Raymond William Buckton (20 October 1922 – 7 May 1995) was general secretary of

ASLEF The Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) is a British trade union representing train drivers. It is part of the International Transport Workers' Federation and the European Transport Workers' Federation. At the end of ...

, the rail drivers' trade union in Great Britain.

Early life

He was born in

Rillington Rillington is a village and civil parish in the Ryedale district of North Yorkshire, England. Rillington was mentioned in the Domesday Survey in 1086 and rural life was relatively unchanged until the coming of the railway in 1845 The vill ...

, then in the

East Riding of Yorkshire The East Riding of Yorkshire, or simply East Riding or East Yorkshire, is a ceremonial county and unitary authority area in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and west, South Yorkshire t ...

, now in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

. His father was a farm worker on a large estate, who became a member of the Junior Imperial and Constitutional League (later the Young Conservatives). He was the eldest of seven children, attending

Appleton Roebuck Appleton Roebuck is a village and civil parish in the Selby district of North Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 692 according to the 2001 census, increasing to 792 in the 2011 census and including Acaster Selby. The village is about ...

Elementary School.

Career

He left school at 14 to work as a groundsman on a local country estate. He started as an engine cleaner on the

York to Scarborough Line York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

aged 16.

York City Council

He became the Labour Leader of York council at the age of 24.

ASLEF

In 1940 he became active in ASLEF, and joined the League of Youth. He became a full-time ASLEF worker in 1960, working in the North-East, becoming Assistant General Secretary in 1963, based in Hampstead. During his time as leader of ASLEF in January 1982 he received

death threat A death threat is a threat, often made anonymously, by one person or a group of people to kill another person or group of people. These threats are often designed to intimidate victims in order to manipulate their behaviour, in which case a ...

s, and unsightly items pushed through his letterbox. His car was once doused with red paint, including the windows. He also served on the TUC General Council from 1973 to 1986.

Special Branch informer

It was alleged in 2002 by Ken Day, a former Metropolitan Police Special Branch officer, that Ray Buckton was a Special Branch informer who had regularly passed information to the Special Branch industrial division. This information was aired as part of the BBC2 series, True Spies.

Personal life

He married Barbara Langfield (a train driver's daughter - Ray was his fireman) in 1954 in York. Ray had helped organise her father's funeral. They lived in Edgware, a house owned by the union, and owned a cottage in Essex. They had two sons (including a son born in 1958).Aslef Journal May 2006
His wife worked at the ASTMS union. He died of cancer in Portugal aged 72. He had lived in Portugal (

Albufeira Albufeira () is a city and seat of its own municipality in the district of Faro, in the southernmost Portuguese region of Algarve. The municipality population in 2021 was 44,158, in an area of . The city proper had a population of 28,645 in 202 ...

) for seven years. When he died ASLEF membership was around 16,000; when he joined it was around 77,000.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Buckton, Ray 1922 births 1995 deaths General secretaries of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress People from Edgware People from Ryedale (district) Trade unionists from Yorkshire Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Deaths from cancer in Portugal