Gladstone Lothian Rosebery Small (31 August 1884 – early 1979) 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 ...

labour movement activist. Small was born in

Cambuslang Cambuslang (, from ) is a town on the south-eastern outskirts of Greater Glasgow, Scotland. With approximately 30,000 residents, it is the 27th-largest town in Scotland by population, although, never having had a town hall, it may also be cons ...

. The son of

William Small William Small (1734–1775) was a Scottish physician and a professor of natural philosophy at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. There he became an influential mentor of Thomas Jefferson, who went on to be a leading p ...

, a prominent trade unionist,

University of Glasgow The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals; ) is a Public university, public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the List of oldest universities in continuous ...

,
Staff Lieutenant Gladstone Lothian Rosebery Small
and the brother of William B. and

Robert The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of ''Hrōþ, Hruod'' () "fame, glory, honour, prais ...

, both of whom also went into trade unionism, Lothian instead attended the

, although he did not enter until he was 22 as it took him several attempts to pass the entrance exam. While at university, Small was active in the student union and the student

Fabian Society The Fabian Society () is a History of the socialist movement in the United Kingdom, British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in ...

. It took him six years to graduate, although he received master's degrees in both philosophy and English. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, Small served as an officer with the

South Staffordshire Regiment The South Staffordshire Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence for only 68 years. The regiment was created in 1881 under the Childers Reforms by the amalgamation of the 38th (1st Staffordshire) Regiment of Foot a ...

. Afterwards, he became a frequent Parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party, standing unsuccessfully in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

at the 1923 general election, then in

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located ...

1924 Events January * January 12 – Gopinath Saha shoots Ernest Day, whom he has mistaken for Sir Charles Tegart, the police commissioner of Calcutta, and is arrested soon after. * January 20–January 30, 30 – Kuomintang in Ch ...

and a 1925 by-election. During this period, he was heavily involved with the

League of Nations The League of Nations (LN or LoN; , SdN) was the first worldwide intergovernmental organisation whose principal mission was to maintain world peace. It was founded on 10 January 1920 by the Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920), Paris Peace ...

, serving on the secretariat of its Supreme Council, then as secretary of its Labour Advisory Committee, and later as Secretary of the International Federation of League of Nations Societies."Adventure with Sicilian brigands", ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'', 13 May 1923"Obituary: Mrs Frieda Small", ''

Manchester Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', 27 September 1939"Lifetime devoted to child welfare", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'', 20 March 1959 In 1923, Small made the news when he was held up by robbers near

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...

who stole his money and papers; he stated that he believed they had committed the robbery due to hunger. Small married a Hungarian woman named Frieda in 1931, who was a prominent figure in

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization. It was founded in the UK in 1919; its goal is to improve the lives of children worldwide. The organization raises money to imp ...

. She died in 1939, and Small remarried to a Swiss woman named Jeanne-Marie de Morsier who worked at the International Union of Child Welfare. They lived in London until the 1950s; at this point, they appear to have moved to

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 ...

, and based there, Small translated a book on the history of Painting of Central Asia published by

Skira The festival of the Skira () or Skirophoria () in the calendar of ancient Athens, closely associated with the Thesmophoria, marked the dissolution of the old year in May/June. Description At Athens, the last month of the year was '' Skiropho ...

and a number of plays from

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

into English. ntitled article ''

'', 1 November 1958, p.2 Small died in the Surrey SE registration district in the first quarter of 1979.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Small, Lothian 1884 births 1979 deaths Alumni of the University of Glasgow People from Cambuslang British Army personnel of World War I South Staffordshire Regiment officers Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates