Sir Joseph Hallsworth (2 December 1884 – 19 July 1974) was a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

trade union A trade union (British English) or labor union (American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers whose purpose is to maintain or improve the conditions of their employment, such as attaining better wages ...

leader.

Biography

Born in

Audenshaw Audenshaw is a town in Tameside, Greater Manchester, England, east of Manchester. Historically part of Lancashire, in 2011 it had a population of 11,419. The name derives from Aldwin, a Saxon personal name, and the Old English suffix ''shagh' ...

, near

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, Hallsworth began working in 1902 as a clerk for the

Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees The Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees (AUCE) was a trade union representing retail and related staff of co-operative businesses in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1891 at a meeting in Romiley and was originally named the Ma ...

. He soon became the union's assistant secretary, and also became active in the Labour Party, standing unsuccessfully for

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, sited on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal; the Bridgewater Canal bisects the town. The town is located south of Manchester, south of Salfo ...

at the 1918 general election.HALLSWORTH, Sir Joseph
, ''

Who Was Who ''Who's Who'' is a reference work. It has been published annually in the form of a hardback book since 1849, and has been published online since 1999. It has also been published on CD-ROM. It lists, and gives information on, people from around ...

'' He became the union's secretary in 1916, then when this merged to form the

National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers The National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers (NUDAW) was a trade union in the United Kingdom. History The union was founded in 1921 when the Amalgamated Union of Co-operative Employees merged with the National Union of Warehouse and Gen ...

(NUDAW), he was appointed Secretary-General of the new organisation.Papers of Sir Joseph Hallsworth (1884-1974), trade union leader
,

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded in 1965 as part of ...

In 1926, Hallsworth was first elected to the General Council of the

Trades Union Congress The Trades Union Congress (TUC) is a national trade union center, national trade union centre, a federation of trade unions that collectively represent most unionised workers in England and Wales. There are 48 affiliated unions with a total of ...

(TUC), and he served as

President of the TUC The president of the Trades Union Congress is a prominent but largely honorary position in British trade unionism. History Initially, the post of president was elected at the annual Trades Union Congress (TUC) itself, and would serve just for the d ...

in 1939. He served on a large number of bodies, including the

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is one of the firs ...

and the Central Price Regulation Committee during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, and as President of the

International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, and Technical Employees The International Federation of Commercial, Clerical, Professional and Technical Employees (FIET; ) was a global union federation bringing together workers representing clerical workers. The union was sometimes known as the International Federati ...

. In 1947, NUDAW merged to form the

Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers The Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (Usdaw) is a trade union in the United Kingdom, consisting of over 360,000 members. Usdaw members work in a variety of occupations and industries including: shopworkers, factory and warehouse wor ...

, and Hallsworth was its first Secretary-General, serving for two years. He was knighted in

1946 1946 (Roman numerals, MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1946th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 946th year of the 2nd millennium, the 46th year of the 20th centur ...

, and stood down from various government committees in 1947, although he joined the

National Coal Board The National Coal Board (NCB) was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the United Kingdom's collieries on "ve ...

. On retirement, he served as Chairman of the North Western Electricity Board, standing down in 1955.

References

External links

Catalogue of Hallsworth's research papers
held at the

Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick The Modern Records Centre (MRC) is the specialist archive service of the University of Warwick in Coventry, England, located adjacent to the Central Campus Library. It was established in October 1973 and holds the world's largest archive collect ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hallsworth, Joseph 1884 births 1974 deaths Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates General secretaries of the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress National Union of Distributive and Allied Workers People from Audenshaw Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Knights Bachelor