Robert Barrie Walker (13 October 1878 – 25 August 1961) 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 unionist 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 ...

. Born in

Carstairs Carstairs (, Scottish Gaelic: ''Caisteal Tarrais'') is a village in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Carstairs is located east of the county town of Lanark and the West Coast Main Line runs through the village. The village is served by Carstairs r ...

Lanarkshire Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...

to a family of farm workers, Walker initially worked on the railways, before moving to England. He enlisted in the

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and served in the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War (, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, Transvaal War, Anglo–Boer War, or South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer republics (the South African Republic and ...

. When demobbed, he became involved in trade union organising in the English Midlands, for

National Union of Agricultural Workers The National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers (NUAAW) was a trades union representing farmworkers in the United Kingdom. The Union was founded in 1906 by trade union activist George Edwards. It was dissolved in 1982 when it merged into ...

(NUAW), soon moving to join its head office, in

Fakenham Fakenham is a market town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, about north-west of Norwich. The town is at the junction of several local roads, including the A148 from King's Lynn to Cromer, the A1067 to N ...

.Claire Griffiths, ''Labour and the Countryside: The Politics of Rural Britain 1918-1939'' Active in the Labour Party, Walker stood unsuccessfully in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is north-east of Peterborough, north-north-east of Cambridg ...

at the

1918 The ceasefire that effectively ended the World War I, First World War took place on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of this year. Also in this year, the Spanish flu pandemic killed 50–100 million people wor ...

and 1922 general elections, then at

Ormskirk Ormskirk is a market town in the West Lancashire district of Lancashire, England. It is located north of Liverpool, northwest of St Helens, Merseyside, St Helens, southeast of Southport and southwest of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. Ormski ...

1923 In Greece, this year contained only 352 days as 13 days was skipped to achieve the calendrical switch from Julian to Gregorian Calendar. It happened there that Wednesday, 15 February ''(Julian Calendar)'' was followed by Thursday, 1 March ' ...

and

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 ...

. He was asked to stand at the 1923 Ludlow by-election, but declined, correctly judging that the party had little support in the area. Walker was elected as general secretary of the NUAW in 1912 and pursued a radical, socialist programme. In 1918, he moved the union's headquarters from Fakenham to London in an attempt to broaden its national appeal, but this initially had little success, and removed him from direct influence in the union's activities in the county. He achieved a national profile with 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 ...

, being elected to its Parliamentary Committee in 1917, then serving as

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

in 1921–22. In 1928, Walker stood down as general secretary of the NUAW in controversial circumstances. Although the union officially stated that he had retired on age grounds,Bob Wynn, ''Skilled at all trades: the history of the farmworkers' union, 1947-1984'', p. 72 it was hinted that he had been forced out on ground of financial impropriety. He subsequently emigrated to Australia. He died in

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in 1961.''Australia, Death Index, 1787-1985''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Robert Barrie 1878 births 1961 deaths Scottish emigrants to Australia Labour Party (UK) parliamentary candidates General secretaries of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers Presidents of the Trades Union Congress Members of the General Council of the Trades Union Congress Members of the Parliamentary Committee of the Trades Union Congress