James Knapp (29 September 1940 – 13 August 2001) was a British

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. He was successively General Secretary of the

National Union of Railwaymen The National Union of Railwaymen was a trade union of railway workers in the United Kingdom. The largest railway workers' union in the country, it was influential in the national trade union movement. History The NUR was an industrial union ...

(NUR) from 1983, and then of the merged

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is George Welch and its current General Secretary is Eddie Dempsey. The RMT ...

(RMT) from 1990 to his death in 2001. He served on the executive board of the

International Transport Workers' Federation The International Transport Workers' Federation (ITF) is a democratic global union federation of transport workers' trade unions, founded in 1896. In 2017 the ITF had 677 member organizations in 149 countries, representing a combined membership o ...

from 1983 to 2001, the General Council of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

from 1983 to 2001, and was

President of the Trades Union Congress The president of the Trades Union Congress is a prominent but largely honorary position in United Kingdom, British trade unionism. History Initially, the post of president was elected at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself, and would serv ...

in 1994.

Early and private life

Knapp was born into a railway family in

Hurlford Hurlford is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, situated on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, the largest and administrative centre of East Ayrshire and East Ayrshire Council. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlfor ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire (, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety ...

one of two boys. He was educated at Hurlford primary school and

Kilmarnock Academy Kilmarnock Academy (Scottish Gaelic: ''Acadamaidh Chille Mheàrnaig''), formerly Kilmarnock Burgh School, is an 11–17 co-educational state-funded secondary school in Kilmarnock, Scotland, currently serving in its third location on Sutherland D ...

. He learned his politics at a

Socialist Sunday school Socialist Sunday Schools (SSS) were set up to replace or augment Christian Sunday Schools in the United Kingdom, and later the United States. They arose in response to the perceived inadequacy of orthodox Sunday schools as a training ground for ...

. He was distinguished by his broad Scottish accent and his height, standing 6'4" tall. He married Sylvia Florence Yeomans in 1965 and together they had a daughter. He married his second wife Eva Leigh, shortly before he died. He loved football and supported Kilmarnock FC and

Crystal Palace FC Crystal Palace Football Club, commonly referred to as Crystal Palace or simply Palace, is a professional Association football, football club based in Selhurst, South London, England, which competes in the Premier League, the top-tier of Engl ...

. He lived in

West Wickham West Wickham is an area of South East Greater London, London, England, in the London Borough of Bromley. It lies south of Park Langley, Eden Park, London, Eden Park, Beckenham and Bromley town centre, west of Hayes, Bromley, Hayes and north o ...

, and died of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in the

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

, aged 60. He was survived by his second wife Eva, his first wife Sylvia and their daughter Fiona. He was the last person in Britain to have a full railway funeral in honour of the work he had done, and was carried from London to

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

by train with a piper to pipe him on and off the train at either end for burial in Hurlford in August 2001.

Union career

He left school aged 15 in 1955 to work in the

signal box A signal is both the process and the result of transmission of data over some media accomplished by embedding some variation. Signals are important in multiple subject fields including signal processing, information theory and biology. In ...

in Gatehead walking 4.5 miles each way in all weather to get there. By the age of 18 he had become branch collector for the National Union of Railwaymen (NUR) and by 21 he was the NUR branch secretary. He rose through the union ranks, becoming a full-time union official at the age of 31. He moved to London in 1972 to work as a divisional officer and worked in the NUR headquarters from 1981. When Sid Weighell resigned in 1983, Knapp was the successful left-wing candidate to replace him as General Secretary of the NUR. Knapp had been a relatively junior union officer, having failed an exam to become assistant general secretary. A "candidate from nowhere", he beat the sitting assistant general secretary

Charlie Turnock Charlie may refer to: Film and television * ''Charlie'' (2015 Malayalam film), an Indian Malayalam-language film * ''Charlie'' (2015 Kannada film), an Indian Kannada-language film * ''Charlie'' (TV series), a 2015 political drama series based ...

by a wide margin, despite Weighell describing him as "a stooge of the Communist and Trotskyite Left"Obituary
''The Daily Telegraph'', 14 August 2001 and "wet behind the ears".Mike Anson, ‘Knapp, James immy(1940–2001)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Jan 2005; online edn, Jan 200
accessed 12 March 2014
/ref> As General Secretary of the NUR, he joined the General Council of the

and the executive board of the

in 1983. He improved the NUR's relations with other rail unions, including

ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing drivers of trains including services such as the London Underground (Tube). It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation ...

, and fought against closure proposed in the Serpell report on railway finances. He offered strong public support to

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the 1984–1985 UK miners' strike, a major event in the history o ...

and the National Union of Mineworkers in the 1984 Miners' Strike, with NUR members refusing to work on coal trains, but also sought to make the union comply with new trades union legislation, particularly the Trade Union Act 1984 introduced to require secret ballots as a result of the Miner's Strike. Ironically, he was unable to persuade the membership to vote in favour of a strike in 1985, when driver-only operation trains (without a

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison gu ...

) were introduced more widely, but he then led a series of one-day strikes in 1989 which resulted in an improved pay offer. The NUR merged with the

National Union of Seamen The National Union of Seamen (NUS) was the principal trade union of merchant seafarers in the United Kingdom from the late 1880s to 1990. In 1990, the union amalgamated with the National Union of Railwaymen to form the National Union of Rail, ...

(NUS) in 1990 to become the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, and Knapp continued as General Secretary of the merged union. He opposed rail privatisation in the early 1990s but the Conservative government forced the policy through. In 1994 he led a strike of signalmen which resulted in substantial pay increases. In the 1990s, he supported

Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a Welsh politician who was Leader of the Opposition (United Kingdom), Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 1983 Labour Party le ...

and John Smith in their efforts to reform the Labour party, including the "

one member, one vote "One man, one vote" or "one vote, one value" is a slogan used to advocate for the principle of equal representation in voting. This slogan is used by advocates of democracy and political equality, especially with regard to electoral reforms like ...

" proposal that ended the trades union block vote. He defeated a challenge for the union leadership in 1999 from Greg Tucker, winning a fourth five-year term as General Secretary. He also served as a director of the Trade Union Unit Trust from 1984, and on the board of the

Unity Trust Bank Unity Trust Bank plc provides specialist business banking services to trade unions, charities and other organisations that operate in the not-for-profit sector in the United Kingdom and, since 2015, its remit has expanded to include profit-with-pu ...

from 1984, becoming its president in 1989. He was

in 1994. His union career tracked a decline in union membership. In 1955, the NUR had over 350,000 members. When he became General Secretary in 1983, it was just over 140,000. By 1990, the combined RMT had a membership of 60,000. After Knapp's death in August 2001,

Bob Crow Robert Crow (13 June 1961 – 11 March 2014) was an English trade union leader who served as the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) from 2002 until his death in 2014. He was also a member of ...

was elected as the new General Secretary of the RMT in February 2002.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knapp, Jimmy 1940 births 2001 deaths Deaths from cancer in England General secretaries of the National Union of Railwaymen General secretaries of the RMT (trade union) Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from Hurlford British Rail people Presidents of the Trades Union Congress