Walter James Edwards (1900 – 15 October 1964), known as Stoker Edwards or Wally Edwards, was a British Labour Party politician. Edwards was born in

Whitechapel Whitechapel is a district in East London and the future administrative centre of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is a part of the East End of London, east of Charing Cross. Part of the historic county of Middlesex, the area formed a c ...

, in the

East End of London The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have un ...

. He briefly worked as a carman from 1917 and in 1918 enlisted in the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

as a

stoker Stoker may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "The Stoker", a 1927 short story by Franz Kafka * ''The Stoker'' (1932 film), an American drama/romance film directed by Chester M. Franklin * ''The Stoker'' (1935 film) , a British comedy film direc ...

and served until 1923. He then became a docker. He joined the Labour Party and the

Transport and General Workers' Union The Transport and General Workers' Union (TGWU or T&G) was one of the largest general trade unions in the United Kingdom and Ireland – where it was known as the Amalgamated Transport and General Workers' Union (ATGWU) to differentiate its ...

and in 1937 was appointed a full-time officer with the union's Docks Group. From 1935 to 1939 he was chairman of the Whitechapel Labour Party. In the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he was recalled as a Naval reservist and rose to the rate of Leading Stoker. In 1942 he was elected as

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house ...

(MP) for Whitechapel and St Georges, the first serving Royal Navy rating to be elected to Parliament. Following boundary changes in 1950, he was elected for the new Stepney constituency and served until his retirement in 1964. He served as

Civil Lord of the Admiralty The Civil Lord of the Admiralty formally known as the Office of the Civil Lord of Admiralty also referred to as the Department of the Civil Lord of the Admiralty was a member of the Board of Admiralty who was responsible for managing the Royal ...

from 1945 to 1951. A devout

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

, he was known as a campaigner against prostitution, which was a big problem in his constituency. He died on the day of the

1964 general election The following elections occurred in 1964. Africa * 1964 Cameroonian parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic parliamentary election * 1964 Central African Republic presidential election * 1964 Dahomeyan general election * 1964 Gabo ...

. Edwards was elected to Stepney Borough Council in 1934 and served on it until 1959. In 1944–1945, when he was already an MP, he served as

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well as ...

. Edwards' only son was killed on active service in 1944. He also had a daughter.

References

*Obituary, ''TGWU Record'', December 1964 *Obituary, ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' ...

'', 16 October 1964 *

External links

* 1900 births 1964 deaths Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies Lords of the Admiralty Transport and General Workers' Union-sponsored MPs UK MPs 1935–1945 UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 People from Whitechapel Royal Navy sailors Royal Navy personnel of World War I Royal Navy personnel of World War II Trade unionists from London Mayors of places in Greater London English Roman Catholics Members of Stepney Metropolitan Borough Council Admiralty personnel of World War II Ministers in the Attlee governments, 1945–1951 {{UK-trade-unionist-bio-stub