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Donald Richard Coleman,
CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
, JP, DL (19 September 1925 – 14 January 1991) was the
Labour 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 ...
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 ...
(MP) in the United Kingdom for
Neath Neath (; cy, Castell-nedd) is a market town and community situated in the Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,258 in 2011. Historica ...
from 1964 until his death in 1991.


Early life

Coleman was born in
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 ...
, the son of a coalminer, Albert Archer Coleman, and his wife, Winifred Marguerite. For most of the inter-war years, his father was unemployed, and did not find permanent work until 1939. This instilled in his son a lifelong belief in the evils of unemployment. He was educated at Cadoxton Boys' School and Cardiff Technical College. He later attended University College of Wales Swansea as a mature student between 1950 and 1954. He held a number of technical positions at various laboratories at
Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. It forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a ...
and Swansea before securing an appointment in 1954 as metallurgist to the Research Department of the
Steel Company of Wales The Steel Company of Wales Ltd was a Welsh steel and tinplate producer. It was formed in 1947 and absorbed into British Steel Corporation in 1967, British Steel then merged with Hoogovens and became Corus UK Limited. The business now forms p ...
, Abbey Works, Port Talbot, in which position he remained until his election to parliament in the General Election of October 1964. Coleman had joined the Labour Party in November 1948 and became a member of the
Co-operative Party The Co-operative Party is a Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom, supporting Cooperative, co-operative values and principles. Established in 1917, the Co-operat ...
in 1955. He had also stood as a Labour candidate for Swansea Borough Council in 1960.


Parliamentary career

Until the 1960s, Neath was regarded, as a predominantly coal—mining constituency, as a seat where the nominee of the National Union of Mineworkers would have a considerable advantage at the selection conference. Indeed, both of Coleman's long-serving predecessors had been NUM nominees. However, Coleman, against the expectations, was chosen at the fourth ballot and thus inherited one of the safest Labour seats in the whole of Britain. Coleman served as PPS to George Thomas, Secretary of State for Wales, and was thus in effect a junior minister. He was also an opposition whip, 1970–1974,
Lord of the Treasury In the United Kingdom there are at least six Lords Commissioners of His Majesty's Treasury, serving as a commission for the ancient office of Treasurer of the Exchequer. The board consists of the First Lord of the Treasury, the Second Lord of th ...
1974–1978, Vice-Chamberlain of the Household 1978–1979, and opposition spokesman on Welsh affairs, 1981–1983. He also served as delegate to the Council of Europe. Coleman was regarded as being on the right wing of the Labour Party and in September 1983 he backed
Peter Shore Peter David Shore, Baron Shore of Stepney, (20 May 1924 – 24 September 2001) was a British Labour Party politician and former Cabinet Minister, noted in part for his opposition to the United Kingdom's entry into the European Economic Commun ...
, rather than his Welsh colleague
Neil Kinnock Neil Gordon Kinnock, Baron Kinnock (born 28 March 1942) is a British former politician. As a member of the Labour Party, he served as a Member of Parliament from 1970 until 1995, first for Bedwellty and then for Islwyn. He was the Leader ...
for party leader and
Denzil Davies David John Denzil Davies (9 October 1938 – 10 October 2018) was a Welsh Labour Party politician. He served for 35 years as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Llanelli from 1970 to 2005, and was a member of the Privy Council. Early life Dav ...
, the MP for Llanelli, for deputy leader. Following Kinnock's election as leader, Coleman did not hold another front bench position. Coleman announced in early 1990 that he intended to stand down from parliament at the next General Election.


Personal life

Coleman was especially prominent in the public life of Neath, Swansea and West Glamorgan, and his leisure interests included membership of the chorus of the
Welsh National Opera Welsh National Opera (WNO) ( cy, Opera Cenedlaethol Cymru) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales; it gave its first performances in 1946. It began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its ...
. He married, in 1949, Phyllis Eileen Williams, who died in 1963. They had one son. In January 1966 he married Margaret Elizabeth Morgan and they had one daughter. Although he had announced his retirement the previous year, Coleman remained an MP when he died from a heart attack on 14 January 1991, while on a train from Neath to London. He was cremated at Margam Crematorium. The Labour Party held his seat in the subsequent by-election, which was won by
Peter Hain Peter Gerald Hain, Baron Hain (born 16 February 1950), is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2005 to 2007, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions from 2007 to 2008 and twice as Secretary of Stat ...
.


References


Sources


Online

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Coleman, Donald 1925 births 1991 deaths 20th-century Welsh politicians Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Deputy Lieutenants of West Glamorgan Labour Co-operative MPs for Welsh constituencies Iron and Steel Trades Confederation-sponsored MPs People from Barry, Vale of Glamorgan UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 UK MPs 1974 UK MPs 1974–1979 UK MPs 1979–1983 UK MPs 1983–1987 UK MPs 1987–1992 Welsh Labour Party MPs People from Neath