1890. The trades council supported

924-707: Was a useful and honourable man, and his own people gave him an honourable burial." George Odger is buried in Brompton Cemetery . Odger is listed on the Reformers' Memorial in Kensal Green Cemetery in London . Odger Street on the John Burns ' Latchmere Estate in Battersea is named after him. A London County Council commemorative Blue Plaque was erected at Odger's former residence, 18 St Giles High Street, in

957-446: Was divided over support for World War I , but agreed in its opposition to conscription. After the war, it became increasingly radical; in 1926, A. M. Wall defeated the leading communist Wal Hannington for the secretaryship by only 102 votes to 82. It led the organisation of workers in London during the 1926 UK general strike . In 1953, the council was derecognised by the TUC, which was seeking to purge Communist Party influence in

990-590: Was limited and primitive, but he was able to expand his intellectual horizons through self-education and reading. Odger travelled the country in search of work as a shoemaker, eventually landing in London around the age of 20. There he became active in the nascent trade union movement, joining the Ladies Shoemakers' Society, which later became part of the Amalgamated Society of Cordwainers . Odger first came to public attention in 1859 when he served on

1023-532: Was misreported in the next days issue of The Times . George Odger was in the minority of the league, which rejected the proposal overwhelmingly. On 28 September 1864 a meeting was held at the St. Martin's Hotel in London to launch an international association bringing together trade union leaders from Great Britain and the European continent, with a view to forestall the ability of employers to use unwitting foreign workers as

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1056-437: Was remembered at the time of his death as a "good, clear writer and a fluent speaker. He was not what is called 'eloquent,' but he was better; he spoke with force, with effect, with a knowledge of his subject." Henry James wrote of the funeral: "The element of the grotesque was very noticeable to me in the most marked collection of the shabbier English types that I had seen since I came to London. The occasion of my seeing them

1089-458: Was the funeral of Mr. George Odger, which befell some four or five weeks before the Easter period. Mr. George Odger, it will perhaps be remembered, was an English Radical agitator of humble origin, who had distinguished himself by a perverse desire to get into Parliament. He exercised, I believe, the useful profession of a shoemaker, and he knocked in vain at the door that opens but to the refined. But he

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