Joseph Burgess (1853–1934) was a British journalist, writer and Labour politician. He was born on 3 July 1853 in

Failsworth Failsworth is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, Greater Manchester, England, north-east of Manchester and south-west of Oldham. The M60 motorway, M60 ring-road motorway skirts it to the east. The population at the United Kingdom C ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, the third of six children of

handloom A loom is a device used to weaving, weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the Warp (weaving), warp threads under tension (mechanics), tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of ...

weavers, and was educated at a print works school in Failsworth. He started work in a card-cutting room at the age of six and worked as a cotton operative until he was 28. He married three times, having six children. He died in January 1934.

Career

He was active in the creation 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 ...

(ILP) and the Labour Party. He was elected to the first

National Administrative Council The National Administrative Council (NAC) was the executive council of the Independent Labour Party (ILP), a British socialist party which was active from 1893 until 1975. Creation The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was founded at a conference in ...

of the ILP, and served on it again from 1899 until 1901. He unsuccessfully ran as an ILP parliamentary candidate for

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area, and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest city in the East Midlands with a popula ...

in 1894 and 1895 before taking a role of organising secretary for the ILP between 1897 and 1902. He was a member of the

Glasgow City Council Glasgow City Council (Scottish Gaelic: ''Comhairle Baile Ghlaschu'') is the Local government in Scotland, local government authority for Glasgow, Glasgow City council area, Scotland. In its modern form it was created in 1996. Glasgow was former ...

between 1902-5 and unsuccessfully ran as an ILP candidate for Glasgow Camlachie in 1906, and Montrose in 1908 and 1910. He resigned from the ILP in 1915. Throughout his career he was involved in newspapers: * 1881: correspondent for a local newspaper * 1884: started his own short-lived paper, the ''Oldham Operative'' * 1885–89: sub-editor of the ''

Cotton Factory Times The ''Cotton Factory Times'' was a weekly British newspaper, aimed at cotton mill workers in Lancashire and Cheshire. The newspaper was established in 1885 by John Andrew, owner of the daily ''Ashton Evening Reporter'' and several related newspap ...

'' * 1889–91: manager of the ''

Yorkshire Factory Times The ''Yorkshire Factory Times'' was a British newspaper, founded in 1889. It was published weekly between 3 January 1890 and 29 December 1899. The newspaper was initially edited by Joseph Burgess and published from Huddersfield. The ''Yorkshire ...

'' * 1891–93: editor of '' Workman's Times'' * 1914: editor of the '' Bradford Pioneer'' * 1919: editorial staff for the ''

London Evening Standard The ''London Standard'', formerly the ''Evening Standard'' (1904–2024) and originally ''The Standard'' (1827–1904), is a long-established regional newspaper published weekly and distributed free of charge in London, England. It is print ...

'' and the ''

Pall Mall Gazette ''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed i ...

Publications

* ''John Burns: the rise and progress of a right honourable'' (1911) * ''Homeland or Empire'' (1915) * ''British agriculture versus foreign tributes'' (1925) * ''Will

Lloyd George David Lloyd George, 1st Earl Lloyd-George of Dwyfor (17 January 1863 – 26 March 1945) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916 to 1922. A Liberal Party (United Kingdom), Liberal Party politician from Wales, he was known for leadi ...

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Ramsay MacDonald James Ramsay MacDonald (; 12 October 18669 November 1937) was a British statesman and politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. The first two of his governments belonged to the Labour Party (UK), Labour Party, where he led ...

'' (1926)

Career

Publications

References

Further reading