Charles William Bowerman (22 January 1851 – 11 June 1947), often known as C. W. Bowerman, was a prominent British

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

ist and

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

Life

Born in

Honiton Honiton ( or ) is a market town and civil parish in East Devon, situated close to the River Otter, north east of Exeter in the county of Devon. Honiton has a population estimated at 11,822 (based on mid-year estimates for the two Honiton Ward ...

, Bowerman moved to Clerkenwell in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

at an early age. On leaving education, he worked as a

jeweller A bench jeweler is an artisan who uses a combination of skills to make and repair jewellery, jewelry. Some of the more common skills that a bench jeweler might employ include antique restoration, silversmith, Goldsmith, stonesetting, stone sett ...

and then a

compositor Compositor may refer to: * Compositor (typesetting), a person or machine which arranged movable type for printing ** Paige Compositor, a device developed to replace manual compositors, which was a commercial failure * Compositing software, used i ...

. In 1872 he briefly worked for ''

Hour An hour (symbol: h; also abbreviated hr) is a unit of time conventionally reckoned as of a day and scientifically reckoned between 3,599 and 3,601 seconds, depending on the speed of Earth's rotation. There are 60 minutes in an hour, and 24 ho ...

'' newspaper before moving to ''

The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...

''. He joined the

London Society of Compositors The London Society of Compositors was a British trade union, representing print workers in London. History The union was founded as the London Union of Compositors in 1834 by the merger of the London Trade Society of Compositors and the London ...

in 1873 and became its General Secretary in 1892, a post he held until 1906. In 1893, Bowerman joined the

Fabian Society The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The F ...

, and in 1897, he was elected to the Parliamentary Committee 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 O ...

, the body which later became the General Council. In 1901, was elected as a Progressive Party alderman on

London County Council London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...

, a position he held until 1907. Bowerman was the President of the TUC in 1901, and the Secretary of the Parliamentary Committee from 1911 until 1921, when he became the organisation's first

General Secretary Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the organization. The term is derive ...

. He retired from the post in 1923. In

1906 Events January–February * January 12 – Persian Constitutional Revolution: A nationalistic coalition of merchants, religious leaders and intellectuals in Persia forces the shah Mozaffar ad-Din Shah Qajar to grant a constitution, a ...

, Bowerman was elected as the Labour Party

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

for

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century to the late 19th it was home ...

, a post he retained until the 1931 general election, becoming a

privy councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

in 1916. In the years following his defeat, Bowerman joined the

Next Five Years Group Next may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Next'' (1990 film), an animated short about William Shakespeare * ''Next'' (2007 film), a sci-fi film starring Nicolas Cage * '' Next: A Primer on Urban Painting'', a 2005 documentary film Lit ...

, the council of

Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is an independent educational institution in Oxford, England. It is not a college of Oxford University. It is named after the essayist, art and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900) an ...

and the board of directors of the Co-operative Printing Society. He died on 11 June 1947.

Legacy

There is a plaque commemorating Bowerman on 4 Battledean Road, a house in London N5.

References

Encyclopedia of Marxism: Glossary of People
*

Oxford Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

External links

1903 photo
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bowerman, Charles William General Secretaries of the Trades Union Congress Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1906–1910 UK MPs 1910 UK MPs 1910–1918 UK MPs 1922–1923 UK MPs 1923–1924 UK MPs 1929–1931 People from Honiton 1851 births 1947 deaths Members of London County Council Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Progressive Party (London) politicians Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom General Secretaries of the London Typographical Association London Society of Compositors-sponsored MPs