Benjamin Charles Garside (June 26, 1863August 9, 1933) was an

English American English Americans (also known as Anglo-Americans) are Americans whose ancestry originates wholly or partly in England. In the 2020 United States census, English Americans were the largest group in the United States with 46.6 million America ...

immigrant,

machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools, and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist will generally have a strong mechan ...

, and politician from

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

. He served one term in the

Wisconsin State Assembly The Wisconsin State Assembly is the lower house of the Wisconsin Legislature. Together with the smaller Wisconsin Senate, the two constitute the legislative branch of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The Assembly is controlled by the Republican ...

, representing the southwest side of Milwaukee during the 1887 term. He was elected as a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

candidate, and described himself as pro-tariff and anti-monopoly.

Background

Garside was born in

Glossop Glossop is a market town in the borough of High Peak (borough), High Peak, Derbyshire, England, east of Manchester, north-west of Sheffield and north of Matlock, Derbyshire, Matlock. Near Derbyshire's borders with Cheshire, Greater Mancheste ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England, on June 26, 1863. He came to Wisconsin in 1864 and settled at Milwaukee, was educated in the Second

Ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...

public school of Milwaukee, and became a machinist by trade. He lived in South Chicago, Illinois from 1880 to 1883 before returning to Milwaukee.

Elective office

Garside was on the

executive committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

of the Milwaukee

Knights of Labor The Knights of Labor (K of L), officially the Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was the largest American labor movement of the 19th century, claiming for a time nearly one million members. It operated in the United States as well in ...

, and was one of the

labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

leaders under

indictment An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an ind ...

for their roles in the labor unrest which ended in the Bay View Massacre, when elected to the Assembly in 1886 from the 8th

Milwaukee County Milwaukee County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. At the 2020 census, the population was 939,489, down from 947,735 in 2010. It is both the most populous and most densely populated county in Wisconsin, containing about 1 ...

Assembly district (the 8th, 11th and 14th Ward of the City of Milwaukee) to succeed Democrat Frank Haderer (who was not a candidate for re-election) for the session of 1887. Garside won 2580 votes on a "High

tariff A tariff or import tax is a duty (tax), duty imposed by a national Government, government, customs territory, or supranational union on imports of goods and is paid by the importer. Exceptionally, an export tax may be levied on exports of goods ...

and anti-

monopoly A monopoly (from Greek language, Greek and ) is a market in which one person or company is the only supplier of a particular good or service. A monopoly is characterized by a lack of economic Competition (economics), competition to produce ...

" platform, to 1094 for Republican Charles Weilner and 652 votes for Democratic former Assemblyman

John Fellenz Johann "John" Fellenz (June 23, 1833December 16, 1896) was a German American immigrant, building contractor, and Wisconsin pioneer. He was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly, representing the southwest side of the city of Milwaukee for five ...

. He received five votes as the People's Party candidate for

Speaker of the Assembly Speaker most commonly refers to: * Speaker, a person who produces speech * Loudspeaker, a device that produces sound ** Computer speakers Speaker, Speakers, or The Speaker may also refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Speaker" (song), by David ...

; and was assigned to the

standing committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly or other form of organization. A committee may not itself be considered to be a form of assembly or a decision-making body. Usually, an assembly o ...

state State most commonly refers to: * State (polity), a centralized political organization that regulates law and society within a territory **Sovereign state, a sovereign polity in international law, commonly referred to as a country **Nation state, a ...

affairs. He ran for re-election in 1888 under the People's Party's new name of "Labor Party", losing to Republican Amos Thomas, who polled 2351 votes, to 1375 votes for former Democratic Assemblyman

George Everts George Everts was a member of the Wisconsin State Assembly in 1883. He was later an unsuccessful candidate for the Assembly in 1888, losing to Benjamin Charles Garside. Additionally, he had been town clerk of Granville, Wisconsin, and a county ...

and 248 for Garside.

Personal life

At the time of his service in the Assembly he was married. He died on August 9, 1933, in Chicago, Illinois."Illinois Deaths and Stillbirths, 1916-1947," database, ''FamilySearch'' (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:N346-V43 : 10 March 2018), Fredrick Garside in entry for Ben C. Garside, 09 Aug 1933; Public Board of Health, Archives, Springfield; FHL microfilm 1,893,724.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Garside, Benjamin Charles 1863 births 1933 deaths Machinists Members of the Wisconsin State Assembly Politicians from Chicago Politicians from Milwaukee People from Glossop Wisconsin Laborites Trade unionists from Wisconsin American trade unionists of English descent English emigrants to the United States Knights of Labor people 19th-century members of the Wisconsin Legislature