Thomas Burt PC (12 November 1837 – 12 April 1922) was a British

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 ...

ist and one of the first working-class Members of Parliament.

Career

Burt became secretary of the

Northumberland Miners' Association The Northumberland Miners' Association was a trade union in the United Kingdom. The union was founded in 1864 to represent coal miners in Northumberland, following the collapse of a short-lived union covering both Northumberland and Durham min ...

in 1863, then, in 1874, was returned to parliament for Morpeth, alongside Alexander MacDonald, a fellow miners' leader. Burt stood as a Radical labour candidate with Liberal support and formed part of a small group of Liberal–Labour politicians in the House of Commons in the 1880s and 1890s. After the 1892 General Election,

William Ewart Gladstone William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British politican, starting as Conservative MP for Newark and later becoming the leader of the Liberal Party (UK), Liberal Party. In a career lasting over 60 years, he ...

appointed Burt as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade, in which capacity he served until 1895. Despite the emergence of the

Independent Labour Party The Independent Labour Party (ILP) was a British political party of the left, established in 1893 at a conference in Bradford, after local and national dissatisfaction with the Liberal Party (UK), Liberals' apparent reluctance to endorse work ...

and the Labour Representation Committee, Burt remained loyal to his backers in the Liberal Party and refused to join. He was sworn of the Privy Council in 1906 and continued to represent Morpeth in Parliament until 1918. From 1910 to 1918 he was Father of the House in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

. Burt resigned as general secretary of the Northumberland Miners' Association in 1913.

Personal life

Thomas Burt was born at Murton Row, near

Backworth Backworth is a village in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, about west of Whitley Bay on the north east coast. It lies northeast of Newcastle upon Tyne. Other nearby towns include North Shie ...

, in the county of Northumberland, on 12 November 1837. His father, Peter Burt, was at this time working as a coal hewer for the Backworth Coal Company. At the age of 10 Burt's working life began as a trapper boy at the Haswell Pit. With only approximately two years schooling and at the age of 17 Burt decided "how utterly ignorant I was and when I was seized with an eager desire for knowledge and mental improvement". In 1860 Burt married Mary Weatherburn and in the 1881 census they were listed as having three daughters and three sons; Rebecca aged 20, Mary aged 13, Thomas aged 11, Peter aged 8, Jane aged 6 and Wilfred aged 1. Poor health led to Burt's retirement from politics in 1918. During the final three years of his life he was bed-ridden. Burt died on 12 April 1922, aged 84 and was buried in Jesmond Cemetery which was in the neighbourhood of his residence in Newcastle upon Tyne. On 12 April 2014 a re-dedication of the Thomas Burt Memorial took place in Jesmond Cemetery.

Politics

Formation of the Northumberland Miners' Mutual Confident Association which became the Northumberland Miners' Association. In 1865 Burt was elected executive secretary of the Northumberland Miner's Mutual Confident Association. Continuing as General Secretary of the association for the next fifty years. Burt was guest speaker at the 2nd Durham Miners' Gala and attended as a guest speaker on a regular basis in subsequent years. A march for

universal manhood suffrage Universal manhood suffrage is a form of voting rights in which all adult male citizens within a political system are allowed to vote, regardless of income, property, religion, race, or any other qualification. It is sometimes summarized by the s ...

was held in Newcastle on 12 April 1873,: an estimated 80,000 union members marched through Newcastle to the Town Moor, here speakers included Burt. Burt stood on a Radical reform platform, he believed that the franchise should be extended and this would lead to the election of reform-minded MPs. He called for universal suffrage, which would include women, reapportionment of districts to provide roughly the same number of voters in each constituency, shorter duration of each Parliament and payment of MPs. In 1874 Burt was elected as Member of Parliament for the Borough of Morpeth in Northumberland. He received 3,332 votes whilst his opponent Capt. F. Duncan received 585. Burt gave his maiden speech on 13 May 1874 in support of G.O. Trevelyan's private member's bill to 'equalize franchise requirements by extending the borough franchise to the counties. In his speech which was to last fifteen minutes he declared 'that the unfairness of the present law was evident to the miners of Northumberland. Of workers at the same colliery, miners residing in the borough could cast a ballot, while those living in the county could not. Also, because miners often moved from one colliery to another, they could easily lose the vote previously enjoyed'. Unfortunately on this occasion the bill was defeated. After his election as MP, Burt was to split his time between London and his duties as representative for the Borough of Morpeth and Newcastle and his union role. He made sure he was in attendance for every important union meeting. In October 1874 the mine owners called for a twenty per cent reduction of wages, the union put forward a reduction of eight per cent. After arbitration the two sides settled on a wage reduction of fourteen per cent. In 1906, Burt was made a Privy Councillor. He lost the formal support of his own Union, in 1909, because he would not join the Labour Party.

Legacy

On 12 November 1987 on the 150th anniversary of his birth, Dr Eric Wade of the

Open University The Open University (OU) is a Public university, public research university and the largest university in the United Kingdom by List of universities in the United Kingdom by enrolment, number of students. The majority of the OU's undergraduate ...

gave the memorial address 'Thomas Burt: His Life and Ideas'. The Stephenson Railway Museum located near Murton Row, where Burt was born, has a

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, Fuel oil, oil or, rarely, Wood fuel, wood) to heat ...

which they named 'Thomas Burt' in his honour. The aged miners' homes at Choppington, under construction at the time of Burt's death were named the Burt Memorial Homes. The Northumberland Miners' Association named their Trade Union Offices building Burt Hall. The building - in Northumberland Road, Newcastle upon Tyne and now used by

Northumbria University Northumbria University (legally the University of Northumbria at Newcastle) is a Public research university, public research university located in Newcastle upon Tyne, North East England, North East of England. It has been a university since 199 ...

- was opened in 1895 and bears a plaque stating the hall 'was built by the miners' in recognition of valuable service rendered by Thomas Burt M.P. as general secretary for 27 years, and to commemorate his appointment as Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade in 1892.' A block of flats in

Bethnal Green Bethnal Green is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. The area emerged from the small settlement which developed around the common la ...

East London East London is the part of London, England, east of the ancient City of London and north of the River Thames as it begins to widen. East London developed as London Docklands, London's docklands and the primary industrial centre. The expansion of ...

, is named after Thomas Burt.

References

External links