Frank Chapple, Baron Chapple (8 August 1921 – 19 October 2004) was general secretary of the Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union (EETPU), a leading British trade union. Frank Chapple was born in the slum area of

Hoxton Hoxton is an area in the London Borough of Hackney, England. As a part of Shoreditch, it is often considered to be part of the East End – the historic core of wider East London. It was historically in the county of Middlesex until 1889. It li ...

, east London, in a flat above his father's shoe-repair shop. As was normal in most homes throughout the country at the time, there was no bath or running hot water in the Chapple home. A

Communist Party A communist party is a political party that seeks to realize the socio-economic goals of communism. The term ''communist party'' was popularized by the title of ''The Manifesto of the Communist Party'' (1848) by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. ...

member early in his adult life, Chapple left the party after, and partly as a result of, the Soviet suppression of the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. Thereafter, he remained a forceful anti-communist. He served as a member of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions in England and Wales, representing the majority of trade unions. There are 48 affiliated unions, with a total of about 5.5 million members. Frances ...

general council for 12 years to 1983, having first joined the union in 1937, and he had held offices at every level in the electricians' union. From 1966 to 1984 he was the general secretary of the EETPU. After his retirement, he was elevated to the

House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminste ...

as a life peer on 4 February 1985 taking the title Baron Chapple, ''of

in Greater London''. His successor was fellow anti-communist Eric Hammond. One of Chapple's sons, Barry Chapple, was a regional official of Amicus, which succeeded the EETPU. Amicus merged with the

TGWU The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

in 2007 to become

Unite the Union Unite the Union, commonly known as Unite, is a British and Irish trade union which was formed on 1 May 2007 by the merger of Amicus and the Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU). Unite is the second largest trade union in the UK (afte ...

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External links

BBC obituaryCatalogue of Chapple's papers
held at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick 1921 births 2004 deaths Crossbench life peers General Secretaries of the Electrical Trades Union (United Kingdom) People from Hoxton People from Shoreditch Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Communist Party of Great Britain members British Army personnel of World War II Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers soldiers English electricians Electrical, Electronic, Telecommunications and Plumbing Union Life peers created by Elizabeth II {{Life-peer-stub

References

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