Stanley Stephen Awbery (19 July 1888 – 7 May 1969) was a British trade unionist and Labour Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for

Bristol Central Bristol Central is a parliamentary constituency located within the City of Bristol in South West England. It returns one Member of Parliament (MP) to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Since 2024, it has been repres ...

from 1945 to 1964. Awbery was born in

Swansea Swansea ( ; ) is a coastal City status in the United Kingdom, city and the List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, second-largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of ...

, and began work at a copperworks aged 13. In 1904 he began his

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 ...

activities when he joined the

Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers' Union The Dock, Wharf, Riverside and General Labourers Union (DWRGLU), often known as the Dockers' Union, was a British trade union representing dock workers in the United Kingdom, founded in 1887 and merged into the Transport and General Workers' U ...

. He became the secretary of the Fuel Workers' Branch in 1913, and national auditor of the union in 1919. He became a permanent official with the union in 1920 and in 1926 district secretary at

Barry Docks Barry Docks () is a port facility in the town of Barry, Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, a few miles southwest of Cardiff on the north shore of the Bristol Channel. The docks were opened in 1889 by David Davies and John Cory as an alternative to the co ...

. He was a member of the Welsh Committee of 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 Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

, becoming chairman in 1929. He was elected to

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

Town Council and was mayor of Barry in 1941. He stood unsuccessfully as Labour Party candidate for the

Clitheroe Clitheroe () is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Ribble Valley, Borough of Ribble Valley, Lancashire, England; it is located north-west of Manchester. It is near the Forest of Bowland and is often used as a base for to ...

constituency at the

1931 Events January * January 2 – South Dakota native Ernest Lawrence invents the cyclotron, used to accelerate particles to study nuclear physics. * January 4 – German pilot Elly Beinhorn begins her flight to Africa. * January 22 – Sir I ...

and

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * January 12 – Amelia Earhart ...

general elections. He was selected to contest

in 1937, although the anticipated general election was postponed due to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. He finally entered parliament at the 1945 general election and remained Member of Parliament for Bristol Central until his retirement in

1964 Events January * January 1 – The Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland is dissolved. * January 5 – In the first meeting between leaders of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches since the fifteenth century, Pope Paul VI and Patria ...

. On the 7 May 1952 Awbery played a minor role in the

British Malayan headhunting scandal The British Malayan headhunting scandal of 1952 was a political scandal involving senior British politicians, military leaders, and activists, including prime minister Winston Churchill, communist publisher J.R. Campbell, general Gerald Templer, ...

. In the House of Commons, Awbery asked

Oliver Lyttelton Oliver Lyttelton, 1st Viscount Chandos (15 March 1893 – 21 January 1972) was a British businessman from the Lyttelton family who was brought into government during the Second World War, holding a number of ministerial posts. Background, educ ...

for information on photographs published by the ''Daily Worker'' (now ''Morning Star'') depicting British soldiers during the

Malayan Emergency The Malayan Emergency, also known as the Anti–British National Liberation War, was a guerrilla warfare, guerrilla war fought in Federation of Malaya, Malaya between communist pro-independence fighters of the Malayan National Liberation Arm ...

posing with decapitated human heads. Lyttelton responded to Awbery by confirming that the photographs were indeed genuine, and that previous government denials of their authenticity were wrong. Awbrey was a keen local historian, and published a number of books on the subject.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awbery, Stanley Stephen 1888 births 1969 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Politicians from Swansea Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964