Thomas Oswald (1 May 1904 – 23 October 1990) was a Labour Member of Parliament in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. He represented Edinburgh Central from 1951 until he retired at the February 1974 general election. His parents were John Oswald and Agnes Love, of

Leith Leith (; ) is a port area in the north of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith and is home to the Port of Leith. The earliest surviving historical references are in the royal charter authorising the construction of ...

, where he was born in 1904. His father was also born in Leith, in 1869, but the family came from

Fife Fife ( , ; ; ) is a council areas of Scotland, council area and lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area in Scotland. A peninsula, it is bordered by the Firth of Tay to the north, the North Sea to the east, the Firth of Forth to the s ...

. His grandfather Thomas Oswald (1835–1921) was born there ( parish of Kettle) as was his grandmother Rachael Oswald, née Crawford (

Collessie Collessie is a village and parish of Fife, Scotland. The village is set on a small hillock centred on a historic church. Due to rerouting of roads, it now lies north of the A91. Though a railway embankment was constructed through the middle of ...

). Great-grandfather James Oswald was born in May 1813, in Kininmonth in the parish of

Ceres, Fife Ceres is a village in Fife, Scotland, located in a small glen approximately over the Ceres Moor from Cupar and from St Andrews. The former parish of that name included the settlements of Baldinnie, Chance Inn, Craigrothie, Pitscottie and Tarv ...

.Who Was Who (1981–1990): vol. 8, publ. A & C Black Publishers Ltd, 1991Census of 1841, 1871, 1901, 1911 – www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk records for Thomas Oswald and John Oswald, retrieved July 2016 His father, John Oswald, was a dockyard worker.Obituary of Thomas Oswald in ''the Times'', London, 30 October 1990. Avail from The Times Digital Archive. Web. 14 August 2016. URL http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/infomark.do?&source=gale&prodId=TTDA&userGroupName=palmers&tabID=T003&docPage=article&searchType=BasicSearchForm&docId=IF501832095&type=multipage&contentSet=LTO&version=1.0 Thomas Oswald was educated at Yardheads and Bonnington Road elementary schools in Leith.Times Guide to the House of Commons 1970, publ. by Times Newspapers, London, 1970. See article on Edinburgh Central On leaving school, he worked as a shop assistant, painter, shipyard worker and

tram A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which Rolling stock, vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some ...

driver.House of Commons 1964, publ. by Times Newspapers, London, 1964. See article on Edinburgh Central. He was later to make his

maiden speech A maiden speech is the first speech given by a newly elected or appointed member of a legislature or parliament. Traditions surrounding maiden speeches vary from country to country. In many Westminster system governments, there is a convention th ...

in the House of Commons on the subject of public transport in Scotland, in July 1952, a subject in which he was recognised as an expert.Hansard (official record of the House of Commons) HC Deb 28 July 1952 vol 504 He was married in 1933 to Colina MacAskill MacAlpin (1903–1990), of Ballachullish,

Argyll Argyll (; archaically Argyle; , ), sometimes called Argyllshire, is a Shires of Scotland, historic county and registration county of western Scotland. The county ceased to be used for local government purposes in 1975 and most of the area ...

, daughter of Archibald MacAlpin and Margaret MacAskill. They had three sons and one daughter. He became a member and, in 1933, an official of 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)—with 900,000 members (a ...

, which, as well as representing the interests of transport workers, was affiliated to the Labour Party, which Tom Oswald had joined in 1921. From 1941 – 1969 he was head of the Scottish Region of the Transport and General Workers Union (Trade Group Secretary, Scottish Region)International Year Book and Statesmen's Who's Who, publ. International Publications Service, 1984, p. 434 and during most of this time he was also an M.P. sponsored and supported by the TGWU. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in the parliamentary seat of

West Aberdeenshire West (or Western) Aberdeenshire was a Scottish county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1868 to 1918 and from 1950 to 1983. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first past the post sys ...

in the General Election of 1950, achieving 2nd place with 23% of the vote. However, next year he was elected for Edinburgh Central in the General Election of 1951, with 52% of the vote, succeeding the Labour MP

Andrew Gilzean Andrew Gilzean OBE (3 December 1877 – 6 July 1957) was a Labour Party politician in Scotland. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for Edinburgh Central from 1945 to 1951. Initially a member of the Independent Labour Party, Gilzean joined the S ...

. He held this seat for 23 years until the General Election of February 1974, when he was succeeded by the future Foreign Minister

Robin Cook Robert Finlayson "Robin" Cook (28 February 19466 August 2005) was a British Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1974 until his death in 2005 and served in the Cabinet as Foreign Secretary from 1997 until ...

. Never a particularly

safe seat A safe seat is an electoral district which is regarded as fully secure, for either a certain political party, or the incumbent representative personally or a combination of both. With such seats, there is very little chance of a seat changing h ...

, his majority dropped to 617 in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

. Apart from his last election in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, he was always in a two-way fight with the Conservatives (also known as Unionists in Scotland). Primarily a

backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...

during this time, his only term in office was as Parliamentary Private Secretary to the

Secretary of State for Scotland The secretary of state for Scotland (; ), also referred to as the Scottish secretary, is a Secretary of State (United Kingdom), secretary of state in the Government of the United Kingdom, with responsibility for the Scotland Office. The incum ...

in 1967–1970, during the Wilson government.See https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/people/mr-thomas-oswald/ retrieved July 2016 He was involved in the

British Aluminium British Aluminium was an aluminium production company. It was originally formed as the British Aluminium Company Ltd on 7 May 1894 and was subsequently known as British Alcan Aluminium plc (1982-1996). History In the late 1880s and early 1890s ...

company's hydro-electric projects at

Kinlochleven Kinlochleven () () is a coastal village located in Lochaber, in the Scottish Highlands and lies at the eastern end of Loch Leven. To the north lie the Mamores ridge; to the south lie the mountains flanking Glen Coe. The village was formed fro ...

(near

Ben Nevis Ben Nevis ( ; , ) is the highest mountain in Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the British Isles. Ben Nevis stands at the western end of the Grampian Mountains in the Highland region of Lochaber, close to the town of Fort William. The mount ...

) and at Foyers (on the south-east shore of

Loch Ness Loch Ness (; ) is a large freshwater loch in the Scottish Highlands. It takes its name from the River Ness, which flows from the northern end. Loch Ness is best known for claimed sightings of the cryptozoology, cryptozoological Loch Ness Mons ...

) in the 1930s. With this knowledge he was the Chairman of the Select Committee on the North Wales Hydro Electric Power Bill (now Act) of 1973.Hansard HC Deb 26 June 1973 vol 858 From 1956 – 1966 he was Secretary and Treasurer of the Scottish Parliamentary Labour Group. After leaving Parliament he became a member and then later president of the Scottish Old Age Pensioners Association.

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oswald, Thomas 1904 births 1990 deaths Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Edinburgh constituencies UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 UK MPs 1959–1964 UK MPs 1964–1966 UK MPs 1966–1970 UK MPs 1970–1974 People from Leith Scottish Labour MPs Politicians from Edinburgh